Harry Wall, a helper from Palmerston North, cuts grass in front of the speedway track ahead of the big meet. NEWS Photo / Warren Buckland
Harry Wall, a helper from Palmerston North, cuts grass in front of the speedway track ahead of the big meet. NEWS Photo / Warren Buckland
Meeanee is getting ready to host New Zealand biggest stockcar championship - by numbers - on Friday and Saturday.
Speedway promoter Bruce Robertson said the field of 233 cars for the Hawke's Bay Doors New Zealand Stockcar Championships is the biggest ever "by miles" for the national championship.
"At Stratford one year they had about 180 entries," he said.
Track manager Philippa Jones said the cars were coming from all around New Zealand, with a big contingent coming up from the South Island.
"It's the biggest meeting that Speedway New Zealand has ever held," she said.
Robertson said he thinks there has been a surge in the number of competitors in speedway overall in the last couple of years.
"More and more people are realising it's a lot of fun and enjoy racing. They're not spending money overseas or whatever, so they're going speedway racing," he said.
Jones said she was expecting a capacity crowd of about 4000 people to watch the event.
She said getting it all together has been a huge undertaking, with the biggest challenge being accommodating all the competitors in the pit area.
Steve Blackley (right) of Palmerston North and Andy McCabe of Napier mark out extra pit spaces for the record field of competitors. Photo / Warren Buckland
Thursday evening will see the event's first action with 130 cars scheduled for some practice sessions.
Then on Friday, the 24 qualifying races across the eight competition groups will begin at 6.30pm.
The top three from each group after qualifying will go into Saturday's three Championship final heats, with a further six spots available on the grid via a repechage beginning at 6pm.
Robertson said it will be tough racing with so few cars from each group progressing.
"There's a lot of luck in stockcar racing of course. By the time you get to that 30 in the final, the guys that are doing well are relying on their teammates or guys from their local track to help them get to the chequered flag first," he said.
Gates open at 4pm on all three nights, with public parking limited to the Hastings side of the track only.
