A massive crowd packed the terraces at Placemakers Huntly Speedway to witness night 2 of the Stockcar Teams. The night was slightly warmer than night one but similar conditions prevailed throughout the evening. The action was pretty much a repeat of night 1, great teams racing with a support card that failed to take the meeting from good to great.

The track could have done with a bit more top level moisture prior to the first race but that was quickly rectified. The track matured into something similar to what we saw on night one although the exit to turn four cut up a little more than the previous night. Overall the track was once again appropriate for the classes running. 8/10

With just 8 cars the historics would have struggled to entertain but finally, someone uses handicapping!!!!! Percy was almost in seventh heaven. Due to the handicapping the races carried some entertainment with the quick guys coming through the pack. It was noticeable that once in front things were kept close as drivers decided not to drive at 100% to keep the racing close.

Contrast this with the racing in the Minisprints. 1nz Shaun Cooke starts race 1 off grid two. Gee, I wonder who is going to win this race? Perhaps we can get the Historic Stockcar club to promote? With 72k Brian Edwards experiencing problems it was a benefit for Cooke in a bizarre 10 car field after Minisprints had almost 20 cars at both Huntly and Kihikihi last weekend. Thankfully 55h Daniel Thomas managed to sort his gremlins in time for the third race. With Cooke closing on the final corner, Thomas made a daredevil move inside a lapped car to take the win.
Winners - 1nz Shaun Cooke (2), 55h Daniel Thomas

Again poor numbers in the Stockcar support class with about 10 cars joined by a few stragglers from the Teams Races. The teams cars decided to entertain which was much appreciated from this fan. Race 1 saw 98k Brad Ridland battling with 85b Ricky Kuru for the lead. Kuru decided aggression was the best approach and straightlined Ridland into Placemakers corner in a massive hit! Neither car was seen on track for the rest of the night. The Baypark contingent entertained the fans by meddling in everyone else's business.
Winners - 81b Regan O'Brien, 11m Scott Fredrickson, 218h Aaron Alderton, 39h Darryl John

I imagine the appeal of this class would have been perplexing to the many "once a season" fans in attendance. Perhaps this could done on another night next season, although personally I really enjoyed the class. Many of the Oldies wouldn't look out of place in a current field on tonights performance. The pace was on and it was oh so good to see the tank back in action being driven by Paul Wade.

The oldies started with time trials, apparently SNZ decided they needed a couple of hot laps. Race 1 was fastest to the front and it was 73h Red Wooton out in front. Unfortunately for Red it wasn't to be and 96h Tony Redfearn took it out. The second race saw 7h Flying Dutchman on the pole. The Dutchman had required a gearbox change after time-trials and set about making up for lost time. With the fast guys off the back this one went down to the wire. The Dutchman proved too good but his ride was smoking badly and caught fire after the race.
Winners - 96h Tony Redfearn, 7h Flying Dutchman

Who would have thought we would have two teams with rhyming monikers? Anyway, I would like to sincerely apologise to the entire town of Napier for picking their team to win prior to the event. My hex was practically unstoppable this weekend. There were some good hits in this one but ultimately Stratford took the win only to be relegated (they finished first and second). Apparently it was for an attack from the grass as a Stratford car was spun off and then back on to the track. It was a terrible call and I'm giving the race to the rightful winner.
Winners & 7th place - Stratford Stormers

Due to the damage on night one the Gladiators were far from 100%. But that didn't stop them from putting in another passionate performance. They may not have the stars or the machinery but strategy and commitment can count for a lot in this sport. Although they were soundly beaten the Gladiators were the stars of the weekend from my perspective.
Winners & 5th place - Baypark Bulldogs

This was a very bizarre race. Huntly took the early lead but lost 94h Jamie Marshall-Carter to a big hit in Placemakers. I think both teams thought they were in front and proceeded to circulate and protect their runners. The penny dropped with a couple of laps to go but the entire Rascals team went into block mode. 93h Tyson Wooton found himself on the end of a big hit in turn one but it wasn't enough as Rotorua lost their shape and lost a race they should have won.
Winners - Huntly

44v Dion Mooney was targetted right from the start. 168a Billy Neill took him up the wall and then over! The Ninja's didn't have things all their own way as the Vulcans showed they could mix it up. Unfortunately the Vulcans couldn't match the class of 64a Carlos Chestnutt. He was the difference between the two teams in a hard race.
Winners - North Island Ninja's

The Vulcans were down to three cars. Mooney was back but 55v Allan Levein was out after pulling to the infield in the semi-final. The Rotorua cars simply numbered up and let 203r Nick Vallence run to the chequered flag. The Vulcans had to eliminate a car to be a serious contender and that never looked likely.
Winners & 3rd place - Rotorua Rascals

From the drop of the green Chestnutt was on the brakes, stopping the progress of 97h Tony Wooton. It appeared to be a mistake as it let two Huntly cars run along with 168a Billy Neill. 99p Ron Tye didn't have any pace and it seemed the Ninja's were their own worst enemy. 17h Jason Patrick was making his debut for the Ninja's and spent most of his time in turn 1 launching random attacks. With only Neill to get Huntly looked poised for a famous victory.

But lets not forget that they are up against Ron Tye and Carlos Chestnutt. With 3 blockers and 1 runner the Ninja's gradually wrestled control of the race. The Huntly team was battered into submission and the Ninja's managed to keep Neill (reasonably) out of trouble to record what seemed like an unlikely win 10 seconds into the race.
Winners & 1st place - North Island Ninja's

The call against Stratford was a shocker but perhaps a missed call against Huntly was worse. Tyson Wooton was pushed onto the infield but rejoined in turn one and made a beeline for a Rotorua car from the infield. That's pretty much the definition of attacking from the grass. If Huntly had been relegated they could have felt hard done by after Rotorua repeatedly ignored the starters instructions to grid up at the start of the race. The first official that disqualifies a team for pissing around at the start of a teams race will get an instant 10/10 from this punter.

The lights came on quick all night with the exception of one Minisprint race where 77a Reece Salmon was left on track right in the middle of turn three. But what was with having the Golden Oldies do a couple of hot laps prior to racing? It denied them a race and bored the pants off a crowd that wanted to get into the racing. It's even more bizarre given most of them had a practice run on Thursday night and the fact they are in cars with bars on the side of them. 5/10

Once again the feature class at the meeting produced the goods. But once again a Huntly meeting scores in the 6-7 range because of support classes. Tonight should have been a springboard to what is a big month for Huntly. While the fans tonight will probably be back for next years Stockcar Teams meeting it is doubtful whether they will get too excited about the big meetings in the next three weeks. Hopefully the promotion will reconsider their love of skinny tires and look at getting decent support classes because I believe they will reap long term benefits if they do so.