Jacko takes the crown

There was no time to get a hot dog last Saturday night at Stratford Speedway with action-packed racing all night. Between the Taranaki modified champs, the Mountain Classic for the streetstocks and the Ginge Hayward memorial race for the modifieds, the crowd was treated to nail-biting finishes, hair-raising moves and possibly the most excited flag man in New Zealand.

The first of the modifieds races saw 1NZ Bunter Pierce hot on Merv Julian's rear bumper and the battle was on. Bunter nosedived across the finish line, only by a fraction of a second, making his hopes of winning the title that much higher.

The second race was just as close, with Mark Dixon and John Jackson (Jacko) racing one side each around Merv Julian on turn four. Paul Ward went on to win the second race ahead of Wellington's Blair McPhee.

With a first and a fourth, Bunter's chances of winning the Taranaki title was left down to the last race. Unfortunately luck didn't go his way, ripping his right front shock mount from the chassis, ending his race after being sent to

the infield.

Jacko, racing in second place, only had Wellington driver Brian McPhee to pass to put him up on points. After a number of laps chasing his tail, Jacko managed a pass and went on to win with an impressive lead. The win put Jacko and Mark equal on points for first place - it was run-off time.

Jacko drew pole for the run-off and Dixon chased hard but fell victim to a hole on the track, almost flipping the car twice and was too far behind Jacko to chase for the lead. But that wasn't the end for the modifieds as the Ginge Hayward memorial race was to finish  the night.

The grid format was reverse of the overall placings from the Taranaki champs which put Jacko at the back of the pack - but you would have been naive to think that would have stopped the former 1NZ.

Jacko fought his way through the 14-car pack, passing 17w Jonas England who was leading on the 12th lap, only to have the yellow light come on and Jonas was returned to front position. Jacko had three laps to get past the

Wellington driver and after a number of unsuccessful attempts, it wasn't until the last corner  of the race that the 71s car won the checkered flag.

``That was pretty cool. Murray Gordge is the only other person to do that [win both the Taranaki title and the memorial] and he's a legend in what we do,'' Jacko told the Stratford Press on Tuesday.

``Some of the moves I made were pretty close to putting me over the fence but that's racing.''

Russell Gorrie proved too fast in the Mountain Classic trophy for the streetstocks, winning the title ahead of Jonathan Price and Chris Shingleton who placed second and third, respectively. Russell placed first in two races and second in the third to finish on 59 points, four ahead of Jonathan and Chris.

The Peter Barry teams invasion is this weekend in Napier so the stormers were sent out with the superstocks for  track time before the carnage erupts on Friday