Macgor's New Zealand Speedway
www.macgor.co.nz


published 01-03-2016
Southern Saloon Slam at Riverside




Mark Henderson 34i heads off Peter Knight 27i in the Southland Streetstock Champs - Corbyn Shuttleworth
Mike Verdona claims the feature race at Southern Saloon Slam - Corbyn Shuttleworth
Mike Verdona makes it four from four - Debra Race



Barry Taylor crashes out of the final - Debra Race
James Stronach 38i heads off Arjen Schouten in the Shoot Out
Steve Robertsons Mustang was in the wars all day, this time being chased by Lloyd Phillips 47i.


Verdona Just Too Good At Saloon Slam

By Daryl Shuttleworth
Photos Debra Race & Corbyn Shuttleworth

Cromwell saloon driver Mike Verdona was in a class of his own as the Southern Saloon Slam ventured South for round two at The Rock FM Riverside Speedway.
The series sponsored by Cleanways 2003 Ltd and Graham Williamson X Factor Cars brings together some of the best Saloon drivers in the South Island and is held over three meetings held at Dunedin, Invercargill and Cromwell.

Heading into the Invercargill round Verdona held a handy points lead in the series over Invercargill's Lloyd Phillips in second and Peter Kirk of Dunedin in third, Phillips would be looking to home track advantage to cut the points lead back.

Heat one saw Verdona start from the front row of the grid and build a handy lead over the rest of the field. Despite multiple restarts Verdona kept pulling away from the competition, taking an easy race win over Robert Lee of Eastern States and Steve Robertson of Cromwell, more importantly for Verdona was the fact Phillips had been involved in an incident putting him out of the race, extending the series points.

Heat two turned into a long winded affair with the race taking over forty minutes to complete, multiple restarts and incidents led to frustration in the field but it was once again Verdona who took the top spot but this time Phillips was hot on his heels claiming second with Kirk third.

Heat three and Verdona had to start from the rear of the pack, within a lap he had picked up a number of places and was now challenging the leaders. By this point Lee in his Pontiac had opened up a handy lead and looked almost certain to break Verdona's perfect run but with two laps to run Verdona made his move and took the lead which he held until the chequered flag. Lee had to settle for second with a fast finishing Roberston third.

This set the top eight points scorers from the heats up for the Top Gun pole shuffle, odds on favorite would have been Verdona but after missing the start of his lap against Lee he had to settle for second on the grid, Lee claiming pole.
The big talking point of the shootout was the performance of Invercargill driver James Stronach who entered the shootout in a battle for seventh spot but was eliminated by Dunedin's Aaron Andrews when challenging for fourth place on the grid, settling for fifth.
Stronach was strong all meeting and got the hearty Southland crowd up on his feet when he made short work of fellow Southlander Ewan Shearing and then the much favored Cantabrian Arjen Schouten who ended the shootout backed up the wall at turn one, ending his afternoon and any chance of running in the feature.

In the feature it was Verdona who got the best start from the outside of the grid, and was unstoppable for the rest of the race.
As the race went on Verdonas dominance showed, eventually taking race victory by almost half a lap, second was Lee and a strong finish by Robertson saw him finish third.
Verdonas maximum points haul see's him head to the final in Cromwell on April 16th as the man to beat.

Riverside Speedway also hosted the Southland Streetstock Championship, and it was the invasion of the Dunedin drivers which was the early talking point.
The Dunedin guys certainly had full intention of taking the title North and with Craig Blackler taking the first race win, it was certainly looking likely. Invercargill's Peter Knight stayed out of trouble to bag second with Dunedin's Luke Ellis third.

With race two about to get underway there was one notable absentee from the grid, race one winner Blackler had gearbox damage and could no longer continue on, meaning his title aspirations were over.
It was another Dunedin driver who set the pace though, Graham Morris cleared off from the pack to bag some very valuable points heading into the final, Knight claimed second to make him the top points scorer and Invercargill's Mark Henderson third.

As race three got underway Knight was the target for the Dunedin drivers, just as Morris was for the Southlanders, Knight was thrown around the track like he was in a pinball machine which allowed Morris to clear off, but this was cut short when Steve Dryden put Morris into a spin allowing Knight to unlap himself and weave his way through multiple battles that were happening on track.
As the chequered flag fell it was Henderson who took the race win and Knight who claimed the Southland Championship from Morris in second, Henderson shared third place honors with Ellis and Dunedin's Tim Ashton.

The support classes included Modified Sprints, George Phillips carried on where he left off in the ITM Outlaw Cup by winning race one, Raymond Phillips won race two and a popular win in race three went to Dean Miller.

Youth Saloons was dominated by Zane Tahura in his Honda Integra, the youngster claiming all three races.

Former Southland Production Saloon Champion Dylan Mountney made his come back to the grade in spectacular fashion winning race one but left race three with heavy frontal damage after major contact with the wall. Dave Horton and Nikayla Livingstone took race wins in heats two and three.


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