Stratford Speedway: Mini sprints last run before national championship

Jarrod MacBeth (#829) won the Mountain Motors Taranaki Saloon Champs after beating Blake Hooper (#12) in a run off. Photo / Matt Julian, Contact High Photography

The event at MG Taranaki Stratford Speedway provided one last opportunity for mini sprint drivers to have a run and dial their cars in before next weekend’s Zodiac Signs/Jono Noonan Contracting New Zealand Championship that will run at the local track.

A good-looking field of 17 cars fronted to race for the Best Pairs event where drivers randomly paired with each other and accumulated their points from the three heats to find the winners.

Karl Uhlenberg showed a clean pair of heels to win the first race from a grid two start ahead of Palmerston North driver Nathan Jefferies. Jono Noonan, who had just recently installed a freshened engine, more or less destroyed his car in this race when he ran wide on the start/finish straight and cartwheeled his car along the wall through turn one.

He now has a mission on his hands to turn the car around in just one week for the New Zealand Championship. Daniel Nickel won race two ahead of Duane Hickman while Hickman went one better in the race to take the victory with Cameron Hurley in second place.

With the points tallied, Mark Phipps and Regan Ogle were five points clear of their nearest rivals Cameron Hurley and Zen Dodunski to win the pairs, proving that you don’t need to win races but just be consistent to win overall. Nathan Jefferies and Palmerston North clubmate Jayden Williams were third.

The Stockcar class also raced for their Best Pairs trophy and after three races Todd Duthie and Ben Wilson came out on top by just one point after Duthie recorded third, fourth and fifth placings while Wilson finished second, eleventh and seventh in the three races. The pairing of Mason Woods and Steven Read was second while Dale Michielsen and Bryce Jensen were third.

Midgets raced for only their second time locally this season and were competing for the Heritage Shield over three heats and then the first of the 60th-anniversary cups that every class will race for this season as it is the 60th anniversary of racing at Stratford Speedway.

New Zealand ranked number three Mitch Fabish won races one and three but it was the consistent Jayden Basalaj who won the Heritage Shield after placing second in all three races, giving him a one-point margin over Fabish. Shane Dewar was third. Fabish turned his luck around when he won the 20-lap 60th cup race.

Despite this incident, Regan Ogle (#5) went on to win the Minisprint Best Pairs event with Mark Phipps. Photo / Matt Julian, Contact High Photography

Saloons raced for the Mountain Motors Taranaki Champs over three 12-lap heats and also had a 60th cup race scheduled.

Blake Hooper drove himself to the front of the field to win race one from a grid three start. Palmerston North driver Mike Denham won race two and Andrew Tippet won race three.

Points table-wise, it was all tied up at the top with Hooper and Jarrod MacBeth equal on points for first place, meaning a four-lap run-off was required to determine the winner. Both drivers are former winners and both were keen to get their name on the trophy for a second time.

Hooper won the coin toss and elected to start from the outside grid. After a very even start with both drivers entering turn one at the same time, MacBeth came out in front, never looked back and completed the four laps to win the run-off and the Taranaki Champs with Hooper right behind despite a last-ditch attempt at a pass that saw Hooper ride the turn four wall.

Andrew Tippet claimed third place. The 20-lap 60th cup race saw a race-long battle between MacBeth, Hooper and Tippet with Tippet eventually making his way to the front and crossing the line first. An after-race relegation unfortunately saw him drop two places though and Hooper was awarded the win ahead of MacBeth.

Youth Ministocks completed the race programme and with the bulk of the competitors racing at Ministocks in Paradise in Rotorua, it provided an opportunity for the new drivers to race at the front of the field. Races were won by Angus Campbell and Ryan Hurliman (two).