Three Gisborne combinations made the finals.
Stuart Priest and Kerwin Arnaboldi (52G) were the best of the locals.
Callum Innes and Jason Rees (22G) also made the final, along with Palmerston North-contracted Gisborne riders Rob Miller and “Red” George (8P).
Miller and George were unbeaten after two rounds but had a poor third race in which they finished last.
“I over-rode it, went too hard and it cost us,” said Miller.
That was the turning point for them and they finished on six points.
“Red and I were a bit gutted. We were up there on points until that third heat.”
Priest and Arnaboldi rode well to finish on eight points.
Moohan said he and swinger Mason were rapt to win their first NZ championship.
“We've wanted to win this title real bad,” a delighted Moohan told The Herald.
The starts the pair produced were outstanding in the finals series.
“We've been working on our gates (starts) all season and today we finally got it right.”
The winners have been together as a combination for three years and Moohan said they would be back to defend the title.
“Here's to next year for sure.”
Racing was disrupted by two crashes.
The first of those, in qualifying, was a collision between two bikes just after the start of a heat.
Auckland's Peter Adams and Jason Hira (6A) went careering off and into the infield and the bike flew into the air and landed on them.
Fortunately they were able to walk away and not only kept on racing, but made the finals and only missed a run-off for third by a point.
The other crash happened during the finals series. Brothers Aaron and Bryce Rose from Whanganui (34V) flipped and spun several times in the air going into pit corner.
Both were taken to Gisborne Hospital for treatment, one with a serious ankle injury and the other with sore ribs.
Other than that unfortunate incident, Gisborne Speedway Club president Clyde McGrory said it was “a fantastic meeting”.
“The racing was the fastest sidecar racing we have seen on the track.
“Track conditions were a bit challenging towards the end of the night but the riders coped OK, and we got some really good comments about the track.
“We also got good feedback from the competitors about the huge effort the club put into staging the meeting for a second time after our earlier rain-off.”
McGrory said the performance of Priest and Arnaboldi was a highlight for the club.
“They were only a few points away from getting on the podium.”
In other racing, McGrory said the stockcars turned it on in the support programme.
“We had a huge field in the stocks, and the streetstocks best pairs (won by Brenden Gooch and Sammy Durston) was very exciting.”
Dana Kingsbeer's drive in heat 3 of the stockcars was outstanding only for Ben Holt to catch her.
Youngster Bailey Curtis did brilliantly in a saloon car race to stay in front of hard-charging brothers Ethan and Daniel Cook .
• The club's next meeting on March 21 will feature the teams' demolition derby.
