Malcolm Ngatai (Read 2,936 times)

[robhutch]

Hey guys, I was just wondering what the dealio was with Mr. Ngatai turning out for Hawkes Bay and not Christchurch? I was quite gutted to not see his name on the team list for the Glen Eagles and subsequently was very confused when the commentator was mentioning his name during the Hawkeyes race.

[alloyplatypus]

The only sense i can make of it was that he was possibly sick of wrecking his big dollar machine backed up by inferior cars that made the team have little chance of winning. It sounds bad but ive seen both sides to that as a racer for Kihikihi Stockcars where there were a few big dollar machines, and alot of low to mid budget cars, and its fair enough. The slower cars wont run, so everyone picks on the big dollar machine (s). It would have been a bit dissapointing for the Christchurch drivers when Malcolm indicated during the week on his facebook that they would be racing on the Sunday in the non qualifiers.

And then when Roigard pulled out for whatever reason Malcolm jumped at the chance to race in the Mytton machine. I guess Mal was happy putting his body on the line but not his car.

[OldSaloonCarsWanted]

Feb 9, 2012 8:20:32 GMT 12 robhutch said:

Hey guys, I was just wondering what the dealio was with Mr. Ngatai turning out for Hawkes Bay and not Christchurch? I was quite gutted to not see his name on the team list for the Glen Eagles and subsequently was very confused when the commentator was mentioning his name during the Hawkeyes race.

We are a Palmy based sponsor and Big supporter of Grant Mytton and were trying help to get his team here.
When it didnt happen, a few minutes after Bruce told everyone on the Radio Live broadcast that, the KK team wouldnt be in, Hawkes Bay rang and asked him if his car was available .
Myttons said yes to the team that wanted him and that Dave Roydgard was the driver.
On Saturday while at our place in Palmy with the car ready etc Dave called Grant to say he had staff off at his work and had to be there to keep the business going for that day and couldnt make it to Palmy.
Grant was very sad to hear this as he knew what an asset Dave was going to be for the Bay Team especially after his results at Huntly the week before.
We were sitting about thinking of who we could call and decided it had to be a top driver with results as we needed to show a couple of teams and clubs what they could have had, or done with a little "get up n go".
As we are originally from Christchurch 20 odd years ago, and mates of Malcolm back then way before he even went to speedway. We decided to give him a call .
Malcolm was not even going to come up and was enjoying a BBQ lunch down in ChCh when we rang.
He said he would be happy to race the car for Grant given the circumstances and was overjoyed just to be asked to help out the team.
We told him it was a drive, smash and destroy what you like and jump in your bus and drive away after the meeting with no problems or invoices arriving in the future.
He and Megan were on the next plane to Palmy and ready to go.
We would like to thank Malcolm and Megan for doing us a great favour and many people are saying that the race against the Poms was one of the best of the weekend.
Malcolm also said it was one of his best teams races and he loved hitting Pom after Pom and just couldnt kill the old Ford he was driving.
Malcom had a massive grin on his face after that race and said, "That car is bloody strong to be still going after what I just done with it. Theres nothing like returning the hospitality he experienced in GB by smashing all those Poms plus, not having to worry about paying or fixing anything"
So there you have the story behind Malcolm and the Hawke Eyes.
No club politics or bulls*#t.
Just a mate doing a mate a favour and thats all it was.

Cheers

[4zfed]

Great to hear the truth
Mal is the man and does soo much for our beloved sport-a true celebrity in the speedway ranks..keep up the good work mate ;D

[fordracer]

Thanks headshape for stateing the facts. I would personaly like to Thank Malchom an Megan for there last minute trip to help out as a favour to drive the 28k /35b teams car. Malchom is a true sportsman and should be applauded for his efforts. To my Palmy based sponsors that helped make this happen an all supporters a Big Thankyou. Mitty 28k.

[robhutch]

Cheers for clearing that up. I don't know Malcolm personally but from what I have heard and seen of him in the pits at meetings he seems like a bloody good guy.

[kevin61]

Well that makes it even more confusing. If it was a last minute decision to go to palmy and he flew up on Saturday, how come his car and bus were there on Sunday nite, and as Jamie said it was on his face book page that he was going to race non qualifiers earlier in the week.
Dont get me wrong I think the guy is a great ambassador for Christchurch superstocks (Love the toys he had with him in Palmy too)
but every driver has the right to turn down teams racing for what ever reason, its a huge commitment.

[Skorp]

Feb 10, 2012 16:46:34 GMT 12 kevin61 said:

Well that makes it even more confusing. If it was a last minute decision to go to palmy and he flew up on Saturday, how come his car and bus were there on Sunday nite, and as Jamie said it was on his face book page that he was going to race non qualifiers earlier in the week.
Dont get me wrong I think the guy is a great ambassador for Christchurch superstocks (Love the toys he had with him in Palmy too)
but every driver has the right to turn down teams racing for what ever reason, its a huge commitment.

I think his car and bus having been staying in the North Island much of this season, as he has been racing here a lot. It is also possible that he intended is race on the Sunday night, with the non qualifiers and others, and his car and bus were already here for that

[Ugmo]

One would assume it was left at Miers place during the week after the NZs in Huntly. He has done it in the past to save on ferry bookings and time.