Auckland Car Club Pukekohe Park Raceway 06/04/14
It was another beautiful day a Pukekohe for the last round of our series we had a good field which included guest Steve Ross in the very fast ex Paul Sinclair Commodore. It was also great to see Cam Crawford back after mechanical enhancements to his knee.
Race 1: Dean leads the front of the pack as to be expected from qualifying, closely followed by Anthony and Justin. Paul is straight after with a highly polished Pinky! There are a few position changes before lap 2 with Michael overtaking Ron and Steven shooting up into 3rd. For a short time Antony takes 1st but Dean quickly rectifies this. Steven holds his position until he takes a big spin at turn 3 and end up in the sandpit, but all is well and he rejoins at the back of the queue. The front of the convoy remains the same, whilst there are subtle changes in the middle with Paul, Tony, Veen and Ron vying for 4th place. Always an epic battle. Cameron takes a rather high speed spin into turn one and comes into the bend backwards. Again all is well and he puts himself at the back of the pack. Steven has made his way up from the back by 3 places but pits in the second to last lap. In the last lap Veen gets past Paul and Ron slips past Tony to finish 4th and 6th respectively.
Class A results 1st: Dean Perkins 2nd: Anthony Galbraith 3rd: Justin Butcher
Class B Results 1st Veen Smith 2nd Paul Burnet 3rd Tony van Tiel
Race 2: Stu starts off at the front with Michael following after. Ross heads up the midfield, swiftly followed by Paul and Veen. Lap 2 sees a couple changes through the middle with Ross taking 4th from Tony and Ron taking 7th from Veen. During lap 3 saw Michael take 1st from Stu and a spectacular battle through the centre field as always between, Tony, Paul, Ron and Veen. The back 4 cars at this stage have not changed but the gaps have lessened between Steven, Justin, Anthony and Dean. In Lap 5, Dean gets past Anthony and Steven gets past Ron to change up the running a bit, with only 2 laps to go, Dean has long way to go to get into first, the handicap on this race was immense. The next time round sees some big changes and sets up the final positions with Ross overtaking Stu and Dean moves up 4 places, with the central field remaining largely the same except suddenly Justin comes up 3 places and mixes in, pushing past Paul and Anthony tailing him, they end the race in that format. Not an ending that was expected.
Class A 1st: Ross Christensen 2nd: Michael Crawley 3rd: Dean Perkins
Race 3: So we start this race the same as race 2, with Stu leading the handicap followed by Cameron and Michael. Laps 2 & 3 remain largely the same, only two changes in the standings with Ron overtaking Paul and Tony sneaking past Cameron. The central field stays tight and in place however Michael appears to have not come by on this lap. Anthony has come up from the back and is up 4 places and Dean is still at the back, again the handicap is quite severe this round. Paul retires at this point with diff issues in the Torana. Steven has come up 3 places in one lap and Michael has stopped up at the chicane. By this time Dean has made it up 2 places and is now zooming through the cars, he knows that it will be a difficult race. Justin has made it past Ron and Veen is right at the back, can’t be sure on what has happened to cause this. Cameron has slipped back and being held back by Stu but Stu has been overtaken by Justin. As we come into the last lap Steven is in first place and Dean can’t quite catch up to him but Anthony is right on his tail, but they finish in that order for the last race of the day.
1st: Steven Ross 2nd: Dean Perkins 3rd: Anthony Galbraith
An so the season ended with Dean taking out Class A, followed by Tony Galbraith then Justin.
Class B which had been tightly fought all season with the perfectly reliable and consistent Veen taking first place followed by new member Stu in the almost as reliable Walkinshaw Commodore and then in a very tight fight for 3rd place Tony van Tiel who just edged out the ever fast improving new member Ross.