Action fast paced on Memorial Night

The Taranaki Saloon Championship ran on Saturday night along with Memorial Night for Stockcars, Superstocks and Saloons.

Stockcar trophies included the Wayne Trott Memorial for first year stockcar drivers. This year had 11 first year drivers hit the track for this memorial with a format of "winner takes all". Anton Scherrer driving Marcus Russ' (55s) machine took the win from Dale Michielsen (85s) in 2nd and James Fawkner (65s) finishing in 3rd.

The Warren Lowry Memorial was won by Mitch Vickery (26s). This award is chosen by the Lowry family and awarded to the person who stands out as being a menace on the track, with many drivers each season trying their hardest to get the trophy.

The Michael Walker Memorial saw drivers battle their way through the pack racing to win or place to gather points. Josh Walsh (35s) was the overall winner of the Michael Walker Memorial with a total of 77 points, followed by Todd Duthie (21s) in 2nd on 74 points and Monty Good (56s) in 3rd with 70 points. Monty won this Memorial last season and it was a great effort by him to be back on the podium again.

Superstocks also had a memorial night with the Gary and John Adamson Memorials and the Jason King Memorial.

The Gary Adamson Memorial was won by Phil Ogle (282s) for his driving skills and the Jason King Memorial was taken out by Nik Kiser.

The overall points winner of the John Adamson Memorial was Roydon Collingwood (7s) on 57 points, followed by Carl Shearer (75s) with 56 points and the only visiting Superstock driver for the night, Neil McCoard (16a) came in 3rd with 51 points.

Saloons had a very busy night with four races; three for the Taranaki Champs and one for the Barry Plews Memorial. Heat 1 for the Taranaki Champs had Paula (25s) and Mark Hinton (45s) get in a tangle, getting hooked together. They ended up on the infield until they managed to get unhooked. Paula headed back out on the track to finish the race with Mark remaining on the infield. While passing on the outside line, Jarrod MacBeth (908s) was rear tapped by driver coming off the concrete poleline which resulted in Jarrod hitting the wall on the back straight. This destroyed Jarrod's chances for the night's titles and possibly the rest of the season. Thomas Korff (16s) won the first heat. Heat 2 saw Richard Dreaver (7s) win the race with a huge lead but was relegated 1 position due to jumping the start. This meant Daniel Hinton (46s) gained the win. Heat 3 saw Alan Hooper (26s) brake hard causing his car to ride up on to the bonnets of Thomas Korff (16s) and Richard Dreaver (7s). Joe Ingram (27s) hit the wall in turn 1 which brought the yellows on. Once the race resumed it was obvious that Craig Korff (8s) had some damage in the rear of his car. The winner of heat 3 was Russell Gorrie (51s). The Taranaki Saloon Champ for 2014/15 is Thomas Korff (16s) on 30 points, followed by Daniel Hinton (46s) on 26 points and 3rd went to Richard Dreaver (7s) with 25 points.

The Barry Plews Memorial was awarded to the winner of the 4th Saloon race which was a complete reverse grid of the finishing positions in the Taranaki Saloon Champs. This saw Thomas Korff (16s) starting off the back of the grid and managing to pass the whole pack in the equivalent of 2 laps and he made it to the podium in 1st place.

On Sunday Paula Hinton (25s) and Ash Cook (4s) headed to Kihikihi to represent Stratford in the annual Saloon Battle of the Sexes which pits boys against girls over 3 races for points. There was some brilliant driving from both Stratford drivers, and the determination of the girls saw them winning the overall title for the year, with a total of 204 points, with the boys following very closely with 202 points.

The Stratford Stormers team also headed to Kihikihi to represent Stratford in the 4-Way Team Challenge. The Stormers team included Andrew Dodunski (402s), Damian Hiestand (403s), Todd Duthie (404s), Haydin Barker (405s) and Shane Hurliman (409s). The Stormers were up against the Huntly Hawks in the first race and this saw Todd Duthie (404s) lose his right rear wheel, causing him to retire to the infield, leaving Stratford 3 cars to battle it out with the Hawks. Damian Hiestand (403s) sat out the first race with Shane Hurliman (409) taking the win for the Stormers. Our next team's race saw the Stormers versus the North Island Select Team which meant they were to face another Stratford driver; Tyler Walker (33s) racing for the North Island Select Team. Todd Duthie (404s) sat out this race with too much damage so Damian (403s) took to the track and dished out a great hit on Tyler (33s) in the first corner with Haydin Barker (405s) coming in and pushing Tyler (33s) into the wall. Shane (409) put a hard hit on Ben Patrick's (64h) which then led Ben to roll himself over. Andrew (402s) drove over the top of Gary Lonergan's (95a) wheel crushing & buckling it. Shane Hurliman (409s) also took this win for the Stratford Stormers giving them the overall win of the 4-Way Teams Challenge.