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Published
06-04-2015
Marsden Claims Action Packed Grand Prix By Daryl Shuttleworth - Shuttleworth Motorsport Media Photos Debra Race The team at The Rock FM Riverside Speedway would have been breathing a sigh of relief on Good Friday afternoon as all the hard work that went into their track preparation paid off when they hosted the New Zealand Saloon Grand Prix. The Southland club had come under fire just a few weeks ago when the track surface was almost undrivable, but many hours of hard work, and a cancellation of a meeting is what was needed to serve up one of the best tracks seen at Riverside in years, a real credit to all involved. Twenty four cars from as far away as Wellington made the journey South to the Dean Shearing Contracting New Zealand Super Saloon Grand Prix, they were greeted to a packed crowd and sunshine, early predictions were that current 2NZ Paddy North of Eastern States would be the man everybody would be chasing. In heat one North managed to move through the pack on a greasy track to claim third, local favorite Lloyd Phillips was second with Cromwell's Steve Rightson leading the pack home in his Mustang after an eventful race that consisted of three restarts. Heat two saw Invercargill driver Steve Dryden's run come to an abrupt end when he hit the wall at turn one causing the car to roll over, Dryden walked away unscathed, but the car looked a little second hand. Dryden would return that night to impress in the Sreetstocks. After the restart Ryan Marsden of Christchurch drove off to claim the win over Peter "Dutchie" Schouten of Cromwell and Russell Erskine also representing Cromwell in third. Heat three put a massive dent in Paddy Norths chances as a multi car pile up on the back straight spelt the end to his race, the crash involving North, Lloyd Phillips and Ewen Shearing left both North and Shearing sitting as spectators for the remainder of the race. Phillips managed to restart and claimed second behind Dave McCallion of Cromwell and Riversides Craig Phillips placing third. The fourth heat was a reversal of heat two with Peter Schouten showing his class to lead home Ryan Marsden in second, Cromwells Graham Williamson in the Hypermac Mustang also banked some valuable points to come home in third. The points from the heats saw Lloyd Phillips go into the winner takes all final in top spot from Ryan Marsden, Peter Schouten and Steve Rightson filling the first two rows of the grid. As the green flag was dropped it was Marsden and Schouten that got the jump, but it only took a couple of laps for Schouten to slip through for the lead and start to dominate the final. Lapped traffic started to play its part in the twenty lap final with Marsden taking advantage of it, making his move on Schouten through traffic to reclaim the lead but an epic battle was still on hand. Ivan Murdoch of Cromwell lost a wheel late in the final causing the races only restart, meaning it was a race to the flag for Marsden and Schouten. While Schouten gave it everything he had, Marsden defended the lead he had built to claim his first New Zealand Saloon Grand Prix title from Schouten and Lloyd Phillips third. The Riverside club hosted the Southland Stockcar Championships as a support class, the resurgence of Stockcars in the South saw ten cars entered and turned out a highly entertaining championship. Eastern States driver Mark Taylor set the standards early on in heat one, dominating from start to finish, while Invercargill's Kelvin Lawson managed a well deserved win in heat two heading home Taylor and fellow Eastern States driver Gavin Marshall. Heat three was action packed, Invercargill's Aaron Borthwick become the enforcer putting a solid hit on Mark Taylor early in the race, Taylor later retired to the infield putting the championship leader out of contention. Riversides Steve Clements had more hits than Elvis Presley but managed to be a big enough nuisance in the final heat to allow Invercargill's Shanan Knight to demolish the competition, taking the chequered flag from Gavin Marshall and Kelvin Lawson, meaning the Southland Championship would be heading North with Marshall, Lawson was second overall and Knight third. The Streetstocks were in action competing for the Cecile Kergozou Memorial Trophy and it was Steve Dryden who had earlier put his Saloon on its roof who showed contact grades may be more his thing. Dryden won all three heats to claim the championship but had plenty of help from Megan Molloy, Shannan Knight and Chris Kergozou who all put some massive shots on their Dunedin counterparts to ensure the trophy would remain in the South. Jamie Lott of Dunedin took second place with Mark Henderson of Invercargill third.
The New Zealand Saloon Grand Prix was sponsored by Dean Shearing Contracting in association with The Roading Company, Scenic Route Lunch Bar and Isla Bank Butchery. |
