The sun came out for Stratford Speedway

The days building up to this meeting tested everyone's patience as it continuously rained for most of the week leading up to race day but on Saturday, the sun came out and we were all go. A busy but brilliant meeting was scheduled with the Modified class finally running for their Taranaki Championship and the Ginge Hayward Memorial, Youth Ministocks running for their City of New Plymouth Classic after being rained out earlier in March. Midgets ran for their King of the Mountain Champs and Saloons for Best in the West Champs their last title scheduled for the season at home.

The racing for the Saloons was going to prove to be challenging for all the drivers, with only 8 cars lining up for the night. One driver that stood out was Thomas Korff (16s) who has driven the wheels of his car consistently this season & did not disappoint the spectators with his skill driving the outside line and making some brilliant passing moves.

Joe Ingram (27s) who this season has made up for his not so good season last year took the first win with a lead of 0.58 seconds on Ali Stewart (95s) finishing in 2nd and Thomas in 3rd.

Heat 2 saw Mark Hinton (45s) take the lead from the drop of the flag but lost it to Thomas who went around the outside to gain the lead and win the race with a 2.2 second lead on Mark who finished in 2nd place, Ali Stewart took 3rd.

Heat 3 was going to be tough with the points being so close. Ali (13 points) was starting on grid 1, with Joe (11 points) on grid 2 & Thomas (14 points) on grid 3. Ali took the lead and held on for a few laps until Thomas made another brilliant pass on him. Ali managed to cross the line in 3rd place, but drove straight into the wall after the chequered flag. Thomas took 1st place, with Craig Korff (8s) finishing in 2nd. These results left Craig and Joe tied on 16 points so a run-off was needed to determine 3rd and 4th places. Craig won the coin toss and chose pole position with Joe on the outside. Joe won the run-off which gave him 3rd in Best in the West with Ali in 2nd place and Thomas with another title to add to his list.

The Modifieds started the night with 7 cars, including crowd favourites John "Jacko" Jackson (71s) and Bunter Pierce (67s). The line-up also included Farron Lowry (31s), Jacob Ward (77s), Paul Ward (55s), Ian Crawford (22s) and the only out of town visitor Jacob Free (39w). Heat 1 saw Bunter win with a 0.8 second lead on team mate Farron and Jacko finishing in 3rd.

Heat 2 saw Farron Lowry take the win with Jacko in 2nd and Paul Ward in 3rd place. With the race win under his belt, this put Farron in the lead with 13 points, 2 points ahead of Jacko and Bunter who were both tied on 11 points going into heat 3.
The last heat saw a bit of carnage, with Jacko managing to keep racing after sustaining some damage in an incident involving a few drivers. He then went to win the race, followed by Bunter in 2nd and Farron in 3rd. A run-off was needed to determine 2nd and 3rd place between Jacko and Bunter who were tied on 17 points. Jacko won the run-off taking 2nd in the Taranaki Champs followed by Bunter in 3rd place and Farron took the overall win on 18 points and is becoming the Modified Taranaki Champion for the 2014/15 season.

A 4th Modified race for the Ginge Hayward Memorial, which is raced over 15 laps, saw only 5 cars make it on track. Jacob Free (36w) started on grid 1, Bunter gird 2, Jacko on 3, Farron in grid 4 and Ian Crawford (22s) grid 5, with what was going to be some fast paced racing with plenty of room on the track due to the low number of cars. Bunter went on to win the Ginge Hayward Memorial trophy this year, with a 5 second lead on Jacko and Farron who finished 2nd and 3rd.

Midgets started their night with a good field of 12 cars, but for Stratford's best Midget driver it wasn't to be, with Duane Hickman sitting out the meeting after sustaining a non-speedway related injury during the week. Dayne Maxwell (81a) was just one of 2 visiting drivers & his driving skills did not go unnoticed, winning all 3 races in the Midget class & taking the King of the Mountain Title.

In the first heat Peter Kuijs (15s) gained the lead but with great skills on display, Dayne passed Peter on the outside and took the lead and the win, Jamie Goodlass (51s) finished 3rd place.
Heat 2 saw Anthony Batley (26s) follow Dayne across the line in 2nd place and Jimmy Greenough (27s) in 3rd.

Ricky Paul (11s) took the lead once the green flag dropped for heat 3 but was passed by Dayne Maxwell after a couple of laps. The yellow lights came on for Cameron Corbett (29h) and Seth Coleman (86s) after getting in a small tangle with the wall in turn 1. Both cars continued to race until Seth hit the wall into turn 3 & he retired to the infield. Ricky Paul also had bad luck in this race when for some reason he slowed down, being passed by the whole pack and retiring to the infield. Dayne finished the night & took the title with 36 points, Anthony came 2nd overall with 29 points and Jimmy Greenough (27s) took 3rd place with 26 points.

Youth Ministocks were running for their City of New Plymouth Classic with a strong field of 26 cars. All of these young drivers were determined to win this title, but one young driver stood out on the track all night; William Hughes (99s) went on to win the City of New Plymouth Classic for this season showing he is an upcoming speedway star with his brilliant driving skills over the 3 heats. William won with 79 points followed by Brad Uhlenberg (85s) on 29 points and Campbell Stewart (95s) taking 3rd place with 26 points.

Superstocks and Minisprints were the supporting classes for the night.