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Rotorua North Island Teams Classic 2nd & 3rd February 2001 by Macgor
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 losing 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 to 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 struggle 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 agree 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 .