SPEEDWAY: O'Brien keeps it in the family

SHANE HURNDELL
The trophy engraver will have no trouble with the spelling of the latest Hawke's Bay stockcar champion ... it's an O'Brien again.
"Yeah it's great to keep it in the family and in the team," Regan O'Brien (pictured below) said after receiving the trophy at ZM Meeanee Speedway on Saturday night.
He is a cousin of last year's winner Dennis O'Brien Jr. Dennis' father Dennis Sr and brother Jason are both two-time winners of the trophy and Dennis is also a former driver for the Thirsty Whale-FPG-sponsored team which O'Brien is representing for the first time this season.
A punctured right rear tyre for the final five laps of the third and final 12-lap heat could have ruined O'Brien's hopes but he managed to keep circulating and secure a top five finish which he needed to win the action-packed 22-car championship.
"I've got to thank my fellow Hawke's Bay drivers because I was the only one from the team out there tonight with Rob injured and Tony on holiday," he said referring to Rob Simmons who is out for the remainder of the season with an ankle injury and Tony Darroch who is on holiday.
"I'm a lover now ... not a fighter," quipped O'Brien, 27, who is in his seventh season in the class.
So often in the past O'Brien has adopted a stirring role rather than a flag-chasing one. There were plenty of stirrers in the Weldwell Championship but Mike McLachan fully deserved the $300 cash prize for the best roll overs.
He did several to help O'Brien on his way to the championship and in the final heat shoved clubmate Michael Smith up the wall and managed to push him around on top of the wall for almost half a lap.
McLachlan welcomed the cash as he will be searching for a new helmet this week after the bumper of clubmate Tony Palmer came inside his car and damaged his helmet.
With fellow Hawke's Bay drivers Jason Palamountain and Marty Cooke finishing second and third respectively the Bay lads proved they will be a force at the national teams championships in Wellington in a fortnight.
There was no shortage of action in the other classes. Craig Todd was one of a couple of TQ drivers to flip or roll. His Hawke's Bay clubmate Travis Dorward did well to win the feature race in his first season back after spending a couple in semi-retirement.
Hawke's Bay's Alice Bayley deserved her driver of the night award in the ministock class after her first roll over. Bede Anderson took out his third feature race of the season in this class and continued his good form displayed the previous week when he won the Gisborne Ministock Champs.
Spectators witnessed the most spectacular sidechair races of the season with Hawke's Bay crews Troy Devery and Darrin Edmonds and Russell Stuart and Andrew Parker doing well to win two of their three heats in their respective groups. Veteran Hawke's Bay super stock driver Paul Demanser oozed class as he drove the car of his injured clubmate John Hynd to two firsts and a third placing.
As one wag in the crowd commented: "I hope John gets a video of this meeting because that's how his car should be driven."
Ronnie Towler, the son of former national streetstock champion Bill Towler, did well to collect two wins and a second placing in their class. No prizes for guessing who beat him in the feature ... yes his old man.