On the 26th November the Maulers took a very novice team to Palmerston North for the Komatsu Stockcar Invasion consisting of 8 teams. Palmerston Pumas, Manawatu Steelers, Manawatu Minors(u23s), Stratford Stormers, Waikato Raiders, Wanganui Vulcans, Wellington Young Guns and the Meeanee Maulers.
We went there with no expectations as our team, outside of 81b Regan O’Brien, had no teams racing experience under their belt. The other team members of 82b Bryce Cross, 83b Nick Powell, 84b Brett Loveridge, 85b Josh Smith and 86b Jeff Hart showed a ton of heart to take on the Waikato Raiders in our first teams race. This was always going to be a big ask.
81b Regan O’Brien
Having set a game plan to try and beat them, the guys were full of enthusiasm. From the time the green flag dropped till the chequered flag was raised. The first incident came when Josh Smith got tagged quite heavily by 98h Justin Hutchby, with Josh feeling the affects of it, (didn’t remember anything about the race after that). Jeff and Brett both took on a blocking role in this race and made a reasonable job of it. Just the timing a bit off. But they hung in there until the end. 83b Nick Powell started as a runner until he blew his gear box and to go into a block role. 81b Regan O’Brien tried hard to help the team out but there were just to many experienced Waikato drivers for us to handle. Waikato claiming positions 1-2-3 Meeanee 4-5. Big ups to the guys in race 1 for sticking to the plan.
A job well done..
In our second teams race we took on the Manawatu Minors (u 23s) a team of very youthful racers. Having lost Josh Smith for the night from race 1 we called on our reserve driver Beatle Tarrant to race the 85b car, Also losing Nick Powell (blown gear box) from race 1. Having learnt a lot from our 1st race the team put on a far better display of teams racing, with both Jeff and Brett putting in some good blocking manoeuvers. 82b Bryce Cross lead the the race for 5 laps until he got tied up with 518 Jordan Dare.
Both Beatle and Regan trying there hardest to stop the minors lead car. After that, had it not been for some illegal moves (unseen by the officials of course) we would have come away with a victory. I just want to thank the new team members for your commitment it is great to see some new talent in the ranks. Thank you also to the senior maulers team for helping the new guys out. Thanks also to our sponsors 02 Engineering, Alexander Electrical, Dents Panel and Paint and Troy Battison.
Next teams racing NZ Teams Palmerston North Jan 6th and 7th 2012
cheers Greg.
