Innes and Lincoln the champions

GLADIATORS: The Gisborne Gladiators team members to take on the rest of the country in Stratford in the New Zealand Stockcar Teams Championship this month have been named. Hitting power will be key to their chances of bringing the trophy back to Gisborne. Just ask former team captain Peter Rees, seen here dealing to a Nelson car in a previous championship. His son Ethan will lead the Gladiators in Stratford. File picture

SPEEDWAY

GISBORNE sidecar swinger Callum Innes and Hawke’s Bay driver Justin Lincoln (26B) won the Stubbs Contractors Gisborne Sidecars Champion of Champions title at the Eastland Group Raceway on Saturday night.

Four rounds of qualifying races whittled the field down to five bikes for the final, and all were from outside the district.

Clive Ireland (56G) had mechanical problems after he and Chris Symon finished third in their first heat, first in their second and third again in their third.

“We couldn’t make the final after we hit the concrete pole-line in Race 4 and buckled our wheel,” Ireland said.

“It was a real shame. We were going well.”

Riders from Auckland took the other two podium positions.

“It was a good night’s racing,” Gisborne Speedway Club president Neil Gooch said.

“The sidechairs put on a really good display, nine of them altogether to decide the five-bike final.”

In the stockcars, James Kirk (31G), James Clarke (29G) and Jason Lovell (67G) shared the wins around. and Trevor McArthur also went well.

Streetstocks 3NZ Brent Reddington, of Hawke’s Bay, recorded a first and two seconds, adding to the competition in that class.

Cody Gooch (6G), Dave Hampton (88G) and Shaun Kingi (75G) also picked up a win each in an entertaining four-race series.

“Just shows how tight it was — four races and four different winners,” Neil Gooch said.

“In the saloons, the wins were shared among Kenny Dibben (21G), Daniel Wallace (15G), Paul Habib (7G) and Hawke’s Bay driver Kareena Annan (33B). They made the most of the absence of the Cook brothers.”

Dave Gooch (1NZ) had two wins in the production saloons, with Anton McKay (17G) and Sean Robertson (16G) also carrying the chequered flag round in the four-race series.

Gooch and his daughter Crystal (3NZ) did a lap of honour before the meeting started.

The club’s next meeting is on Saturday, February 23, with the saloon car champion of champions title and the Law-Cartmell Memorial Trophy for sidechairs on the line.

The Gisborne Gladiators team members for the New Zealand Stockcar Teams Championship in Stratford on February 22 and 23 were named at the weekend. They are: Ethan Rees (captain), James Kirk, James Clarke, Ben Holt and Mason O’Dwyer. The reserve will be Jordan Fleetwood.