Rotorua North Island Teams Classic 2nd & 3rd February
2001 by Macgor / Page 2
Qualifying Teams race two :
Auckland Allstars versus Rotorua Rebels
92r Shane Penn sat on pole for the rebels but was taken infield by
125a David Neal at green flag fall allowing
95r Rodney Wood to streak into the lead chased hard by 17a Rick Campbell
.
Campbell got the touch he was looking for and spun Wood exiting turn
one , spun himself too but that didn't matter as next in line was 11a Gary
Ellis and that meant Auckland was in front .
125a David Neal was doing an impressive job holding back two high powered
Rebels in the form of 92r Shane
Penn and 93r Chris Allen but had little control when the feuding trio
arrived at the spun Rodney Wood and a hefty head on knock occurred . That
broke up the squabble and the Rebel cars sped off .
Shane Penn gained the front running when Ellis was delayed by Rebel
blocker 96r Murray Hobbs but was soon suckered by the David Neal blocking
machine . That 125a machine must have a strong magnet for a rear bumper
I'm thinking . Chris Allen also slowed waiting for Penn to dispose
of Dangerous David Neal giving the lurking Warwick Ansty the opportunity
to execute what was probably the hit of the weekend by slamming 93r Chris
Allen hard into the turn 4 wall destroying the right front suspension and
rear bumper of Allen's car , Ansty leaving the
93r to complete it's death throes by crawling the length of the main
straight .
11a Gary Ellis was in front again but fell prey to the waiting Hobbs
again while Neal and Penn had their own little snails pace scuffle happening
. Rodney Wood seized the advantage and shot to the lead .
Wood's problem came a short time later when he arrived at a re-focussed
David Neal whom he attacked at full
noise spinning Neal but unfortunately becoming trapped behind the stopped
Chris Allen as Neal drifted
backwards to the wall .
I think it dawned on the crowd at this point that the Rebels were looking
to be in a spot of bother .
Wood got going again but by then Ellis was half a lap in front for
Auckland .
The Hobbs block was distracted by 41a Warwick Ansty allowing Ellis to
run unhindered and pressure was relieved further when 17a Rick Campbell
blocked 92r Shane Penn who had been slowly catching Ellis .
The Campbell and Penn battle dawdled around the track and infield edge
in often seen fashion until
unexpectedly the reds were shown and Campbell ordered from the track
.
The popular opinion on the bank was that the local officials were trying
to bail out the very at risk of loosing Rebels .
The race resumed with 95r Rodney Wood trying to dispose of 125a David
Neal while Murray Hobbs was throwing everything he had at Gary Ellis and
eventually finished up ahead of Ellis on the track but several laps down
. Ellis wasn't giving up easy though and fought back shoving Hobbs slightly
infield and in return Hobbs fought his way
back onto the track . The two cars caught up to the again waiting David
Neal and Hobbs directed his aggression there while Ellis hung back waiting
for his team mate to arrange clear passage .
125a David Neal managed to force Hobbs out ot the wall in turn two just
in time for Ellis to escape a serious dive bombing attempt by a fast closing
Rodney Wood . Exiting turn two a waiting Shane Penn was a worrying prospect
for the Ellis 'on to it' teams racing machine and the delay while Penn
was disposed of allowed 95r Rodney Wood
to up the spirits of the local crowd again by scooting into the lead
.
Hobbs and Neal were back into a personal grievance negotiation struggles
down the back straight with Hobbs
being forced infield yet again and once again he forced his way back
to the track .
Next thing the reds are on again and Hobbs is removed by the officials
completely negating the biased ruling theory .
Greens showing again and Wood takes the white flag and I'm thinking
how well these Auckland cars had performed and how close they had come
to toppling the Rebels .
Ellis was still running a reasonably close second but unlikely to catch
the slightly faster Wood , Just after the white
flag however Shane Penn and David Neal were occupying each other and
Wood made the fatal mistake of slowing and waiting for Penn to cover Neal
. Instead of doing that though Penn slipped past Neal and headed off down
the back straight leaving Wood exposed .
Ellis was within a few car lengths now and Wood had to take the chance
of an outside pass on Neal . There was no way Neal would allow that to
happen and Wood found himself taken to the wall while 11a Gary Ellis cruised
by to pick up the chequered .
Us lot on the banks also realised that the Rebels had only got one
car past the finish flag and in effect had no more points on the board
than Hawkes Bay in the best loosing team stakes .
This was a classic teams race of strategy and contact , lead
changes galore , and the ultimate of the underdogs coming out on top .
and seemingly only marred by the officials intervention in removing two
cars from the event
for unexplained reasons .
All was revealed over the P.A. the next night when we were informed
that when a car is forced over the pole line contact must be broken and
the car forced infield must return to the track behind the attacking car
.
While there's nothing new in that ruling the instant enforcement aspect
was .
I might get myself shot down in flames here but I think I aggree with
the method as it stops cars that are going to be disqualified from damaging
opposition cars in the meantime .The only bugbear is that stoppages do
not go down
well with the crowd .
I can only but imagine how the packed house at Palmerston will react
if the rules are enforced this way .
I would suggest a pre-meeting briefing for the crowd on intended rule
enforcement methods from the officials or
else a riot may ensue . |