Sports briefs

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Mercantile badmintonBIZminton 2 started last Wednesday night, with enthusiasm and a lot of laughs. Many of the teams had played in BIZminton in August.

Some close matches had only a point separating the teams, but some mismatches were also played.

Week 1 results: Monday Madness def Puatai Whanau 4 matches to 2; T Dub Players def 101s 3-3, on countback of points (141-121); High Flyers def Salties 4-2; Nati Rangi Night Blades def Bitzas 4-2.

The draw for tomorrow night, at the Badminton Centre

6pm: Court 1, 101s v Monday Madness; C2, T Dub Playaz v Puatai Whanau; C3, High Flyers v Shuttle Smashers; C4, Salties v Bitzas.

7pm: C3 and C4, Nati Rangi Night Blades v Shuttle Smashers.

Duty team: Nati Rangi Night Blades (sweep courts at end of night).

Reminder: Players cannot play with the same partner twice.

Winning start for local driversGISBORNE speedway racers started their season with feature race wins at the Meeanee Speedway in Hawke’s Bay and at Bay Park in Mt Maunganui at the weekend.

Reece Lister (8G) won the six-shooter feature race at Bay Park on Saturday night. Angus Briant (81G) won the feature race at Meeanee on Sunday night, and also set the fastest lap-time for youth ministocks at the track. Ryan MacGregor (74G) was second in the TQ feature at the same meeting.

The Eastland Group Raceway season opens with the Jukes Carriers family fireworks show on November 4.