Gavin McClinchie (10M) goes nose up as Shane Mellsop (71P) rolls over in Friday night's qualifying at the national superstock championships. Photo / S B O'Hagan Photography
The build-up to the Elite Mechanical New Zealand Superstock Championship promised two nights of Superstock action.
And while the wind did its best to disrupt that, thousands of fans poured into Oceanview Family Speedway, and action was exactly what they received as young Hawke's Bay driver Randal Tarrant became the new 1NZ.
As the son of Hawke's Bay Stockcar legend Beatle Tarrant, Randal had until now been seen mainly as a teams racing specialist.
But on a slick Oceanview circuit his throttle control was exemplary, and he drove the wheels off his 66B car, taking him to the top of the Superstock pecking order.
The meeting started on Friday night with qualifying heats, and as the wind swept in from the Tasman Sea, Mike Annabell faced an impossible job keeping moisture in the Oceanview clay.
Shane Mellsop (71P) was the first to fall victim to Oceanview Speedway's notorious southern bend.
Mellsop was turned sideways early in the corner as the pack charged away from the start, and was pushed around 80 metres by Baypark driver Gavin McClinchie (10M).
Just as the cars were losing momentum, Jayme Hemi (571P) was pushed into the freight train and the nose of McClinchie's car headed skywards as Mellsop rolled on to his side.
Neither driver was injured, but the incident set the tone for a torrid evening.
Later on 581P Jordan Dare's chances of qualifying took a nosedive when he rode over the front of Mitch Vickery's 26K car, rolling out of contention.
Although Dare returned with a win and a top three placing in his remaining heats, the repecharge was as good as it got for him in the Display Associates "Group of Death".
Asher Rees (126K) also faced a setback in his final qualifying heat.
He was neatly slotted up the Turn One wall by Ron Tye (599P), and although Rees tried desperately to get down, amid clouds of tyre smoke from his right rear tyre spinning against the concrete wall, he too was consigned to the repecharge.
1NZ Jason Long, Jared Wade (85K) and Brett Nicholls (48N) qualified from the Wanganui Toyota Group, but a three-way runoff was required for the last two spots.
Todd O'Donnell (69P) broke away as Blair Uhlenberg (28S) and Rebecca Barr (34P) did battle, before Uhlenberg took the fifth qualifying place.
2017-18 champion William Humphries (94P) topped the Sharp As Group ahead of Keegan Levien (5W), Graeme Barr (32P), Jack Miers (88P) and Benji Sneddon (471K), with Wanganui driver Sheridan O'Hara (9V) just missing out.
2NZ Peter Rees was a surprise non-qualifier after he was taken out in the third heat by Darrel Wallace (557C).
3NZ Simon Joblin comfortably topped the Hymech NZ Group, with Damian Orr (81R), Carl Shearer (75S), Gary Davis (31G) and Nelson driver Alex Hill (95N) also qualifying.
Current Wanganui points leader Carl Burns (25V) surprised many visitors by qualifying from the Garmac Engineering Group behind Harley Robb (991C), Ethan Rees (127G), Jayden Ward (971C) and Ethan Levien (46W).
Tarrant gave a glimpse of what was to come by topping the Display Associates Group, seen by many as the group of death.
He headed off the Joblin brothers Adam (62P) and Scott (52P0), Hawke's Bay clubmate Quinn Ryan (46B) and Gisborne flyer Jamie Hamilton (9G).
The wind was less severe on Saturday night, as thousands flocked into Oceanview in anticipation of a second action-filled night.
There was immediate action in the repecharge, where the 25 drivers highest placed on points battled for the final qualifying position.
Rebecca Barr took an early lead, and midway through the race looked as though she would hold off Malcolm Ngatai (19C) and become the first woman to qualify for the finals of the New Zealand Superstock Championship.
However she tangled with the 28P car of Ricky Dykstra and Ngatai, and almost rolled as her car went up on two wheels.
Barr and Ngatai's misfortune was Asher Rees' chance to redeem himself as he powered through the gap on the inside and held on to take the last place in the finals field.
The excitement was building ahead of the first 15-lap finals race, and the action wasn't long in coming.
Brett Nicholls was spun on the first corner, and slid sideways with Jason Long pushing, his own start having been impeded.
As Nicholls slowed, Long's car drove right over the front of the 48N, looked stuck for a split second, then continued on, landing on its wheels.
Before Nicholls could recover, Keegan Levien ploughed into the side of Nicholls' car, having had nowhere to go.
The race was stopped, and Nicholls' car was removed to the infield, where he was able to exit the car unassisted although shaken.
His car was not so lucky however, and the Nelson driver's night was over.
From the restart Damian Orr led, but he was run down by Asher Rees, and eventual race winner Quinn Ryan.
Randal Tarrant gave a glimpse of what was to come, recording the fastest lap of the race on the final lap, as the track slicked off.
It was clear that Tarrant and his crew had got their set-up right.
Heat Two was a much cleaner race, with drivers jockeying for position ahead of the vital third and final heat.
Scott Joblin took the race win ahead of Tarrant, with Harley Robb in third place and the third Joblin brother Simon in fourth.
After two heats, Robb sat on 46 points, one ahead of Tarrant, with Asher Rees and Quinn Ryan tied on 44, then the three Joblin brothers.
There were some hurried but furtive meetings around the transporters of various drivers as plans were hatched and alliances were formed.
A replay of last year's Superstock Teams Champs final between Hawke's Bay (Long, Tarrant and Ryan) and Christchurch (Robb and Ward) was one possibility, whilst in the Rees pit, a huge amount of work was going on to get Gary Davis back on the track to play a spoiler role.
It didn't take long for things to go pear-shaped, as Graeme Barr only got 70 metres before being parked on Jared Wade's bonnet, eliminating both cars.
A second red light was activated after four laps to remove the stricken car of Ethan Rees from the track, Robb's car only completed six laps after a valiant championship bid while Asher Rees slowed markedly in the latter laps of the race.
Through it all, Tarrant calmly made his way to the race lead, and held his nerve as the laps counted down.
A third red light with four laps to go saw Tarrant in the lead with teammates Ryan ahead of him and Long behind riding shotgun, but neither made progress from the restart, leaving Tarrant vulnerable to an attack.
However the attrition rate had told, no attack came, and Tarrant stormed to the line through a melee of cars right on the finish line, smashing his way past the Asher Rees car to win the race and the title.
When the dust settled, Tarrant had won the Elite Mechanical New Zealand Superstock Championship by a comfortable seven points from Adam Joblin, with Scott Joblin taking the third place on the podium.
A jubilant but humble Tarrant accepted the New Zealand Championship Cup from his friend and teammate Jason Long as his family and crew celebrated.
At a second presentation in the Charlie Berntsen Clubrooms the celebrations were less muted as Tarrant began to come to terms with his achievement.
After receiving the winner's trophy from Mike Mooney, managing director of Elite Mechanical and Engineering, he thanked his family, his crew and his sponsors, but reserved his warmest words for father Beatle Tarrant, and for his fellow Hawke's Bay drivers.
Beatle Tarrant was elated as his son enjoyed the spoils of victory, including the Championship cup filled to overflowing.
Joblin family patriarch Russell, himself a former New Zealand champion also wore a broad grim as sons Scott and Adam received their trophies.
This was the fourth successive season that a Joblin had stood on the podium, and the second time in four years that two Joblins had done so.
There's a Wanganui connection to Tarrant's win as well.
His car was originally built by Karl Jurgens, then sold to Hawke's Bay, then to the Levien family in Wellington and finally to Tarrant.
As the celebrations continued into the night, the Wanganui Stockcar and Speedway Club, under the leadership of Daryn Smith, can reflect on a job well done.
Thousands watched the event at the track, and it was livestreamed around the world to fans in Australia, the UK and the USA.
It takes a huge amount of work to organise an event of this size, but in true Wanganui fashion WSSC members rolled up their sleeves, and delivered a championship that will live long in the memory of those who watched it.
No one however will remember it for as long as Randal Tarrant, as he announced his arrival amongst the ranks of the best Superstock drivers in New Zealand.
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