Rain couldn't stop speedway

It was only half an hour away from racing and the heavens opened on Friday night.

Drivers and their crew were forced to find shelter in their trailers and spectators raced back to their car as Stratford Speedway became a duck's paradise.

The fate of the qualifying night was in the hands of the committee as they watched Metservice's rain forecast carefully.

After a 10-minute downpour, the track meant business. Superstocks, stockcars and modifieds were called to the track to wheel pack returning with a new colour of grey.

With 46 men and their crew waiting to battle out the Stratford Speedway under-23 stockcar champs, there was no way the meeting would not go ahead.

The superstocks were given the difficult task of racing first with many falling victim to the wet track, but 21-year-old Carl Shearer proved the wet weather wasn't going to slow him down, winning his first race in a superstock, lapping most of the field.

Bunter Pierce got to fly around the track with his new 1NZ sign and he showed why he holds the title, making some ballsy moves but doing it gracefully.

The spectators were treated to a slice of speedway history when the vintage stockcars roared about the oval track. Although the shape and design of the stockcar may have changed there was no lack of smashes and crashes.

There was only 30 spots for the finals of the under-23 stockcar champs finals so there was no room for error.

Cars from all over New Zealand made the trip to Stratford, including Mark Taylor from Invercargill, Blake Ellett

from Wellington and Karl Ross from Huntly. 

Tied on 35 points at the end of the Friday night, Stratford's Brody Kelsen (11s) and Hawkes Bay's Randall Tarrant were called to the track to fight for the last qualifying spot. Naturally most of the cheering was for the local boy

and he made them cheer even louder leading Randall within the first lap. He managed to avoid his attacks on the following laps, winning the race.

Crews spent hours fixing cars and making sure the set-ups were correct before Saturday night's finals. Three Stratford cars were through, Tyler Walker, Todd Duthie and Brody, so the pressure was on to bring the title home.

Palmerston North dominated all three races with at least two drivers placing every race in the top three. It was no surprise then, that the top five were Palmerston North drivers.

Winning the last race secured Chevron Taniwha his under-23 stockcar title and it put the cherry on top for his incredible season.

It is only his first full season in a stockcar and already the 22-year-old is ranked 4NZ and now holds the title every young gun hopes for.

``I can't really believe I won. I'm rapt,'' he told the Stratford Press.

``It's about time because usually we get dominated here.''

Chev says the competition was tough and the drivers fought hard.

Second place went to Jordan Dare and third place to Josh Prentice.

Stratford drivers Tyler Walker, Todd Duthie and Brody Kelsen  placed 17th, 19th and 26th respectively.