SPEEDWAY: Nice Mike stocks up for intense battle

SHANE HURNDELL
Mike McLachlan is destined to follow in his father Phil's footsteps and become one of the nice guys on the Hawke's Bay Speedway Club scene.
You know the type. The blokes who are prepared to put in the hard yards behind the scenes, at working bees and before and after race meetings so everything runs smoothly.
But that's off the track at the ZM Meeanee Speedway. On the track during the 144-car Hawke's Bay Doors-sponsored national stockcar championships to be run tomorrow night and Saturday night it will be a different story ... there will be no room for nice guy stuff.
"It's going to be intense. It's our best opportunity to win the title and I'll be doing everything I can to make sure either myself or a clubmate will win it ," said McLachlan.
"All of the best drivers from Wellington, Palmerston North, Rotorua and Gisborne will be the fancied starters but with 24 of us from the Bay starting we can definitely attack the title," said the 2003-04 season Hawke's Bay champion.
While competing for the Meeanee Maulers at the national teams championships in Palmerston North a fortnight ago, McLachlan, 20, impressed with his halting ability. It resulted in plenty of damage to his 3.9-litre EA Falcon-powered car.
"I've spent the last two weeks getting it ready again. If I have to do it again to help a fellow Hawke's Bay driver win I will ... it's all part of the game," he said.
A plumber (when he's not racing or working on his car), McLachlan is in his fourth season in the stockcar class. He previously raced streetstocks for five years and in two attempts at a national title in both classes failed to qualify for the championship races.
McLachlan, who earlier this season spent a day draining the track and pit area of water so a meeting could take place, knows qualifying won't be easy. The 144 starters have been divided into six groups of 24 and three qualifying heats for each group will be raced tomorrow night and the top four cars from each group will qualify for Saturday night's three championship heats.
The driver who accumulates the most points in Saturday night's heats will take home the national title.
A regular Taradale division two club rugby frontrower in the winter, McLachlan said the fitness levels required for rugby help him with his speedway racing.
In addition to his Hawke's Bay title win a couple of seasons back, McLachlan rates qualifying for the New Zealand Grand Prix two years ago as another highlight in his racing career.
"I didn't do to well once I qualified ... I had my first rollover," he laughed.
However he didn't laugh too long. It was about that time in his interview with Hawke's Bay Today that he tensed up a little as he realised the nationals were less than 48 hours away.
"I'm a little bit nervous. There's a storm brewing with two big nights of racing and it's all stockcars ... none of those bullshit classes where there's no contact," he said referring to the fact that only stockcars will race tomorrow night and only super stocks will provide support races on Saturday night.
Yes McLachlan is starting to fire up for the biggest weekend of speedway in Hawke's Bay this season. But regardless of whether or not he captures the title, he'll be among the first, once his helmet is off, to help his father with those behind-the-scenes jobs when racing ends.