All of the preparation and hard work for Stratford Speedway's opening night was put on full display Saturday night as the speedway season kicked off with good fields in all classes. The anticipation and excitement could be felt throughout the pits all afternoon.
To start the season Saloons and Superstocks ran for their City of New Plymouth Classic title's with a good field of cars in both classes. Supporting classes were stockcars, midgets and youth ministocks. Streetstocks were scheduled to be on the program but the start to their season was temporarily put on hold to ensure they could meet the new safety rules that came into play over the past two weeks.
Superstocks put on a show of hard charging racing with a few visiting drivers including Dale Robertson (89w) from Wellington, Bernie Fox (42a) from Auckland and Richard Watkins (99v) from Wanganui who were all challenged by the local drivers. Mitch Vickery (26s) showed the Superstock class that he would be a good contender in his first season in the class. His show of fast paced racing and fearlessness when it comes to shoving cars out of his way gave Mitch the win in the City of New Plymouth Classic with a total of 51 points. Carl Shearer (75s) took 2nd place on 49 points and Logan Sharpe 3rd with 45 points.
Saloons saw new driver Mike White (5s) hit the track at race pace for the first time, running off the back as he becomes familiar with dirt track racing and the track conditions. Blake Hooper (12s) sadly hit the wall coming into turn two after making a pass on Russell Gorrie (51s). A run off was needed to determine the winner of the City of New Plymouth Classic with Joe Ingram (27s) and Craig Korff (8s) tied on 25 points. Craig (8s) won the run off, taking home the title, with Joe (27s) 2nd place and Mark Hinton (45s) taking 3rd.
Early in the night, the club received a phone call from a local motel with some guests who wanted to know what the roaring noise was surrounding Stratford. The Samoan Hockey team, who were in Stratford for the 2015 Oceania Cup, were welcomed and hosted at the track by club president, Richard Kettle. The players, coaches and supporters thoroughly enjoyed learning all about speedway.
