MOTORSPORT - Quick stocking thriller

ANENDRA SINGH
It's not always practical nor appropriate to turn back the pages of time but there's nothing to stop people from reliving a happy moment.
In the case of Steve Jude, 36, of Hastings, it was far from the illustrious ending but his first race at the ZM Meeanee Speedway, in Napier, is still etched on his mind.
It was quite daunting, in fact, for the then 19-year-old as he sat proudly on the track in his B-grade class stockcar worth only $700.
"Here I was sitting next to these big name drivers like Shane Penn," the Hastings mechanic tells SportToday, the grin on his face disguising the ensuing concrete mixer scenario as he got "bunkered around" because his fledgling machine just didn't have enough juice to mix it with the big boys.
"Back in those days all the classes were lumped together so I found myself in the start group next to Shane.
"I didn't finish but I loved it so much that I did it for the next 12 years," says Jude, who will find himself in the fray alongside Bay defending champion, Penn, during tonight's Bermuda Lifestyle Hawke's Bay Superstock Championship at Meeanee.
Among the at least 17 starters in the superstock class is Penn's fellow Palmerston North-contracted driver, Peter Rees, who raced with him at the September World Championship in the United Kingdom. The Palmy pair of Kim Lace and Andy McCabe (of Hawke's Bay) must fancy their chances of lifting the silverware, something the Bay's Jude, John Hynd and Shane Mellsop and Joe Farram will be mindful of.
The support classes are stockcars, ministocks, TQs, sidechairs, kiwilites and saloons.
In fact, Jude is coming back from a six-year spell of jetboat racing, after selling his previous stockcar to ply the waters of Ngaruroro, Wanganui and South Island venues.
"It was way too expensive [speedway] and you needed about $100,000 to be in the game," says Jude, who still loves the aquatic thrill and intends to keep it going.
In fact, he couldn't get speedway completely out of his system during his self-imposed exile. Jude frequently found himself in the pitstop helping out fellow friends and drivers he had been sponsoring over the years through his mechanical business.
That kept his juices flowing until painting contractor Les Manley, of Hastings, turned up at his doorstep with a proposition to buy a Gordge Copy Superstock - a former champion mean machine modelled on the prototype that Murray Gordge, of Taranaki, built.
Two months ago the pair drove to Palmerston North to pick up the hunk of a metal beast whose chest heaves to the guttural drone of the Hartley Nissan V8 engine, packing a 460 horsepower grunt.
Over a fortnight Jude stripped the engine and rebuilt it while Manley took care of the paintwork, the sponsors and the trimmings, such as signwriting. The car is part of the Etaine (named after a French rose because they beat the All Blacks this year in the World Cup) Racing Team stable.
Darcy Hunter, of Rotorua, won the New Zealand Championship title in it in 1995. Kyle Fraser, of Rotorua, went on to win three titles in it in the New Zealand Teams Racing event held annually in Palmerston North for the Bay Park Team.
Like any driver, Jude is indebted to his sponsors - Stephen Hill Motors, VJ Distributors, Total Oils, Tumu Timbers, Lacquerland, Independent Parts, Steelworx, CSM Signs and Mag and Turbo.
After finishing his work at his garage at 5pm, Jude rushes home, wolfs down his dinner and disappears into the shed behind his home until 1.30am the next day. He insists that's part of the routine for any serious stockcar driver.
His dedication and the car's reputation indicate some memorable podium finishes are in the offing. In the last club meeting at Meeanee he won the first race, was runner-up in the second but fell victim to a flat tyre in the third one.
"I'm still learning to drive it. I'm a bit rusty and cars have changed in the six years I've been away - they go a lot faster.
"We'll be fine-tuning it for at least another month and hopefully it will be more competitive," the former Hawke's Bay and East Coast Championship winner says. He also finished ninth in a field of 93 in the 2001 nationals.
Son of the late David and Judy Jude, who were farmers at Argyll, Jude appreciates all his non-petrolhead parents have done for the former Napier Boys' High School pupil.
"In every car (except the current one) I've put the words in memory of him. He used to take us to race meetings. Mum follows me around everywhere right now and for several years she was a volunteer for speedway."
On Boxing Day, Judy will be at the North Island Superstock Championship in Rotorua to support her son.
In fact, Jude's wife, Natasha and two children, eight-year-old Ashley and nine-year-old Daniel, will support him tonight at Meeanee for the first time since his comeback.
In his debut season as a driver, Jude fondly recalls his stockcar blowing its gaskets three times that year.
"We'd just go to wreckers and buy another engine for just $100. These days you can't even buy a bolt for that much."