14/02/2010
NZ smash Australia in Balls of Steel spectacular
In an event that more than lived up to the hype, NZ battered Australia tonight in the Totalspan Balls of Steel sidecar test match before a bumper crowd at Oceanview Speedway. With local heroes John Hannan/Tony Hirini & Craig Scott/Karl Brown leading the way they made the most of local knowledge to outpoint the dangerous Aussies who in all fairness had a rough night with machinery failure and run-ins with the referees.
NZ V Australia Sidecar Test
The event format was based on 6 bikes for each team. Run over five rounds with 2 6-bike races to each round. Accumulated points over the 5 rounds would determine the winner. For Australia, injuries meant that they had to bring in John Pitt/Jason Wallis and Mark Whye/Gordon Campbell to bolster their numbers. Although a kiwi, Pitt had raced for many years in Australia.
Round One: First blood to the Kiwis with Hannan/Hirini leading the way from the impressive Aussies Darrin Treloar/Sam Plaisted who tried everything they could to nail the locals but came up short. The hugely improved Andrew Buchanan/Phillipa Burns combination triumphed in the 2nd after a re-start following the Pitt/Wallis bike getting it wrong & flipping after getting on to the grass in turn one. The Buchanan/Burns combination doesn’t have great memories of Wanganui given some nasty accidents in recent seasons so they would be happy with their results.
Points: NZ 26 Australia 15.
Round Two: A shutout again to the Kiwis with Sefton Truuts/Calvin Fogarty too slick in the first race then Hannan/Hirini getting a great start from the outside marble to nail the 2nd. Points: NZ 47 Australia 35.
Round Three: After Treloar/Plaisted got the Aussies away to a flyer it all turned sour in the 2nd race. Hannan/Hirini were away well again ahead of teammates Buchanan/Burns. But some squeezing at the start saw the Mark Plaistead/Sam Harrison combination take exception to the resultant battering. They may have got away with a simple re-start had it not being for some angry gesturing up at the referee’s box. With the race red-flagged things got a little heated in the middle and the Plaistead/Harrison bike & handler were effectively red-cared from the arena. The re-start was a NZ shut-out effectively ending the contest. Points: NZ 70 Australia 50.
Round Four: With NZ 1-2’s in both races it was all over rover for the Aussies. Russell Stuart/Andrew Parker and Buchanan/Burns again to the fore. Points: NZ 95 Australia 61.
Round Five: Truuts/Fogarty picked up their 2nd win and then Treloar/Plaisted showed their wares to streak away in the final race. Final Points: NZ 119 Australia 73
In the individual points Hannan/Hirini were one better than Treloar/Plaisted to take the honours. And without winning a race Scott/Brown showed their consistency to be 3rd equal with fellow Kiwis Truuts/Forgarty.
Results:
|
|
R1
|
R2
|
R3
|
R4
|
R5
|
Total
|
|
Hannan/Hirini (NZ)
|
6
|
6
|
6
|
5
|
4
|
27
|
|
Scott/Brown (NZ)
|
4
|
4
|
5
|
5
|
5
|
23
|
|
Plummer/Demanser (NZ)
|
1
|
2
|
|
|
|
3
|
|
Truuts/Fogarty (NZ)
|
5
|
6
|
3
|
3
|
6
|
23
|
|
Stuart/Parker (NZ)
|
4
|
3
|
4
|
6
|
4
|
21
|
|
Buchanan/Burns (NZ)
|
6
|
|
5
|
6
|
5
|
22
|
|
Whye/Campbell (AUST)
|
2
|
5
|
4
|
4
|
3
|
18
|
|
Treloar/Plaisted (AUST)
|
5
|
5
|
6
|
4
|
6
|
26
|
|
Mitchell/Golding (AUST)
|
3
|
4
|
2
|
3
|
3
|
15
|
|
Bell/Wilson (AUST)
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
|
|
6
|
|
Plaisted/Harrison (AUST)
|
3
|
2
|
|
|
|
5
|
|
Pitt/Wallis (AUST)
|
|
3
|
|
|
|
3
|
Solo Bikes
In the Topline Solo Bikes it was a case of a long time between drinks for fans of the purest and original form of speedway. I can remember solo bikes being part of the scene at Wanganui back in the 70’s so it was great to see them back. With 12 riders present, the format was 4 rounds with the top points scorers going through to the A Final & the reminder to the B Final.
Round One: It was soon obvious to observers that Andrew Bargh and Jade Mudgway were the ones to beat, both clearing out in their respective heats. Dylan Hancock and Jason McKay looked the best of the rest.
Round Two: Bargh against Mudgway & the former streaked away only to hit the wall heavily in turn two. With two red flags the race was abandoned and the riders who missed out would make up the gaps by riding in extra races over the next rounds – Dylan Moohan also taking a heavy tumble.
Round Three: Mudgway played catch-up and with Bargh not re-appearing it was two easy wins.
Round Four: Mudgway again streaked away but fell to hand the victory to Hancock. Hayden Bagshaw won the 2nd heat.
A Final: It was no surprise as Mudgway again cleared out with a delighted Hancock heading home Sean Mason for 2nd.
B Final: Ben Antinovich easily accounted for Ryan Daley and Codey Mudgway.
Junior Solos
Two races for the juniors with a clear pecking order as Bradley Wilson headed home Brady Mudgway and Bradley Andrews.
Kiwilites
The dwarf cars made the trip over from Hawkes Bay with 10 cars putting on a great show. Justin Power was completely dominant winning 4 from 4 and clocking low 16 sec laps. Rob Simmons was next best with a trio of thirds. Comments afterwards suggested that they had a fantastic time and loved the track layout.
Race One: 1. 12 Justin Power. 2. 28 Rob Simmons. 3. 71 Glenn Dudding. 4. 15 Adrian Kramer. 5. 14 Lance Beets. 6. 22 Ross Cocking.
Race Two: 1. 12. 2. 14. 3. 22. 4. 15. 5. 28. 6. 66 Mark Croskery.
Race Three: 1. 12. 2. 28. 3. 22. 4. 15. 5. 39 Brent Harris. 6. 29 Rowan Beets.
Race Four: 1. 12. 2. 28. 3. 66. 4. 14. 5. 5 Kelly Bruns.
Stockcar Charity Race
The “celebrities” came out to play in borrowed stockcars including one Stacey Jones who was a special guest of honour for the Camp Quality New Zealand charity. “Scary” Mary Perkins showed she was pretty mean behind the wheel of a stockcar and cleared out to win by over half a lap from Aaron Yorke and Russell Sowden.
With the Encounter FMX crew outing on a great display as well as a band to warm the crowd up it was a terrific for everyone involved. Well done to Mick Paul, Phil Robinson and Totalspan.
