published 09-12-2014

Oreti Park Crowns New Classic Solo Champion
By Daryl Shuttleworth
Photos: Lindsay Withington Photographer




Rain threatened to once again put a dampener on proceedings at the Russell Cunningham Properties Oreti Park Speedway on Saturday night, but the Southland club managed to push the evenings races through much to the delight of the large crowd in attendance, even after lengthy hold ups getting the greasy track to a safe rideable standard took place.

The main event of the evening was the Southland Classic Solo Championship and it didn't take long for hot favorite Kevin Ryan of Greymouth to stamp his authority on the event, dominating race one and showing exactly what his intentions were, but Ryan was a noticeable absentee from race two, this opened the door for Oreti Parks Kelvin Neutze to claim maximum points in the race and edge ahead of Ryan in the points standing. Races three and four saw Neutze and Ryan change positions between first and second, it also saw local rider Pete Stenning retire with mechanical issues and another contender Les Payne take a heavy fall to drop him out of contention, Noel Caulfield kept a steady head and collected the points that were on offer to him, but at the end of the event it was Neutze who claimed the Southland Championship from Ryan in second and Caulfield third.

The second big event of the evening was the Sidecar Teams Challenge, the event saw the Canterbury Shakers team take on three teams from Oreti Park, last years winners and favorites The Hog Hunters, The Wild Piglets and The Contenders, both the Shakers and The Wild Piglets scored early points through wins to Lionel Green and Shayne Breech for the Shakers and a dominating performance from James Douglas and Ricky Pubben for the Piglets who were lightening fast all night, banked a good points haul heading into the later rounds. The surprise package was The Contenders who were the real dark horses of the challenge, they managed to upset some more favoured competition when Bradley Sharp and Chris Chatfield, and Jason Kennedy and Myron Anderson snatched exciting wins to see them sitting third in standings, ahead of defending champions The Hog Hunters.

Heading into the final round of the Challenge the Hog Hunters had to pull something out of the bag, the teams rose to the challenge and Jason Harpur and Mark George took a much needed victory, then the team played their joker card, meaning they could nominate their strongest combination and race for double points, team captain Aiden Thwaites and Shane Twiss took up the role of the joker and all went to plan with the pair snatching victory over the oppisition and double points for the win, elevating them from fourth to second overall ahead of the Canterbury Shakers and just behind the Sidecar Challenge leaders The Wild Piglets consisting of Erwin Tree and Nigel Cuckow, Scott Ayto and Dylan Carnie, James Douglas and Ricky Pubben, Dallas Kelman and Chay McWilliam along with Josh Heenan as manager.

In support classes James Sargent of the United Kingdom showed his class winning every race in the solos, other riders who won all their races were Zane Pay in Solo Support, Cormac Buchanan in Peewee Solos, Hayden Brookland in 125cc Solos ,Sam Taylor in 200cc Solos and the winner of the sidecar support class was Shaun Kerr and Robin Poole. The Oreti Park club also had Hayden Sims in Auckland competing in the New Zealand under 21 Solo Championship, Sims managed a solid third place at the event which was won by back to back winner Bradley Wilson Dean of Auckland.