Rotorua Rebels History (Read 1,633 times)

[percy]

The Rebels will be making their 27th appearance at the 30th annual Superstock Teams Nationals. From the first year in 1988 they attended every year until they went missing for the first time in 2013. They are two-time champions having won in 1990 and 2002. They won the 2003 final only to have lead driver Mark Osborne relegated for a grass pass, elevating the Baypark Busters to the top spot on the rostrum. They are the bridesmaids having come second 7 times with an additional 4 outright thirds and a number of shared thirds (before the 3rd & 4th playoffs were implemented)

Top 10 drivers by race starts:
Bryce Steiner - 18 starts (9 wins, 9 losses)
Mike Herbert - 16 starts (9 wins, 7 losses)
Barry Hunter - 14 starts (8 wins, 6 losses)
Murray Hobbs - 14 starts (9 wins, 5 losses)
Ross Ashby - 14 starts (9 wins, 5 losses)
Kyle Fraser - 12 starts (7 wins, 5 losses)
Lyall Rumney - 12 starts (7 wins, 5 losses)
Pat Westbury - 11 starts (7 wins, 4 losses)
Jeff Miller - 10 starts (7 wins, 3 losses)
Mark Decke - 10 starts (8 wins, 2 losses)

I need your help here folks. I have two drivers with very similar names and I need to check if indeed they are different drivers. Was there a Jeff Millar in addition to Jeff Miller or are they the same driver? They drove slightly before my time!

[graemeh]

Can only recall one Jeff Millar/Miller mostly ran under 3r, think the car has been restored. Remember the number at one time was painted inside a Bomb. Mini body, Hemi engine at some time. Was a great driver.

[tiroto]

Well this is just amazing Percy - well done!
I know there is a Jeff Miller who was Rotorua club champ from 88 - 90. Fantastic guy - I was in the same soccer club as Jeff 2005 - 2006 when he was coaching his sons. Good soccer coach too!
I've just finished talking to Jeff via phone "Yep that's me - I remember Craig Richards, Barry Hunter, Murray Hobbs, Bill Rigney, Graham Peddle, Lyall Rumney....
As a hobby I've just built a Replica Shelby Cobra - a 1965 racecar from the States and I'm still an engineering Manager at Mills Tui. Thanks"

Jeff Miller

[bru68]

I think you might be missing some names like
Jeff Mohi
Neville Stanaway
Neil McCoard
Rodney Wood
Darcy Hunter

[BarryB]

Feb 26, 2018 21:14:39 GMT 12 bru68 said:

I think you might be missing some names like
Jeff Mohi
Neville Stanaway
Neil McCoard
Rodney Wood
Darcy Hunter

Not sure any of them would have made more than 10 starts for the Rebels at the Teams Nationals.

Barry B

[percy]

I have Jeff Mohi down for 6 race starts, 5 wins with just one loss. Jeff also represented Team Green (1998) and the Baypark Busters (2001) at the Superstock Teams Nationals

Neville Stanaway is another who represented 3 different teams. He was in the North Island Invitation in 1992 and the Baypark Busters in 2003. 8 starts for the Rebels, 4 wins and 4 losses

I don't have any Rebels starts for Neil McCoard. He represented Auckland for 9 starts over many years

Rodney Wood split his time between the Busters and the Rebels. 11 starts for the Busters (9 wins, 2 losses) and 7 starts for the Rebels (4 wins, 3 losses)

Darcy Hunter had a relatively short teams racing career. He represented the North Island Selection in 2003 and was part of the composite Auckland Assassins in 2004. Five race starts for the Rebels, 4 wins and 1 loss. Was part of the 2002 winning Rebels team.

Just remember with the older drivers their number of race starts were minimised by the knock-out format. The modern drivers chalk up the race starts with the round-robin format.

I should also add for the sake of completeness that my stats aren't 100% but are very close to it as I haven't been able to identify some drivers. Programmes are notoriously unreliable so resources are a little limited for some races.

[jayt6]

Awesome read looking at these stats some drivers seemed to be around for ever yet reading the numbers and looking though old programmes love it.