Wow would be the world I would use to sum up this years World 240's. When you are still buzzing the morning after, you know it's been a good meeting. Infact it was better than good, this meeting will quite possibly register as the best of the season. An outstanding heat three, that featured one of the scariest incidents you will ever see on a speedway track, will live long in the memory. The support card also fired (mostly) making this a top quality meeting for the huge crowd in attendance.

A very warm day in Rotorua put a bit of pressure on the track staff. They didn't quite get the right level of moisture early on and the track did dust up in the first Superstock race. Through the middle of the meeting the track staff got on top of it only to let things slip in the final couple of races. The third Saloon heat in particular. Turn three cut up a little but unlike last night we didn't see track work taking place. Overall though this was a good track for most of the meeting. 7/10

If there was a low point of the night it was having to get through the Ministock racing on what is a premier night of speedway. Five Ministock races were on the card. Race one featured some excitement as the 49r entry guiding another car into the concrete coming out of Turn four. The officials (10/10 on night one) were onto it and red lighted the race to pull the car to the infield. The car was back for the remainder of the evening. The Palmy Army spiced things up a bit, 8p Jack Miers and 11p Asher Rees were on the pace all night.
Winners - 8p Jack Miers, 81r Sam Pearson, 57r Ben Vaughan, 18r Paul Fergusson, 66r Daniel Steed

A big field of 18 Saloons came through with very little carnage. Race 1 saw 21h Steve Williams make a series of passes around the high line from deep in the grid. Further forward 1nz Brent McClymont was showing everyone why he is wearing the #1. McClymont drives a Saloon how they are meant to be driven but even he couldn't quite sneak past 17r Tony Heuval despite mounting all sorts of pressure in the closing laps. The second heat was a benefit for 112r Mal Hills who streaked away from the field.

Behind him 77k Ross Cresswell was keeping Steve Williams at bay until a late pass saw Williams grab second. The final heat saw 1nz Brent McClymont make up some early spots and put himself into the provisional lead for the B.O.P Saloon Champs. It was a precarious one point lead over Steve Williams because Williams was all over 13r Murray Guy. Guy withstood the pressure and it was McClymont who won overall.

Will all other classes running the three heat format this class should have been running a fastest to the front style format. Like the Minisprints last night the B.O.P title got lost on the programme. The three heat format also failed miserably as it did the night before. Williams and McClymont rarely came together and we never got to see who was the best driver on the night. Williams copped the worse of the two grid draws by drawing a rear grid in the opening heat and ends up losing by one point. Did I mention I hate seeing the three heat format used for non-contact classes?
Winners - 17r Tony Heuval, 112r Mal Hills, 13r Murray Guy

First up on the card was the teams race between Gisborne and Rotorua. Rotorua won the initial battle from the drop of the green with the 205r car (can't we just use normal numbers so spectators know who is who??) grabbing the lead. Gisborne fought back to claim second and third. The 65g car was dealt to early and developed steering issues. Mid-race things evened up when the 203r car was left perched high in turn 1. Unfortunately the Gisborne team was unable to meaningfully halt the progress of 205r and the Rascals went on to claim the win.

Once the field got together the action intensified. I stopped tracking the leader in heat one because the action behind was too good. 62g Jason Jones avenged his first night hit from 77r Ivan Lammas. 8m Scott Fredrickson guided 98h into the wall and 61g Ian Barron was on the end of a tough hit. That was only down one end of the track! C'mon guys, how is anyone supposed to see all the action when there is so much going on.

Heat two was a little more sedate. 61g Ian Barron led for 95% of the race before 81r Damian Orr tracked him down. Coming down to the chequered it was anybody's guess as to who was going to win. It was Orr who prevailed. The third heat may as well have been renamed "pick on 1nz" as friend and foe alike seemed intent on disrupting the national champion. Allan McRobbie tried to give as good as he got despite an impaired vehicle. From memory one of the Gizzy cars was on the end of a big hit entering turn three in the final heat.
Winners - Rotorua Rascals, 11r Graham McRobbie, 81r Damian Orr, 16r Clive Pritchard

With 94p Roydon Collingwood and 5g Joe Faram on the front row it was a case of good luck for the rest of the field. Sure enough they established a break from the drop of the green. 10p Peter Rees benefitted from the first corner melee and set off in pursuit with 99r Mark Decke. Collingwood looked to have the measure of the field but was cautious through lapped traffic, allowing Faram in particular to close up on occasion. With the race nearing it's conclusion Collingwood had opened a gap. Faram got a bit aggressive with a lapped car and spun. Rees got past Decke for second but it was the 94p who took the final place in the World 240's.
Winner - 94p Roydon Collingwood

The non-qualifying races carried the added bonus of a free pass into next years World 240's. Race 1 saw a supertight finish between 5g Joe Faram and 68r Barry Hunter Jr. Faram dominated race two to go top on points going into the final heat. 5 points behind him were 10p Peter Rees, 37r Darcy Hunter and Hunter Jr. 52r Mike Herbert took Faram to the grass early on and effectively out of contention with all cars running for the flag. Darcy Hunter was race leader until gremlins saw him pull infield. A real blow for Darcy as he was in the provisional qualifying position. Rees took the lead as Hunter Jr found himself spun back in the pack. Rees took the win and the automatic qualifying spot for next years World 240's.
Winners - 5g Joe Faram (2), 10p Peter Rees

Race one was fast and furious. Early spin casualties included 1nz Malcolm Ngatai, 2nz Dale Ewers and 7p Shane Penn. Penn was outstanding in recovering to 10th place. Up front polesitter 29h Durk Greidanus was off the pace and his fellow front row man, 72p Simon Joblin ran into problems. 515r Stan Hickey was the benefactor. Big movers included 8p Scott Miers 16 positions, 55gb Frankie Wainman Jr 14 spots, 58p Peter Bengston 19 spots, 87r Pat Westbury 17 and 94p Roydon Collingwood 11 spots on his way to a second place finish. Whilst all those spots sound impressive the likes of Miers, Penn and Bengston all got the horror grid draw of back, middle and front.

Race two was more of the same, fast and furious. Ngatai and Ewers made up for their spins in heat one to post a one-two finish. Ngatai really looked the goods in this one, powering away to victory. Behind them was the ever present Wainman Jr who topped the field after two races on 46 points. Collingwood made up 18 spots to be tied for second with Hickey just two points adrift of the Englishmen. There was disaster for 23h Lance Ashton who recorded a DNF after a promising fourth place in the opening heat.

Heat three will go down as one of the great races in Superstock history. From the start 58p Peter Bengston set off with Collingwood and Penn in pursuit. 31p Andy McCabe, 66r Steve Hampton and 92r Kyle Fraser were all quick to assume blocking roles. In the early going they seemed more concerned with each other than some of the faster runners in the field! Penn spun Palmy trackmate Collingwood as he had several placings to make up on Collingwood. Wainman Jr came through the field early and 8p Scott Miers was thereabouts.

On about lap 5 Hampton landed a huge hit in turn three on Collingwood. Hampton didn't move while it appeared Collingwood was off to the infield to retire. As the reds came on for Hampton out of the corner of my eye I saw Collingwood come speeding across the infield, careering head on into the back straight wall, either unconscious or with a throttle jam. Either way he had plenty of speed up and it was a sickening head on impact. The ambulance was called. Initially there was more concern for Hampton but as both drivers recovered the pulses of all involved slowed down a bit. Were are very very fortunate that this incident wasn't worse. As luck would have it Collingwood managed to find a gap in the traffic and managed to escape without life threatning injuries. Lets hope we never see an incident like that again.

Racing resumed and my focus was on Wainman Jr and who was going to have a go at him. Chaos was erupting all over the track by now. For much of the race it seemed Wainman's fellow overseas drivers were doing more to stop him than the Kiwi contingent! Enter 3nz Brendan Higgins who saw Wainman and attempted to run him down. He succeded but couldn't pull off the big hit. He did halt his progress a little. As the laps wore down 84gb Tom Harris was spun in front of Wainman. Wainman sat there for awhile but managed to restart.

With the chequered flag unfurled Wainman came into turns three and four. 16b Steve Jude almost made a hero of himself, trying to put Wainman up the wall. Wainman powered on through and passed Jude to claim the point he needed to become the first three time winner of the World 240's. Second overall was 87r Pat Westbury who had slipped through unnoticed and in third was 1nz Malcolm Ngatai, another driver who was seemingly out of contention but almost did the impossible. The race was one which leaves you breathless as a spectator. I would talk about how the other contenders fell by the wayside but to be honest I didn't see half of what happened in this race. The action was unreal.
Winners - 515r Stan Hickey, 1nz Malcolm Ngatai, 8p Scott Miers

After getting the first ever 10/10 on night one the officials put on another very good performance. The Ministock incident involving 49r was well dealt with. The officials can also take a certain credit for nobody getting hit in the Collingwood crash as they activated the reds fairly promptly for Steve Hampton. There were a few instances during the evening that saw the officials a little late on the reds in my opinion and although nothing happened I felt the potential was there on a couple of occasions. Overall though the officials can be very proud of their performance this weekend. 9/10

Where Rotorua excels over other promotions is in the detail. I lost count of how many pit reports we had. All the drama was being re-layed to the crowd which was great to hear. The commentators were also right on the ball with the points situation. As soon as cars were over the start/finish line, points were being conveyed to fans. That's the way it should be, there is no need to wait for official results etc just get the points to the fans and then inform them of any amendments. The main event was completed at a reasonable hour (around 10:30pm), enabling patrons with kids to go home. Having more events afterwards allowed carpark congestion to clear.

The meeting just fails to reach perfection on a couple of points. The build up for race 1 has become a permanent fixture on the schedule. But 20 minutes from when the first car enters to the green light is a bit ridiculous. Buckling the drivers into the cars takes too long in my opinion and if this was eliminated from the pre-race ritual we may halve the time and get the race underway. The other point is Ministocks. I would rather see 10 Streetstocks and/or a field of Minisprints. I think it's important at these big events to stack the programme with quality. It's these events that attract the casual fans. If we are to turn casual fans into every week fans then lets super impress them by putting on the best show that we can.