Super saloons ready to rumble

PRIMED FOR SPEED: The BK Pro Dirt Super Saloon Series roars out on to the Gisborne Speedway Club track tomorrow night and former Gisborne driver Dan Corrin (124M) is keen to race in front of his old home crowd. File picture by Liam Clayton

SPEEDWAY

A BIG field of V8 “big grunters” will charge round the banked track at the Eastland Group Raceway tomorrow night as the fiercely fought Burger King Pro Dirt Super Saloon Series hits town.

Gisborne Speedway Club scored this season’s hosting rights for the series seventh round, to be sponsored by Heavy Equipment Services.

Former Gisborne driver Dan Corrin (124M), who races out of Bay Park at Mount Maunganui, hopes to be among the starters tomorrow night.

“I broke a thumb driving in a race a few weeks ago, but — fingers crossed — I will be good to go tomorrow night,” Corrin said.

He is in 17th place out of 27 entries.

“We’ve had loads of drama this season,” Corrin said.

“We blew an engine in the first round and got another one into the car, but we had endless troubles with it.

“Now we’ve got on top of it.

“So, we’ve had lots of bad luck but I’m hoping that will change on my former home track tomorrow night.

“I’m out of the overall points race but I’m still hoping to go out and get some wins tomorrow night.”

The other former Gisborne driver traditionally in the series — Brent Emerson (7M), also from the Mount — will not be racing tomorrow.

“I’m coming down, though, to help out another driver,” he said.

“I decided not to do the series this year.”

The BK Pro Dirt series points table after six rounds has 2NZ Chris Cowling from the Mount on top on 1282, followed by Steve Flynn (5B) from Hawke’s Bay on 1163, Sam Waddell (18M) from the Mount on 1144, 1NZ Steve Cowling on 1116, Grant Flynn (6B) on 996 and Mark Osborne (16M) on 966.

“It’s a big honour for the club to be part of the Pro Dirt circuit this year,” Gisborne Speedway Club president Neil Gooch said.

“The super saloons are always an absolute spectacle.”

Gooch said a lot of work had been done on the track since last weekend to prepare it for two-lane racing tomorrow night.

“That is to make the surface even right across the track from the pole line to the wall, to encourage drivers to drive in the outside lane.”

The super saloons will take part in a two-lap time trial at the start of the night to decide the make-up of the three racing groups.

“We are unsure how many of the 27 cars in the series will be here, but we expect at least 20,” Gooch said.

They will race over three heats in their groups.

“Then there will be a pole shuffle drive-off between the top 12 cars to decide grid positions for a 30-lap main final.”

There will also be a final for the second-tier drivers who do not qualify for the main event.

The support programme includes ministocks, sidecars, streetstocks and stockcars.

“It will be a big night for the club and the fans,” Gooch said.

The gates to the raceway open at 6pm tomorrow.

A grand parade of all the competing super saloon series cars and drivers will be held at 6.45pm, and the first race will start at 7pm.