TOP OF THE HEAP: Brenden Gooch races in Gisborne in November 2018 with 1NZ on the door of his car. Picture by Liam Clayton
THIS weekend, Gisborne Speedway Club celebrates its first 50 years. In that time few — if any — Gisborne club drivers have been as successful as Brenden Gooch. His brother Travis put together this account of Brenden’s streetstock journey to date and has allowed The Herald to use it.
The Gooch family are well known within the speedway world, having been involved with Gisborne Speedway since the beginning, in 1971.
So when Brenden started racing streetstocks as an 18-year-old in 2000 it was no surprise — speedway was in his blood.
Fast forward 21 years and Brenden now sits at the top of the most successful Gisborne streetstock drivers, having stood on the podium 11 times at national championships.
The early days of Brenden’s speedway career were spent in the garage repairing his Holden HQ rather than doing victory laps with the chequered flag.
“He was rough on gear when he first started — a lot of work keeping the car on the track,” his father Neil Gooch said.
“We changed the HQ chassis three times in one season. But he was definitely a crowd-pleaser.”
After many years of picking up the stirrer’s spoon at the end-of-year prizegiving — five years in a row at one stage — Brenden started to finish at the pointy end of championships.
He picked up his first major title in 2007/08, winning the North Island streetstock champs in Gisborne.
The following season, Brenden made the trek south to Blenheim to contest the New Zealand champs. He won a run-off to claim third place overall behind two legends of the sport — Steve de Malmanche (11R) and Simon Bland (31C).
From there the results started to roll in, and Brenden was soon joined in the streetstock grade by brothers Cody, Sean and Travis.
Together they formed Gooch Motorsport, as it is known today.
The four brothers travel together, competing at championships all over the country, and winning a decent percentage of them.
From 2007 to 2013 Gooch Motorsport won five North Island titles in six seasons. Brenden claimed three and Travis two, with both Sean and Cody dictating the podium on many of those occasions.
The 2011/12 New Zealand champs in Gisborne were dominated by the local drivers. Gisborne cars filled the top six places. Gooch Motorsport ended with two cars on the podium. with Sean 2NZ and Brenden, 3NZ for the second time.
Brenden was now consistently among the silverware, winning numerous local and out-of-town championships.
To stay on pace and up with the times, Brenden decided in 2017 — after 17 years racing a Holden HQ — it was time for a change . . . to a 1998 VR Holden Commodore.
The new car brought instant success and would soon create history.
Brenden travelled to Invercargill to contest the 2017/18 New Zealand champs at Riverside Speedway.
This time Brenden did it alone. He was the only member of Gooch Motorsport to make the trip, driving the only Gisborne car to contest the title.
It has never been easy for a North Island driver to succeed down South, but after two nights of action-packed racing Brenden was crowned national champion.
The following season, the champs were held in Rotorua at Paradise Valley Raceway and Brenden, with the target of 1NZ on the side of the car, came agonisingly close to winning back-to-back titles.
Up on points and looking as if he would retain the title, Brenden was spun up on the last corner. It cost him a couple of points and he finished second overall.
At Meeanee in 2019/20, Brenden managed to finish third. In doing so, he became the first streetstock driver to podium at three consecutive New Zealand championships.
A much-respected driver throughout the country, Brenden has now raced on every track in New Zealand.
“I’d like to race at the South Island champs, as that is now possible for North Island cars,” he said.
“Also, winning the Grand Prix would be nice. It would complete the set of the big three titles. Maybe then it would be time to retire?”
With only Steve de Malmanche having had more podiums — he sits four ahead on 15 — the question is whether Brenden can overtake the veteran to make the claim of being the most successful New Zealand streetstock driver of all time.
With age on his side and with the form he is in, it seems that will be only a matter of time.