A lot of hard work has been going on at Gisborne Speedway as club members prepare for the start of the season early in November. Bryan Hughes and son and club president Sam Hughes and club member Spooky were on the job this week, working on the foundations for the new seating along the back straight. Photo / Murray Robertson
A lot of hard work has been going on at Gisborne Speedway as club members prepare for the start of the season early in November. Bryan Hughes and son and club president Sam Hughes and club member Spooky were on the job this week, working on the foundations for the new seating along the back straight. Photo / Murray Robertson
Gisborne Speedway Club members have been flat out with track and spectator space work as they prepare for the start of the 2024-2025 season.
It will kick off in explosive style with the annual Jukes Carriers Guy Fawkes meeting on November 2.
Re-elected club president Sam Hughes said a lot of work had been done on the track and surrounds during winter and early spring, and that work continued at pace.
“We’ve put a lot of new fill material on to the track to get it back to the type of gradient we want,” he said. “That work’s pretty much done and it’s looking really sharp.
“We’ve also finished off the new toilet blocks and we’re in the process of installing new plastic bucket seating on the grandstand along the back straight side of the track.”
Hughes and some other club members were there this week pouring the concrete base for the new seating.
The foundations are being laid for the new plastic bucket seating to be installed along the back straight side of the Gisborne Speedway track. The clip-on seats are pictured left on the ground. Photo / Murray Robertson
Hughes said the club committee was rapt with how the 2023-24 season went.
“Our ticket sales were up, along with our membership. It ticked along quite nicely.”
The newly elected committee for this season was much the same as last year, Hughes said.
“Machinery-wise for this coming season, our local car and driver numbers are about the same – perhaps slightly down in a couple of classes where some people have been struggling for money.
“But we’ve got strong interest from out of town.
“The F2 midgets will be back. We’ve got a big youth mini-stock meeting. The sprint cars are coming with Shane van Gisbergen and guys from the USA. We’ve got a two-night superstock series in December, and we will host the North Island superstocks championships.”
“Peter Rees is really excited about how the superstocks look this season. The North Islands will be a stepping stone to getting the New Zealand championships here in a couple of years.”
The Rees family will all be racing with a G on their cars this year.
“It’s been confirmed that current 1NZ superstocker Asher Rees will race for the Gisborne club this season,” Hughes said. “So you will have Asher, Pete and Ethan all going hard for Gizzy, which is fantastic.
“It’s going to be a great season we reckon and we cannot wait to get started on November 2.”
