| Kaos Reign |
|---|
Team Kaos from Wellington won the Tournament of Destruction.
The beaten finalist was The Wild Bunch from Auckland. Two nights of destructive action both teams managed to get five cars to the start line for the big 15 lap final. Kaos actually had all six of their cars mobile in spite of arriving at the track with a team of 'pre-loved' cars to take on some pristine vehicles, particularly Valiants, from other teams.
The Wild Bunch led the race for quite a while but simply ran out of mobile cars. Shannon Savage looked good for the win but had a tyre flat (right rear) and was going every which way but straight. His car also had no clutch that made stopping at starting a tad difficult. Naturally Kaos cars made the lack of a clutch even more of a problem for Savage by parking their cars in the way! Towards the end of the race only the 93w station wagon was still mobile, all the Wild Bunch cars were either stalled, nosed into the wall or blocked.
The big Pontiac of Tony Gavin had been stationary for an age when it finally fired and Gavin got it moving to try and stop the Kaos car from completing it's last lap. It was not to be and the Wellington team were the deserved victors of a Tournament that truly had some massive hits.
Tournament of Destruction
Results
1st Team Kaos (Wellington)
2nd Wild Bunch (Auckland)
3rd Dirty Rotters (Wanganui)
4th Alton Tavern Bandits (Taranaki)
5th Kakaramea Krushers (Taranaki)
6th Terminators of Taipa (Northland)
7th Aussie Spares (Waikato)
8th Takapau Terrors (Hawkes Bay)
The Dirt Saloons raced in two divisions and proved to be extremely fast on a track that had plenty of grip after the initial wetness on the surface dissipated. The combined 8 cyl and 6 cyl class were impressive in both their speed and the closeness of their racing. The cars were all very different and the crowd could relate to the shapes of the bodies.
Race 1
1st 68 Daniel McPike
2nd 48 Stu Davis
3rd 156 Keith Blackburn
Race 2
1st 77 Shane Knight
2nd 5 Ricky Wilson
3rd 89 Peter Rae
Race 3
1st 68 Daniel McPike
2nd 156 Keith Blackburn
3rd 192 Rob Murray
Race 4
1st 5 Ricky Wilson
2nd 45 Bruce McRae
3rd 27 Graham Webber
Race 5
1st 68 Daniel McPike
2nd 48 Stu Davis
3rd 135 Rick Bates
Race 6
1st 152 Jason Cotterill
2nd 77 Shane Knight
3rd 27 Graham Webber
There were a couple of 'incidents' during the Saloon races, Marty Davis clouted the wall hard enough to knock a wheel askew and two cars mated that caused a long delay whist they separated. The Saloons however did a fine job wheel packing the track and their racing was well received by the crowd.
In total 20 G-Shock watches were available for presentation to the Dirt Club members (representing three different clubs). Ten had been given out on the first night the others were presented after the meet6ing. The G-Shock watches given to the drivers have a retail value of $299.00 each! Not a bad prize for fronting and doing three enjoyable races.
The recipients of the G-Shock Watches were :
125 Ray McEvoy. His watch was awarded for great evasive driving in his firstb race when he managed to miss the wall every lap, just!
77 Shane Knight He got a G-Shock watch for being beautiful, just beautiful to watch!
45 Bruce McRae and Ricky Wilson earned a G-Shock for the John McDonald Reality Team for having the best presented cars (although one of them did a bit of a teaser quasi-strip in the last race)
127 Marty Davis for hitting the wall first.
33 Paul Williams for being so keen that he bought two cars to the Tournament of Destruction, one to race on each night.
152 Jason Cotterill got awarded a G-Shock for great driving especially with #77 to finally win his last race.
135 Rick Bates was a G-Shock nominee because he was adjudged to the tidiest driver.
68 Daniel McPike was a recipient of a G-Shock time piece for having some kind of driving skill that stops him from hitting the concrete wall. He drives well with one hand on the steering wheel and one on the chequered flag and can even do do-nuts and still not hit the wall.
52 Neil Filmer was nominated for a G-Shock watch as he was considered to be a much improved driver that looked impressive in one race but unfortunately lost it twice in the same corner.
179 Gary Hobson although he did not race with the Dirt Saloons, is a member of the Meremere club and had a race in the Jalopy class. He then took his Corolla over the Ramp three times, each time not only nailing the landing but each time he lined up the ramp again for another go. Unfortuantely the fourth time onto the ramp the engine died on the man they call Wizz.
Gary Hobson won the final Jalopy race. The Jalopies , standard road cars, are becoming quite a favourite with the crowd. A couple of the Takapau Terrors Derby team cars joined the Jalopies for non-contact racing, including the Jaguar. The Derby Teams Jaguar had a Holden V8 (253) for a motor and the back end out of a Valiant, (leaf springs and the diff). Some of the Jalopies then entered the Derby to end the programme, taking on the much more re-inforced Derby Teams cars. Also several cars had multiple drivers on the night, incxluding one car, #34 that had a female driver, for two races, Lee Sturmey.
Jalopies Results
Race 1
1st 57 Richard Hilton
2nd 11 Joseph Phillips
3rd 34 Lee Sturmey
Race 2
1st 57 Richard Hilton
2nd 77 Cam Young
3rd 179 Geoff Sinclair
Race 3
1st 179 Gary Hobson
2nd 57 Richard Hilton
3rd 77 Leon Halverston
The Quad bikes had three rip roaring races. After each heat, first one bike (Ross Keily on a 400cc Honda) , then two, then three (including Grumbles, Graham Giles, on a Super Quad) did some laps on the BullRing. Those efforts to get around the tight corners on the BullRing had the crowd applauding. Two juniors raced in the field of Quads, both wearing reflective vests to warn the riders that they needed to pass around the outside and give the youngsters a little bit of room.
Results
Race 1
1st 205 Graham Giles
2nd 34 Rev Way
3rd 51 Ross Keily
Race 2
1st 205 Graham Giles
2nd 34 Rev Way
3rd 51 Ross Keily
Race 3
34 34 Rev Way
2nd 51 Ross Keily
3rd 205 Graham Giles.
The winged monster bike of Grumbles started the third heat off a deep handicap and ran out of laps to make enough passes to win the event.
The crowd enjoyed the meeting, there was plenty of variety, plenty to cheer about and plenty of big hits in the Tournament of Destruction. It could however be the last ever Teams Derby Event in New Zealand which all agree would be a crying shame!
|
