Wanganui driver bucks the odds

BY DAVID OGILVIE David.ogilvie@wanganuichronicle.co.nz
Gerry Linklater was paying 50/1 at the TAB when he started the New Zealand stockcar championships in Auckland on Saturday night ? and ended-up winning it.
He also had a "for sale" sign on his home-built V6 Holden-engined No 98 car when the night started ? but had taken it off after the meeting, when he was entitled to grab the No 1 NZ signage.
In fact there's already a 1NZV (The V for Wanganui) on the side of the team's bus. That was done in Auckland on Sunday morning, just for the trip home.
The 22-year-old Wanganui man came and conquered at Auckland's Waikaraka Park Speedway against another 146 stockcars.
Wanganui boasts just nine to a dozen stockcars in total, so his victory was indeed a massive shock to the crowd and the northerners.
Yet Linklater almost didn't make it to Auckland. He was on the verge of selling his car ? a Ford body with a Holden V6 engine built by Shaun Smith and fellow Wanganui driver Dion Mooney ? so he could afford to build his own car.
But the sale fell through and he entered the championship on Wednesday, left Wanganui at 4am on Friday, spent seven hours driving north with his equally dedicated crew, and qualified on Friday night.
But Linklater says he deserved better than his 50/1 rating: "I didn't back myself but there were a couple of people that did. And earlier in the year we qualified it for the final of the North Islands and were sixth out of 130, and we qualified for the finals of the NZ Grand Prix in Stratford two weeks ago and were seventh out of 100."
So how did it go after qualifying? "In the first heat we started from the midfield and got through to fourth ? which was pretty cool. I started off pole in the second and won that, and started from the inside at the back in the third and got through to fourth," Linklater said.
Drivers received one draw each in the front, middle and back, and Linklater milked full response from his pole spot.
"We just concentrated on picking our way through the field as much as we could in the third race ? and avoid the carnage," Linklater said. "As long as we got across the line we knew we would be first, second or third ? and that's why we were celebrating with donuts (spins)."
Those didn't go as well as the racing ? Linklater hit the big concrete pole-line while he was celebrating and snapped the back axle?.
"We had to get towed off, but in hindsight it didn't matter," Linklater said. "It was good fun at the time."
He finished with 83 points, second had 81 and third 80, so there was precious little in it.
And there was a bit of luck about it.
"We had to change a radiator after the first race and only just made the start line in time for the second. They were waiting for us ? it was pretty frantic."
Linklater was the only one of three Wanganui cars to qualify. The other drivers were Dion Mooney and Tony James. He's been driving stockcars for just three years, after four years going through the mini-stock class.
He's twice winner of the West Coast champs, and he'll be defending his title on Saturday night at Oceanview Speedway.
Pit crew on the trip were Francis Potaka, Douglas Cameron, and Daniel and Jake Reade.
Sponsors are Vulcan Steel, Taylors Bodyshop, Dennison Plumbing and Drainage, SS Autoparts and Autostripes.