A lovely day turned into a chilly night at Paradise Valley Speedway as a poor crowd turned up for night 1 of the World of Stocks. Equally poor was the number of Stockcars from tracks other than Rotorua. It seems this event has a long way to go to get anywhere near the World 240's.

The track was not tested at all tonight with the classes on display. Skinny tyre after skinny tyre left the track almost unblemished. A small rut formed entering turn one but it was nothing that was going to worry anyone. With the moisture topped up regularly the track stayed in a similar condition all night. 9/10

A solid field of cars fronted and put on some physical racing in the opening heat. It was all on folks, cars putting their nose where it doesn't belong, cars guiding other cars towards the concrete, cars spinning other cars. The officials would have been busy after this one! Things did get progressively better but if you wanted action it was hard to get past 49r driven by one of the MacPherson boys.
Winners - 49r MacPherson, 86r Craig Piggot, 77r Hillary Dahm

A big field of Productions turned up and put on some of the most action you will ever see from a Production Saloon class. Two rollovers, several spins and near misses. 71g Wayne Hall and 12r Brendon Layne were the rollover victims. The title turned into a two horse race between 68r Keaton Dahm and 88g Mike Hall. Dahm had the grid advantage and never looked back despite Hall's best efforts. Hall ended up in a run-off for second but with the chill starting to hit the bone Percy was off.
Winners - 8k Ryan Johnson, 68r Keaton Dahm, 5r David Campbell

A field of 11 Streetstocks was very good for a Friday night. Race 1 was largely non-contact, in fact the only driver prepared to use the bumpers was 66a Craig McKinney. Things stepped up a little in the second heat but it wasn't until heat three that we saw a race with half the field prepared to use the bumper. It was a good one, even 2nz Steve de Malmanche copped some tap.
Winners - 58r Mike King, 2nz Steve de Malmanche, 27r??

Some of the qualified drivers turned up to have three practice sessions. 3nz Peter Rees took the lead in the opener only to be run down by a quick 28e Ralph Gillespie. However Gillespie couldn't make the move to take the lead and was no doubt quite careful to avoid spinning Rees! Rees brought out the Superstock for the second race, starting half a lap behind and passing everyone except the race leader. The overseas drivers had mixed fortunes with the UK contingent outshining the Australian contingent. Percy didn't hang around for the end of round three.
Winners - 3nz Peter Rees, 28e Ralph Gillespie

Neither Stockcar Group really produced outstanding action as drivers opted to try and qualify in the 4 qualification positions rather than the wild card spot. 11m Alan Dunn was the main exception, he was a thorn in the side of most of the field. Unfortunately he was unable to front for heat three. 86r Richard Keijzer was the other bloke to stir it up a bit. Keijzer was spun early in heat one and tried to launch an unsuccessful comeback which ended in a solo spin.

557p Darrell Wallace was a surprise group leader going into the final heat. He took a solid shot entering turn one and lost his right rear! The reds were activated but Wallace was able to continue, albeit without much speed. As the white flag came out Wallace hit the brakes and stopped to avoid doing another lap. As the chequered came out he attempted to get across the finish line but it turned pear shaped as the smoke poured out. Wallace DNF'd but was given the wild card.
Qualifiers - 109r Jason Brown, 74b Tony Palmer, 10r Alan McRobbie, 48r Ivan King, 557p Darrell Wallace

77r Ivan Lammas was the stirrer in this group. Lammas was like a pesky mosquito you just can't kill, until 98r Mark Costello delivered a telling blow coming out of turn four. Other than Lammas antics the group lacked the sort of action this punter was hoping for. Costello threatened to make things interesting a couple of times but nothing really eventuated as signalled by Lammas being given the Wild Card.
Qualifiers - 95r Dale Stewart, 76r Clive Pritchard, 113r Grendon Beazley, 68r Keith Spanhake, 77r Ivan Lammas

A fairly quiet night for the officials although they would have been kept busy with the contact levels in the Ministocks and Productions. I think I heard McKinney copped a relegation for driving on the grass in the Streetstocks which occurred in turn three/four. One cause for concern was the lack of promptness on the red and yellow lights. In particular the 71g Production crash took at least half a lap before lights came on. In another instance an infield staff member came onto the track under green light conditions to remove a bumper from the track. Yikes.

One thing I am noticing across many tracks is disengaging on the grass in the Stockcars is a real issue. In particular when cars go to the grass at the end of a straight and re-appear on the track mid-corner and often in front of cars coming around the corner. There were several instances of this last night and it's only a matter of time before someone gets taken out in this manner in what will be an accidental hit from the grass. I'm not sure what to do about it to be perfectly honest. 5/10

Tonight was a good example of how efficiency plays a big factor in the success of a meeting. With the dire combination of Ministocks and Production Saloons combined with the Overseas Drivers Practice, half tonights meeting was a good cure for insomnia. When the Streetstocks and Stockcars failed to fire this meeting was headed for the rubbish dump. But due to the continuity of the meeting we were done within three hours. The entertainment had been packed into three hours and as such it was watchable. But lets hope tonight is a big step up.