Motorsport: Spike's no drag

There was also local success in a very different two-wheel arena last weekend with Mt Maunganui's Spike Allen clinching the Competition Bike title at the last round of the national drag racing series at Meremere.
With a commanding points lead after the Motueka opening round and February's Northern Nationals, Allen secured the title by reaching the semifinal at Sunday's NZ Nationals at Meremere where a red light ended his progress.
Earlier in the meeting, he had re-set the speed record for the B/Altered Bike category at 138.77mph (223km/h) on his Harley Davidson Destroyer. He already held the elapsed time and speed records for the class.
Allen only began drag racing last season and says preparation has been a key to his success.
"We did a lot of planning before the season and made sure everything was right on the bike. We didn't have any breakages," he said.
Success in competition biking comes down to consistently producing times as close to the national record (class index) as possible.
"It's all about hitting your gear shift points just right," Allen said. "But the hardest thing for me has been sitting on the start line with the throttle fully open and letting the clutch go. It takes a long time to get your head around doing that."
With the national title and class records under his belt, Allen is already thinking about the next season.
"I'm looking at stepping up to something faster next year," said Allen.
The Nationals produced mixed fortunes for local racers. Tauranga's Steve Milne (69 Camaro) and Karen Hay (27 T Roadster ) were sidelined by qualifying day problems.
But there was a long-awaited milestone for Te Puke's Dave Gauld when he drove his supercharged Fiat Topolino altered into the seven second bracket for the first time, clocking a 7.808s pass.
Frost heads northTauranga superbike racer Sloan Frost is back in action on his BMW S1000RR this weekend when the Castrol NZ Superbike Championship begins the North Island portion of the series.
After three rounds at South Island tracks, the Hampton Downs venue hosts round four of the series with Hamilton's Andrew Stroud (Suzuki) leading the superbike standings on 120 points from Australian rival Robbie Bugden on 77 points.
A battle for the podium sees Hayden Fitzgerald (New Plymouth) and James Smith (Christchurch) tied on 57 points while Frost is just one point further back in fifth place. The Hampton Downs event is followed by the final round at Manfeild on April 3.
Te Puke kartingSome of New Zealand's best karting talent is in action this weekend at Fagans Valley Raceway near Te Puke.
The BOP Kart Club is hosting round three of the Right Karts Kartstars 2011 Rotax Max Challenge of New Zealand, a six-round series that offers the winners a chance to compete at the Rotax World Finals later this year.
The series includes three Rotax classes - Motorex Rotax Max Light, Strata Networks Rotax Max Heavy and Arai Helmets Formula Junior - and the preceding rounds have been raced at Palmerston North and Tokoroa.
Auckland's Kinsman brothers, Daniel and Mathew, are the points leaders in the Lights category after two rounds while Aaron Cunningham holds the lead in the Heavy class.
A tight battle is being fought in Formula Junior with Christchurch racer James Munro out in front by two points over Hamilton's Rhys Tinney.
Speedway actionThe other weekend motorsport action around the Bay of Plenty includes speedway at Baypark on Saturday night where one of the ramp derby novelty events is the main attraction along with the final round of the La-Z-Boy saloon car series.
On Sunday, Motorsport BOP runs its annual tarmac sprint event on a 2.2km section of Old Coach Rd. The Pukehina School is the pit area and start-finish venue with practice runs to start at 10am.