Family dominate trophy showdown

RUNNER UP: At one point he led, but Ethan Rees (127G) had to settle for second place behind his dad Peter in the Charlie Berntsen Trophy at Oceanview on Sunday.PHOTO/STUART MUNRO

It was a long, hot afternoon at Supercheap Autos Oceanview Speedway on Sunday, but the first two championships of the 2015-16 season have been decided.

Peter Rees in 11G is the winner of the Charlie Berntsen Trophy for this season. In an action-packed final heat, Rees Snr avoided the attention of a number of Whanganui cars and Corey Sutton (89S) to take the win and the title.

The attrition rate was high in the first two heats, won by Asher Rees (1NZ) and Dion Mooney (6V) respectively. Only 14 of the original 26-car field survived to start the final race. Going into the final heat Ethan Rees (127G) led his father by a point, but was twice stopped by Sutton allowing Dion Mooney (6V) to finish the race in second.

Ethan Rees and Mooney were tied in second place, so a four-lap run-off was called. Mooney turned right into Rees from the start-line, but the tank got clear. When Rees spun Mooney going into turn three, he had secured a family one-two.

Peter Rees was visibly emotional when accepting the trophy from Charlie Berntsen's grandson Jack Purcell in the clubrooms after the meeting. The five-time 1NZ had a huge amount of respect for Charlie, and committed to racing at this meeting a month ago. Charlie would have been proud of Rees' performance, especially the way he recovered from being spun in the second heat to stay in contention.

A major pile-up in the first championship heat was the main talking point of the West Coast Youth Ministocks. 44B Michael Hirst was turned sideways entering turn one from the race start, and ended perched on top of a gaggle of cars. Nicole Hickmott's day was over as she piled into the melee, and she left the track with St John personnel in attendance.

When racing resumed after the wreckage was cleared it was Aaron Humble (46H) who took the spoils, to go with the Wellington title he won the night before.

It was a productive weekend road trip for the young Waikato driver. Dylan Marshall (57H) made it a Huntly quinella, with Cameron Swift (42B) finishing third. Trazarn Ryland-Annabel (5V) was the best of the locals finishing tied for fourth.

An excellent field of Superstocks was on hand, with visiting cars from Stratford, Hawke's Bay and Gisborne. Bruce Williams (41S) won the first race, and his fastest lap of 16.65 seconds was only 0.4 seconds outside Darryl Taylor's lap record which has stood for almost 10 years. Regan Gernhoefer (62S) took the other two races.

John Caird took another clean sweep of the Production Saloons in the 53V car, and the 78P combination of Paul Humphrey and Patrick Larsen took out both sidecar races.

But it was Charlie Berntsen's day. The beginning of a restoration project of his original Brew 22 car sat on a trailer on the bank, a tangible reminder of Big Bad Charlie's contribution to the sport.