Westend Hire Stratford Street Sprint a success

Egmont Rod & Custom Club members Warren Thompson and Graham Podjursky (left to right) during a controlled cruise on the circuit during the lunch break. Photo/ Nigel Swan

The 31st running of the Westend Hire Stratford Street Sprint was held on Sunday August 15 under clear skies in the morning and moving to overcast threatening skies in the afternoon.

This made it rather interesting for the drivers, as the road conditions changed throughout the day.

Apart from a couple of "offs" into the long grass on Warwick Road and chicanes getting moved by cars due to the changing surface conditions, the day was otherwise incident free. That's not saying there weren't a good number of thrills for the large supportive crowd to view at the two controlled spectator points.

Of the 40 entries, 39 cars started the day and Club X gave a great demonstration of their classic and modern Bikes. During our short lunch break members from the Egmont Rod & Custom Club had a controlled cruise around the circuit to the delight of the crowd.

A number of competitors travelled to Taranaki from as far afield as Auckland to Wellington, with the winning entry being Barry Cutelli from Wellington, driving his Radical SR3 RS in a time of 1.28.57. A couple of seconds away from last year's new record set by Tim Sillay.

Second overall was Brent Sellens, Feilding, 1.31.36, driving his road going limited edition, factory produced Toyota GR Yaris, with 3rd position overall going to Andrew Thomas, also from Wellington, 1.31.76 in his Toyota Corolla Gti.

Local top placing went to Majo Janecek, Waitara, driving his slick Fiat X1/9 in a time of 1.32.20 and 4th overall.

The residents and businesses are to be commended for their continuous support of this event, not only on the circuit itself, but to the businesses which support, by way of spot prizes for each competitor.

At the prizegiving, hosted by Club X, the South Taranaki Car Club Committee surprised their member Bruce Commerer by presenting him with Life Membership to the club. Bruce has been a pivotal member of the club since 1995 and served on the committee for a number of years. Bruce is a most deserving recipient.

We look forward to celebrating our 32nd running of the event in August 2022.

Results:
1st Barry Cutelli, Radical - SR3 RS, 01:28.57, 2nd Brent Sellens, Toyota - GR Yaris, 01:31.36, 3rd Andrew Thomas, Toyota - Corolla Gti, 01:31.76, 4th Majo Janecek, Fiat - X1/9, 01:32.20, 5th Chris Sharpe, Audi - S3, 01:33.08, 6th Karl Giddy, Nissan - Silvia S15, 01:33.83, 7th Shay Burkhart, Mazda - RX7, 01:34.10, 8th Stu Robertson, Toyota - Corolla 01:34.53, 9th Jeremy Smith, Subaru - Impreza Sti, 01:35.03, 10th Phil Derby, Audi - S3 A3, 01:35.54, 11th Greg Hirst,Toyota - MR2, 01:36.26, 12th Keith Finnerty, Nissan - 350Z Fairlady, 01:36.45, 13th Glen Bublitz, Mitsubishi - EVO5, 01:36.80, 14th Rossco McCall, Fiat - 124 01:38.03, 15th Jared Neilson, Honda - Civic, 01:38.08, 16th Bruce Commerer, Ford - Escort Mk1, 01:38.16, 17th Rowan Price, Nissan - Pulsar Gti 01:38.25, 18th Chuckey Prouse, Star Car - Holden, 01:39.35, 19th Mark McGuinniss, Subaru - Impreza WRX, 01:39.80, 20th Phillip Harrison, Nissan - Skyline, 01:41.66, 21st Caleb Prideaux, BMW - 320 E30, 01:42.12, 22nd Daniel Wood, BMW - 330 Ci, 01:42.72, 23rd Jordan Pollock, Mitsubishi - Lancer GSR, 01:43.11, 24th Mike Foreman, Mitsubishi - EVO4, 01:46.01, 25th Max Pennington, Nissan - Skyline 01:46.38, 26th William Adlam, Toyota - Corolla, 01:47.71, 27th Johnny Wadeson, Nissan - Silvia S14, 01:48.34, 28th John Connell, Ford - Falcon XC, 01:49.49, 29th Kurt McGhie, Honda - Odyssey, 01:50.57, 30th Reece Tanner, Mitsubishi - Mirage, 01:50.62, 31st Peter Prideaux, BMW - 320i, 01:50.83, 32nd Boyd Benton, Nissan - Bluebird Attesa, 01:50.96, 33rd Troy Everitt-Hood, Honda - Odyssey, 01:51.31, 34th Tim Wood, Nissan - Primera, 01:52.01, 35th Rodney Penn, Toyota - Altezza, 01:52.82, 36th Gareth Davis, Mitsubishi - Lancer, 01:53.23