Motorsport: Kiwis take transtasman crown

Photo / Hawke's Bay Today

The New Zealand Super Saloon Sedan team have emerged victorious in another transtasman battle against Australia in the historic, first ever Australia versus New Zealand Sedan Challenge.

Unfortunately for the Aussies, rain washed out the final two rounds and curtailed their surge at the Kiwis, making them the inaugural series champions.

"This was a huge undertaking to get this to happen, but the racing has been absolutely brilliant and the challenge has been fought out in the best possible spirit," said series co-organiser Wayne Belk.

"The Aussies were making a late charge to the line as we saw at Bacchus Marsh [Rolling Thunder Raceway, where the Aussies took the top four positions and more than halved the points margin] but the unusual weather has unfortunately killed off the last two rounds, which I'm sure would have seen the championship end in a nail-biter.

"Congratulations to our visitors, though, they had a great team spirit, drove as a team and deservedly will take home the hardware."

"It's been a lot of fun ... to get to experience some new tracks and race against some new drivers and against those Late Model Sedans," said New Zealand team captain Dennis Bolt. "Congratulations to all of the Aussies, they drove really well and we all raced really cleanly together and it was fantastic to race against them.

"If not for some bad luck and unreliability it may have been much closer in the end, but we are now really looking forward to hosting this great bunch of racers back home in New Zealand next year."

Co-organiser Steve Williams took time off from his main gig as Tiger Woods' caddy to race with the Kiwis and was also pleased with the result.

"It's been a huge amount of work to get this off the ground in such a short space of time and I really want to thank the competitors, the crews, the fans and the tracks that took an unknown product and committed to it," he said.

"I think this has really helped lift the profile of both Super Saloons and Late Models and has added another dimension to the sporting and speedway rivalry that exists between our two great nations.

"It hasn't been easy for our guys having to work out of the back of a car transporter but they did it admirably and can be proud of the effort that they put in to keep all 10 cars running each and every night, which I think in the end was the difference.

"The only aspect that was disappointing was that we didn't get to do the last two shows, but you can't control the weather."

While the Kiwis had travelled a long way to race, so too had many of the Aussies, especially drivers from the West Australia - Warren Oldfield and Michael Holmes - and the Queenslanders Blair Granger and Geoff Phillips.

"The dedication of both teams is a great reflection on the sport of speedway and one of the things that makes it such a great sport to be part of," said Belk.

COMPETITORS

New Zealand team:
Brent Emerson, Shane McIntyre, Dennis Bolt (captain), Craig Cardwell, Steve Williams, Ian Burson, Ben Harding, Peter Hemi, Paddy North and Richie Taylor.

Australian team:
Geoff Phillips, Lucas Roberts, Blair Granger, Mat Crimmins, Darryl Grimson, Warren Oldfield, Gary Bryans, John McKay, Michael Holmes and Ross Nicastri.

Results:
* Round 1, Mildura: 1st Craig Cardwell (NZ), 2nd Steve Williams (NZ), 3rd Michael Holmes (AUS).
* Round 2, Swan Hill: 1st Warren Oldfield (AUS), 2nd Michael Holmes (AUS). 3rd Brent Emerson (NZ).
* Round 3, Moama: 1st Warren Oldfield (AUS), 2nd Michael Holmes (AUS). 3rd Steve Williams (NZ).
* Round 4, Rolling Thunder Raceway: 1st Warren Oldfield (AUS), 2nd Geoff Phillips (AUS), 3rd Michael Holmes (AUS).