Perfect night for sidecar ride

MOMENT'S SILENCE: Competitors remember Karl Barritt before the start of the memorial race at Oceanview Speedway on Saturday evening.PHOTO/EUGENE ROBBEMOND

TWO MORE titles were decided at Supercheap Autos Oceanview Speedway on Saturday night.

The Karl Barritt Memorial for sidecars is a sought-after trophy.

Barritt, a former sidecar competitor at Oceanview, died in 2005 and a trophy was presented in his honour.

At the start of the meeting, the eight sidecar combinations came out to the infield and a minute's silence was observed.

The sidecar competitors were the beneficiaries of the first night-time meeting of the year.

Track conditions were nigh-on perfect and the racing was close.

After two rounds of heats, the 17P combination of Tony Hislop and Mitch Byers held a one-point lead from top local hopes Aaron Rose and Amelia Stanley.

In the final heat, Rose and Stanley needed to finish two places ahead of Hislop and Byers to win the Karl Barritt Memorial.

However the two pairings finished second and third, respectively, leaving them tied on points.

A four-lap run-off was held. Hislop and Byers got the jump from the start, but as Rose and Stanley caught them exiting the town bend, Rose had to momentarily back off the throttle.

Hislop and Byers leapt out to a lead they held until the end of the race. The delighted pair accepted the trophy from Barritt's father and sister in the clubrooms after the meeting.

The other feature of the meeting was the West Coast Production Saloons.

Cars from Huntly, Gisborne and Hawke's Bay joined the locals, and provided some of the best racing seen in the class this season.

Ben Huijs in 74P took a wire-to-wire victory in the first heat, followed home by Gisborne's Anton McKay in 17G and top local hope John Caird in the 53V machine.

Caird took the second heat from Jason Pointon in 71V and Peter Craddock (63H).

The 53v appeared to be cruising in the latter stages of the second heat, but had a major scare when Pointon closed right up on him entering the final corner.

Caird quickly recovered, and powered home to win.

Going into the final heat, Caird held a three-point lead over Pointon, McKay and Huijs.

Craddock drove a great final heat to take the win, but Caird passed and then stayed ahead of his three closest rivals to take another championship. McKay's long trip to Whanganui was worthwhile with second place overall, one point ahead of Pointon.

Huntly driver Craddock will be ruing a ninth-place finish in the opening heat, as he was just one place away from a podium finish, tying for fifth with Darren McKay (18V).

The stockcars again turned on plenty of action, with Ben Neilson in the 64V tank being at the centre of most of it.

Dion Mooney took a hat-trick of wins in the 2NZ car.

In the small field of Superstocks, the highlight was the return to racing of veteran driver Bob Smith in the 53V car, and it didn't take Smith long to show his class.

Wins in the Youth Ministocks were shared between Jamie Tinetti (77P), Caleb Douglas (21S) and Callum Sturzaker (15V), while Dylan Rose (51P) took a clean sweep of the depleted Adult Ministock field.

It's back to afternoon racing for the next meeting on March 20 at 3pm, then we will look forward to the two biggest West Coast titles being decided on April 2 at 7pm: the West Coast Stockcars and West Coast Superstocks.

These titles always attract a highly competitive field.