Speedway: Orr drives past deflated Gaskin

With just over a lap to go and with the rear bumper of race leader Richard Gaskin finally within striking distance, young Rotorua stock car racer Damian Orr had worked out his plan.
For the third time in Saturday night's 20-lap North Island Stock Car Championship final at Baypark Speedway, the red lights were on and the field was stationary. Orr was right on Gaskin's tail, the pair parked in turn four and just about to take the white flag.
"My plan was I was going to try and punt him off the end on the last lap," said Orr.
But Orr didn't need to force the issue. What he couldn't see was the right rear tyre of Gaskin's car was deflating and the green light meant a sluggish start and slow last lap for the Wellington-based former national champ.
"I didn't know he had a flat tyre until we took off, said Orr.
Orr immediately grabbed the lead and won by almost four seconds as Gaskin still made it home in second place ahead of Stratford's Murray Woods.
Gaskin had earned pole position for the final and led from green light till the final stoppage on lap 19. Orr, who started from grid six had very quickly raced into second and chased hard.
"I sort of held back a bit thinking he'd get held up and I could get through," said Orr, who races six-cylinder Ford powered car.
"After the white flag Paul Gaskin tried to hold me up but that didn't work."
Orr, 21, is yet another driver to graduate from the ranks of youth ministocks and the North Island victory is his first big stock car title win. However a runner-up finish at the NZ Grand Prix at Nelson in January provided a clue that a major win could be on the horizon.
Gaskin knew his hopes of winning the North Island title for the third time were literally deflating as he could feel the tyre going down. After the race he praised the efforts of fellow Wellington drivers.
"There were only four of us and 12 from Rotorua. The Wellington cars worked well together," said Gaskin.
The leading Baypark finisher was fourth placed Ryan Hunt (Tauranga) while Rotorua's strength was confirmed with Brent Stewart, Douglas Stanaway and Paul Mabey next home.
For the non-qualifiers the second-tier championship was won by Rotorua racer Scott Fredrickson with a last lap move past Wellington's Josh Kahui while the third-tier contest saw Rotorua drivers complete a sweep of the honours with Shaun Stewart taking a convincing win.
Debuting a new Corvette super saloon and racing for the first time in almost two seasons, Tauranga's three-time NZ champ Dean Waddell made an impressive return to the sport.
Battling with in-form front runner Matt Smith (Thames), Waddell won first time out, followed Smith home in a shortened second heat and completed his return with a feature race victory.
And a week after clinching the NZ saloon car title at Wellington, Brent McClymont (Tauranga) raced to the lead of the La-Z-Boy saloon car series with two wins and an eighth placing.