West Coast Speedway King of the Coast 29 March 2008.

The Speedway was so committed to the King of the Coast that helicopters were brought in to improve the track after heavy overnight rain. Even with the less than ideal weather, the crowd flocked to the track to enjoy the large fields of competitors. This hugely popular event attracted drivers from Auckland, Wellington, Timaru, Dunedin and Invercargill as well as our usual supporters from Nelson, Blenheim, Westport and Christchurch. The racing improved as the day went on and the track packed down but, unfortunately, the Super Saloon drivers decided the track was not suitable for their class. The West Coast Speedway will have a third attempt to run this South Island Championship on 12 April in conjunction with the Club Championships and the fireworks display.

Stock Cars:

The entries for this class were over subscribed the day after being advertised, such is the popularity of this class. Twenty five drivers took to the track in conditions that could be described as ‘heavy’. Allan Levien from Wellington won this class with 70 points from a possible total of 75 points. Best local in this class was Dave Kokshoorn with consistent racing that earned him forth place overall.

Results

1^st 46 W Allan Levien 70 points

2^nd 28 E Ralph Gillespie 64 points

3^rd 96 E Steve Biddulph 61 points

4^th 88 GM Dave Kokshoorn 59 points

5^th 98 C Russell Tuuta 46 points

Ministocks

Another good field and this class and was won very convincingly by Glen Redmond of Greymouth with a first and two seconds.

1^st 65 GM Glen Redmond 46 points

2^nd 10 C Bob Roper 37 points

3^rd 23 C Tony Newman 36 points

4^th 48 N Matt Inwood 35 points

5^th 36 C Shannon Evans 33 points

Modified

Scott Lane from Auckland was the star of this class but had to hold off strong opposition from locals Brandon Parkinson and Robbie Brown.

1^st 19 A Scott Lane 24 points

2^nd 5 GM Brandon Parkinson 22 points

3^rd 33 GM Robbie Brown 19 points

4^th 96N Cliff Frost 19 points

5^th 84 C Natasha Rodgers 12 points

Street Stocks

Another big class with very close racing and only four points separated the first 5 placings. John O’Callaghan was the only local with any success and took out third place in one round.

1^st 17 C Blair Leigh 50 points

2^nd 76 C Alex Gowans 49 points

3^rd 19 C Chris Leigh 47 points

4^th 68 C Charles Gardiner 47 points

5^th 55 C Keith Anderson 46 points

Super Stocks

Malcolm Ngatai almost made a clean sweep of this class with two firsts and one second and achieved 32 points from a possible 33 points.

1^st 19 C Malcolm Ngatai 32 points

2^nd 492 C Campbell McManaway 28 points

3^rd 83 C Shane Anderton 21 points

4^th 18 N Shane Harwood 20 points

5^th 8 C Roger Nees 18 points

Production Saloons

The local competitors faced bad luck in this class and of the six local competitors the best overall placing was Ashley Boyd in 7^th place overall.

1^st 68 C Gerry Filius 40 points

2^nd 65 C Rhonda Katene-Hill 36 points

3^rd 8 C Shawn Keen 35 points

4^th= 69 I Graham McKernan 28 points

4^th= 29 D Violet Cummings 23 points

Youth Ministocks

This event was held last month and racing had to be abandoned with only two rounds being completed. The decision was made to call the competition on these two rounds and the prizes were presented on Saturday night.

1^st 53 N Perry Soper 33 points

2^nd 14 GM Sean Brown 31 points

3^rd 77 N Rowan Inwood 31 points

4^th 36 GM Callum Evans 28 points

5^th 52 N Steven Soper 25 points.

Other local competitors who went well were Dave Houston in 6^th place, Jessie Oldham and Bydon Stewart in 7^th = place and Alex Wilson-Dailey in 11^th place.

Prize giving was held on Saturday night at the Union Hotel were sashes were also presented to Allan Levien for the furthest travelling North Islander, Campbell McManaway for furthest travelling South Islander and Natasha Rodgers received the ‘hard luck’ award.

The Percy Whyte greenstone trophy for the best local was presented to Glen Redmond.