Speedway: Drive to survive could pay dividends

ABOUT TIME: Grahame Strong believes his luck should change soon and tonight may be it. PHOTO/Geoff Bicknell

For Hawke's Bay super saloon driver Grahame Strong, tonight's meeting at Meeanee is all about producing a polished rehearsal.

"Obviously you want to finish as close to the front as possible at the end of the round, but I want to make sure I'm ready for the following meeting. That's the March 11 and 12 nationals and they will be my last nationals because I'm pulling the pin after 30 years in the sport in December," Strong said.

Tonight will be the eighth and final round of the Burger King Pro Dirt Series and former 3NZ Strong, 49, will be one of 22 starters. He is in 15th place and looking for a huge luck change.

"I don't know if it's because of the new major sponsor of my car but I've had one hell of a series," Strong quipped, referring to the fact his 408 Chev-powered car is sponsored by Hell Pizza.

He has had ignition switch problems, gear box issues, a ball joint drop out and he has been caught up in tangles at crucial times.

There have also been times when he hasn't had the rub of the green with officials including one occasion when he lost his temper because so much frustration had built up, which is uncharacteristic of the seasoned campaigner.

"My luck has got to change and then my confidence levels will change. At the moment I'm driving to survive rather than driving to win," Strong explained.

Under normal circumstances he could bank on the home track advantage but tonight's meeting will be his first at Meeanee since December 5.

"The track is going to be as blind to us locals as everyone else. Our class hasn't raced out here for so long."

Strong pointed out it's ironic he performed better in his first season back after a serious motor vehicle accident, on State Highway 2 about 16km south of Wairoa in January 2014, than he is this summer.

After the accident, when he was driving his Onekawa Metal Recyclers truck to Gisborne to collect metal, Strong was flown to Hawke's Bay Hospital with head and chest injuries.

"In my first season back I did really well including a second placing in the New Zealand Grand Prix. I really wanted to do well because I knew I could have been dead ... this season I've noticed I haven't been the same at work or out on the track and the after-effects of the accident could be contributing," Strong said.

Three drivers contracted to Bay Park, Terry Corin, Chris Cowling and series-defending champion and two-time national champion Mark Osborne, lead the series. Strong said the Hawke's Bay contingent will be doing their best to break that up.

National champion Steve Flynn is the best placed of the Bay competitors, in fifth.

His brother Grant is eighth, Mick Quin is 10th, Peter Black 16th and Strong's brother-in-law Johnny Browne, who has missed a couple of rounds, is 22nd.

"Johnny and I have been putting in the hours on my car this week. Hopefully the work will pay off and I will have an incident-free night," Strong said.

He predicted the Flynn brothers will dominate tonight's round.

Other classes running will be TQs, superstocks, streetstocks, ministocks and saloons.

Meanwhile the Meeanee Maulers will tackle the second night of the New Zealand Teams Stockcar Championships in Gisborne tonight. Randal Tarrant is captaining the Maulers team which also includes Keith Hingston, Tony Palmer, Josh Swannell, Marty Cooke and Jason Jones.