Macgor's New Zealand Speedway
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published 29-03-2016
Riverside Speedways Easter meeting




Dean Shearing 68 heads off 47 Lloyd Phillips, 69 Ewan Shearing and 17 Craig Phillips in Saloons
Koby Morrison celebrates his maiden victory
Tim Wilson comes unstuck in Modified Sprints




17 Ray Phillips battles with 8 Daryl Scott in Modified Sprints
Andrew Watson was unstoppable in Streetstocks
96 Nathan Taylor holds off new Southland Champ Mark Taylor 84

Lightening Strikes Twice For Tuhura
By Daryl Shuttleworth
Photos Corbyn Shuttleworth
Zane Tuhura 88 and Jack Brown 157 fought hard for the Southland Title

In any form of motorsport its tough to win a championship, but to do it two years running shows class, it shows that both team and driver are at the top of their game, especially when there is nothing between you and your competition.
This was the case on Good Friday when The Rock FM Riverside Speedway hosted the Southland Youth Saloon Championships, a grade developed to give up and coming young drivers a class to drive in at a competitive level, a grade growing in numbers each season.

Heading into this event you would have to be a brave man to pick a winner, early season form would say Jack Brown would be the man to beat but as the season has proceeded Browns competition have bridged the gap and knocked him from the top step of the podium.
Jacob Garrick has had the quickest car on track, but motorsport is a cruel game and mechanical issues have haunted him late in the season but the Southland Title was his chance to make amends.
Zane Tuhura the defending champ has dominated the last two meetings, winning all but one race, form was on his side but there were a number of other drivers in with a shot, the likes of Emma Phillips, Liv Fraser and Acacia Mitchell all in with a chance at claiming the title.

Heat one saw both Tuhura and Brown start up the front of the grid and it took no time for the pairing to clear off to a handy lead.
Tuhura managed to keep Brown behind him despite Brown doing everything he could to slip past, but Tuhura kept his nerve right up until the last lap of the race where both cars had lapped traffic to contend with, Tuhura went low, Brown backed himself and took the high line and got a better run to the chequered flag taking the win from Tuhura to bank maximum points. Further back in the field Garrick had an impressive drive starting from the rear of the field to drive up to third.

Heat two got underway with Olivia Beck Graham getting off to a big lead before Garrick back mid pack spun causing Brown to collide with him and Tuhura also stopping on track to avoid any type of damage. This put Garrick out but Brown got underway again despite frontal damage, this didn't seem to slow him down as he started to fight his way back through the field at the restart. Beck Graham once again drove off to a big lead but both Tuhura and Brown made short work of the cars around them get to the business end of the field.
The pairing put pressure on newcomer Jacob McIntyre who was driving a great race in second, Tuhura managed to slip past but Brown couldn't follow through and when the chequred flag dropped it was Beck Graham who took the win from Tuhura and McIntyre, giving Tuhura the slimmest of margins heading into the final.

In the final both Brown and Tuhura started from the rear of the field, Tuhura made the first move slipping past Brown early but Brown wasn't done, he fought through the field, every time Tuhura made a move, Brown was right on his rear bumper, while this was happening Emma Phillips who was also in points contention was charging off to considerable lead.
Phillips drove a brilliant race to win the final and bag enough points to claim third in the championship overall, while Tuhura came home second just ahead of Brown to win the title for the second year running, with Brown having to be content with second overall.
It was a day to celebrate for the Tuhura family with Zane's younger brother Nico making his debut in the Youth Saloon grade.

The meeting doubled as the Southland Championships for Stockcars, just six cars took part in the championship and after heat one it looked as if Mark Taylor who took the win, and Nathan Taylor both of Dunedin, in second were going to be unstoppable, the pairing drove off untouched in what was a fairly event less race, but this all changed come race two. Invercargill's Rob Mitchell who claimed third in race one had his on track supporters in the form of Aaron Borthwick and Logan McNamara who were both on a mission to keep the title in the South. Borthwick put a massive hit on Mark Taylor at the start of heat two, allowing Mitchell to skip off to an early lead, this led to a barrage of big hits and retaliation including Borthwick being slammed into the wall by Nathan Taylor and Logan McNamara being flipped upside down on the back straight by Mark Taylor, an impressive display of Stockcar racing put on by all.
On the restart it was Nathan Taylor who chased Mitchell down to take the race win with Mark Taylor second and Mitchell third, leaving the championship all tied up on points between the Taylors heading into the final.

As the final got underway it was once again McNamara and Johnathon Delany who tried to deal to the Taylor pairing as Mitchell drove off to an early lead, McNamara made solid contact with Nathan Taylor, snapping off a wheel gate, putting him out of contention.
The big Southland crowd erupted as this now put Mitchell in with a chance so long as his Riverside team mates could take out Mark Taylor.
Despite multiple attempts Taylor kept his cool and avoided contact with his rivals, taking the lead late in the race when Mitchell suffered mechanical issues.
Taylor took the chequred flag and the Southland Championship, Mitchell limped home second to claim runner up spot while Nathan Taylor was third overall.

In support races Dean Shearing, Craig Phillips and Ewan Shearing all shared a win each, Production Saloons saw Tam Clements win race one but Jesse Stevens impressed with two hard fought race wins in what has been his best outing for the season.

Streetstocks welcomed back Andrew Watson who was unstoppable, Watson claimed the first two race wins of the day but decided to play in the pack in race three, allowing Dunedins Craig Blackler to take race three honours.

Modified Sprints kept the crowd on their feet with wheel to wheel racing all day long, George Phillips continued his run of great form with a victory in race one and three, but the big talking point was the performance of Koby Morrison who has struggled at the rear of the pack all season, taking his first race win in Modified Sprints. The Southland youngster started the race at the rear of the field in race two, but took the high line and chased down the entire field to claim his maiden race win, in what would have to be the drive of the season. Morrison also backed it up in race three with a solid second placing.




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