Large field sees title race open

It's championship time at Oceanview Speedway this weekend.

The Wanganui Stockcar and Speedway Club hosts its premier meeting of the 2015-16 season, the Elite Mechanical and Engineering North Island Stockcar Champs.

More than 80 of the country's best Stockcar and driver combinations have entered the championships and although there are a few notable absentees - including the Rees family and 3NZ Chevron Taniwha now racing a Superstock - there's still a quality field entered and the title race is wide open.

Drivers from every North Island track except Kihikihi and Gisborne have entered.

Both winner and runner-up from the 2014-15 North Islands are here - Callum Flavell (513R) and Ryan Hunt (29M) respectively.

Damian Orr (99R) and William Humphries (94P) have both stood on the podium at New Zealand Stockcar Championships.

Kyle Lane (91W) won the coveted 1NZ at Blenheim in 2010-11 and Jayden Ward, the current 2NZ, won the New Zealand title at Palmerston North two seasons ago. All will be in with big chances this weekend.

There are good contingents from Stockcar powerhouses Rotorua, Stratford and Palmerston North.

Drivers like Ward (2NZ), Scott Fredrickson (8R), Mark Duthie (32S), Tyler Walker (33S), Rob Mason (34P) and Brendon Tye (669P) have all been in good early-season form.

Others like Corey Sutton (98S), one of the stars of the Charlie Berntsen Trophy meeting, Alec Wilson (67P) and Ron Tye (99P) won't hesitate to go into block mode if they find themselves out of contention.

The Stockcar class at Wanganui has gone ahead in leaps and bounds over the last couple of seasons, and most of those drivers registered to the club have entered the fray this weekend.

For many, it will be their first Speedway New Zealand championship, and the club wishes them well.

Dion Mooney has been super-fast in the 6V car, whilst the sister car driven by Tony James (4V) is built for team's racing.

Mark Johnston (78V) and Dan Matthews (14V) were impressive last season, while Dion Black (10V) and Francis Potaka (52P) are no respecters of reputation.

Newcomer Ben Neilson in the 64V tank was also getting into the spirit of things at the Charlie meeting.

The format for the meeting is per Speedway New Zealand Championship rules.

The 88 entrants have been drawn into four groups, each of which will race three heats tonight.

The first six in each group will qualify for the finals tomorrow night, and the final two spots in the championship field will go to the two highest-scoring non-qualifiers across the four groups.

Just qualifying for the final 26 will be an achievement in a field this large and of this quality.

Once we get down to the three Championship races on Saturday night, anything can happen, and it probably will.

To win, a driver is going to need a cool head amongst the chaos - especially on the first corner of the first heat - a reliable car and a generous serving of luck.

And whoever is leading on points going into the third and final heat tomorrow night will want to make themselves invisible when drivers who are out of championship contention start blocking for their clubmates.

Racing starts at 7pm both nights.

Youth Ministocks and Production Saloons will be the support classes tonight.

Saturday night will also see the running of the West Coast Adult Ministock Champs.