Oceanview Speedway finale in Whanganui warms up a clear autumn night

3NZ success - Zane Dykstra had an excellent night, picking up two race wins and second place overall in the West Coast Superstocks. Photo / Flash Me Photography

Starting under warm autumn sunshine and ending under a clear night sky, Fast Lane Spares Oceanview Family Speedway’s season finale provided plenty of hot action on the track.

By the end of the meeting, seven titles had been handed out and the good crowd had been rewarded with plenty of thrills and spills.

It brought down the curtain on a season that saw the stocks of the Wanganui Stockcar and Speedway Club rise, with the most successful run in many years.

The meeting started with a moment’s silence to remember six of the club’s stalwarts: Noel Kensington, George Podjursky, Craig Heibner, Karl Barritt, Ray Purdy and Charlie Berntsen.

The recent deaths of Kevin Rose, father of sidecar duo Aaron and Bryce Rose, and Wellington-based commentator Allan Buxton, who had a long association with Oceanview, were also acknowledged, while the Classic Stockcars raced with the grid one position empty all night as a mark of respect to Keith Turner, who passed away in April 2023.

An excellent field of 21 Superstocks faced the starter for the West Coast Championship, with each heat serving as a memorial race.

Local driver Bradley Kendall was rolled on the opening lap, after which three-time 1NZ Asher Rees and 3NZ Zane Dykstra showed their class in a battle during the first eight laps, before Rees withdrew with engine issues that would end his night.

Dykstra won the George Podjursky Memorial from a fast-finishing Peter Rees, with Palmerston North driver Brett Hislop coming home in third place.

The Rees show continued in race two, the Noel Kensington Memorial, with Ethan Rees winning from his father and Kaelin Mooney coming home in third just ahead of Callum Sturzaker. The Wanganui Vulcans team member was impressive on his first night in the Mitch Vickery car, getting on the pace quickly.

Two runner-up finishes had Peter Rees topping the West Coast Superstocks points after two heats, four points ahead of Mooney, Ethan Rees, Dykstra and Jack Miers, who were all poised to challenge should the veteran falter in the final heat.

Peter Rees is a cool customer though, and a third place in the final race, the Craig Heibner Memorial gave him the title overall. Zane Dykstra and Trent James went hard at one another all race, with a deft move by Dykstra flicking James offline on the final corner to take the win.

That was enough to give the 3NZ driver second place overall behind the wily Himatangi racecar builder with Ethan, the youngest of the Rees clan, claiming the third step of the podium.

77P rolls - Shane McEwan went for a wild ride in his Adult Ministock. Photo / Flash Me Photography

One of four drivers doing double duty, Kaelin Mooney took out the first heat of the Charlie Berntsen Stockcars ahead of Kihikihi-contracted Beau McLeod, 3NZ Cody Lockett, Asher Rees and Sturzaker after an action-packed race with team tactics apparent.

Palmerston North speedster Taylor Lampp took out the second heat ahead of Lockett, Mark Johnston, Sturzaker and Hailey James.

Brad Fairweather became another casualty of the wall, rolling on the back straight, while first heat runner-up McLeod was eliminated early on.

Wanganui drivers treasure The Charlie, and after two heats the odds were strong the coveted trophy would stay in town, with Lockett leading the points ahead of Mooney, Sturzaker James and Johnston, and Rees the best of the visitors 12 points back in sixth place.

Only 19 of the original 30 cars made the grid for the final heat, with Johnston driving an excellent race to win from Sturzaker and Lampp, but a fourth-place finish ahead of Mooney in fifth was enough to give Lockett another trophy in what has been a breakout season for the young Wanganui driver.

Sturzaker leap-frogged his Vulcans teammate Mooney to finish second overall, with Mark Johnston and Hailey James narrowly missing podium places in a Wanganui shutout.

Charlie Berntsen would have been well pleased with both the result and the robust nature of the racing, where there was plenty of contact.

The Karl Barritt Memorial Sidecars is always a keenly contested event and Saturday night was no exception for a competitive field of 10 bikes.

Rob Miller and Jaxon Hannan were the top qualifiers with three wins from three, taking out the third heat just ahead of Aaron and Bryce Rose.

With everything to race for in the four-lap final, Miller and Hannan nailed the start, while the Rose brothers faltered momentarily and dropped to fourth at the opening corner.

But racing on emotion and fumes after a rollercoaster week, the Roses picked off two bikes in a determined chase to finish just behind Miller with Kieran “Wingnut” Payne and Jared Hepburn in third place.

Brent Hackett continued his recent fine form to win his third championship in a week, taking out the Ray Purdy Memorial Production Saloons ahead of teammate and rival Ray Jaggard and the evergreen Shayne Hughes.

Hackett won the first two heats and finished second to Jaggard in the third, and on his way to the title broke Grant Loveridge’s longstanding lap record with a 17.009-second lap.

The final championship was the Heiby Memorial Youth Ministocks, won for a second year in succession by Rotorua’s George Crawford ahead of locals Fletcher Hoskins and Harry Jurgens.

A major pile-up in heat two saw Paige Smith and Tyler Walker squeezed up the wall, requiring a lengthy recovery process, although neither driver was injured.

A massive end-over-end rollover by Palmerston North Adult Ministock driver Shane McEwan was the most spectacular moment of the night, as race wins were shared by Riki-Lee Kauri, Stephen Mann and Shonn Black.

It was a fitting end to an outstanding season at Oceanview, and although the racing has finished for winter the hard work is just beginning, with the remainder of the “old” concrete wall to be demolished and the new wall extended right around the track.

Roll on October.