Super Saloons - Waikaraka Park - 1st Feb (Read 6,050 times)

[mick13b]

One would have to assume that the majority of posters complaining on here can't read. The format is basically the same as the old format from previous years. The difference is that qualifying sets the grids for the first heat only, the second heat is a reverse grid. The qualifying part of the program is usually held before the official start time for the evening. The spectator is actually getting more value for their money. If you don't want to watch qualifying don't arrive early.

[tank11]

Jan 29, 2020 8:48:02 GMT 12 mick13b said:

One would have to assume that the majority of posters complaining on here can't read. The format is basically the same as the old format from previous years. The difference is that qualifying sets the grids for the first heat only, the second heat is a reverse grid. The qualifying part of the program is usually held before the official start time for the evening. The spectator is actually getting more value for their money. If you don't want to watch qualifying don't arrive early.

At Gis we watched the qualifying, and it wasn't that bad.
4 cars on the track, spaced apart and 2 flying laps.
Over in a minute, times 4 or 5 groups.

Sssh, about 10 minutes of your life.

Lets you see what cars to watch later.

ie, 23b, aye Mick.

[spuddy]

I was at the Glen round of it and understood why they used that format and I didn’t mind seeing the time trials

Not such a fan of 1 heat with the top 4 to the Final and the rest to B mains, we saw a few cars taken out in their heat that were quick and that left them at the back of the train for the rest of the night, and also it isn’t speedway for me when Waddell came 3rd without passing a single car all night, fastest in the trials, won his heat off grid one and that’s all you saw of him til the main event

[Parrot]

Is there still a stockcar teams race as advertised and if so who are the teams? Also any idea of superstock attendees?

[nakifans]

I must admit that the super saloon racing seen at WP tonight would have to be one of be one of the best nights racing I've seen in my over 60 yrs of attending speedway.
The pre meeting hot laps produced a new lap record to Mick Quin. The dreaded time trials were actually a pleasure to watch, made more enjoyable by the commentators giving constant updates and therefore the punters understood what was happening. The heat races were fast and furious and clean. Only one yellow in the 30 lap feature and 2 cars DNF.
The meeting across town was labeled THE LEGENDS MEETING but to me the LEGENDS were the 20 competitors in round 5 of the Burger King series.
1st Chris Cowling, 2nd Mick Quin, 3rd Bobby Pierce. Think that what they called the feature placings.
For me the only disappointment of the night was the size of the crowd or lack of it.
Hope the P/N crowd next weekend get to watch as brilliant a nights racing of super saloons as we witnessed at WP.

[BarryB]

Feb 1, 2020 22:50:59 GMT 12 nakifans said:

I must admit that the super saloon racing seen at WP tonight would have to be one of be one of the best nights racing I've seen in my over 60 yrs of attending speedway.
The pre meeting hot laps produced a new lap record to Mick Quin. The dreaded time trials were actually a pleasure to watch, made more enjoyable by the commentators giving constant updates and therefore the punters understood what was happening. The heat races were fast and furious and clean. Only one yellow in the 30 lap feature and 2 cars DNF.
The meeting across town was labeled THE LEGENDS MEETING but to me the LEGENDS were the 20 competitors in round 5 of the Burger King series.
1st Steve Cowling, 2nd Mick Quin, 3rd Bobby Pierce.
For me the only disappointment of the night was the size of the crowd or lack of it.
Hope the P/N crowd next weekend get to watch as brilliant a nights racing of super saloons as we witnessed at WP.

Was that the final official 1, 2, 3? I thought Steve Cowling got Bobby Pierce late for third place? Chris Cowling slaughtered the opposition. Was at least half a lap in front before a late caution. So smooth he looked the slowest car on track, but was easily the fastest. First time is seen the 23 car in the flesh. Certainly adds interest, and it's sooooo quick in fresh air. Was great to watch in the pole shuffle.

Barry B

[nakifans]

[midway]

I am pleased you could stretch your legs and tongue with out been squashed like a sartines in a can tonight Naki Fans
Fancy waiting 60years for some great excitement ,just goes to show the longer you wait ,the harder it was.... but rust never sleeps

[John W.]

Barry B - You are correct..

Official results

1 - Chris Cowling
2 - Mick Quin
3 - Steve Cowling
4 - Bobby Pierce
5 - Grant Flynn

Agree it was a great display - but also getting worried that Super Saloons are starting to get too powerful. Tracks really struggle to provide a good racing surface for these big fields. Dare I say it we need to look at either reducing the size of the field or reduce the power. We were lucky tonight that there was still passing at the end of the night, but it was certainly limited and well reduced from the start of the night. I noticed many of the drivers were disappointed by the track, but did feel it was one of the best they have driven on all year. This is what leads me to believe the class are getting too powerful - when no track in NZ can provide what they need. Food for thought...

[nakifans]

Feb 2, 2020 2:46:55 GMT 12 John W. said:

Barry B - You are correct..

Official results

1 - Chris Cowling
2 - Mick Quin
3 - Steve Cowling
4 - Bobby Pierce
5 - Grant Flynn

Agree it was a great display - but also getting worried that Super Saloons are starting to get too powerful. Tracks really struggle to provide a good racing surface for these big fields. Dare I say it we need to look at either reducing the size of the field or reduce the power. We were lucky tonight that there was still passing at the end of the night, but it was certainly limited and well reduced from the start of the night. I noticed many of the drivers were disappointed by the track, but did feel it was one of the best they have driven on all year. This is what leads me to believe the class are getting too powerful - when no track in NZ can provide what they need. Food for thought...

I am surprised that you say many of the drivers were disappointed by the track, in context we have drought conditions yet the track held up [ full tide helped retain moisture], not rutting or a dust bowl. You could view from the hot laps right thru to last lap of the feature clear as.
There was a lot of laps turned by the super saloons yet only one yellow light all night and that was in the 30 lap feature and even the 2 DNF cars drove off the track.
Think because the lap record was shattered early on in the night some may of been expecting that to continue thru out the night.
How many nights racing in this class thru out the country ruined by poor track conditions and dust bowl, so big thumbs up to the track team.
A few years back the Hypermac chassis turned the class up side down and took titles up and down the country, now Pro X is doing the same and the USA chassis of 23p also setting the pace.
The Harding chassis 24A & 63A still holding their own.
The cars are so much faster now but I don't think HP has increased that much, if you watch their cornering they sit flat now [ 23P exception] not lifting wheels of years gone by, and as BB said earlier Chris Cowling had such a huge lead before the yellow he looked slow.
Saw Petrolfumes walking around so should be some good videos up on his site.

[bernie]

With regard to drivers reported comments re the track.

I learnt a long time ago to believe half what you hear and even less of what you read. As someone who has prepped and driven that track, the word I would use describe last nights track is PRIMO.Last night we saw twenty top cars with not a lot between them in terms of performance. That track took a beating and lasted the distance, it was a credit to the WP team. How the track behaved was predictable, and in the end, those who picked the right set up, and played the 30 lap long game, did well.

You can bet that those on the podium were fairly happy with the track.

[orapiuwharf]

Was a great nights racing as always expected with the Burger King series. Awesome driving by all especially Chris Cowling deserving the win. Driving clean as a polished whistle. Well done. The Quin Red ugly duckling on steroids never fails to put on a show that thrills. What a night. The track appeard to work for those that had the set up correct for the track on the night and drove to the track conditions.
On another note the Street stocks were definitely the support class of the night. Wow they were also awesome. We need to see a lot more of them and Modifieds.

[hienekenno1]

The superstocks put on a good show as well with some good battles all night,good to see long time compainer Bryce Marx get two wins and the feature had a good battle with Paul Vazey and Karl Pegg racing hard then Karl giving Paul a good punt into the wall,good to see.

[midway]

So how many Superstocks turned up out on the track ..?/
It kinda disappoints yeah seeing such a dismal crowd turning up to a meeting such as this where the best super saloons in the country are present .The Truck show on the Bombay raised 70k for charity through donation most of which was gold coin entry and almost 300 trucks present ,but not one advert about this meeting i saw ,most went to the springs .I thought the promoter sold Isuzu trucks and another bloke works for the T/R group a good opportunity missed ...

[NZ Sauber]

I watched the meeting on the livestream and really enjoyed it. 23P and 32USA drive quite differently from the rest of the field, which immediately made any race either of them was in interesting.

The track was pretty much a miracle given the recent weather and the number of Supers racing. As a point of reference Nelson hosted the Mag & Turbo Super Saloon Series on the same night, and as you can see there was a little bit of dust by feature time



Note: Video from the 17C Ryan Marsden Team, it will appear sideways on your screen.

[Homer]

Feb 2, 2020 6:38:52 GMT 12 nakifans said:

Feb 2, 2020 2:46:55 GMT 12 John W. said:

Barry B - You are correct..

Official results

1 - Chris Cowling
2 - Mick Quin
3 - Steve Cowling
4 - Bobby Pierce
5 - Grant Flynn

Agree it was a great display - but also getting worried that Super Saloons are starting to get too powerful. Tracks really struggle to provide a good racing surface for these big fields. Dare I say it we need to look at either reducing the size of the field or reduce the power. We were lucky tonight that there was still passing at the end of the night, but it was certainly limited and well reduced from the start of the night. I noticed many of the drivers were disappointed by the track, but did feel it was one of the best they have driven on all year. This is what leads me to believe the class are getting too powerful - when no track in NZ can provide what they need. Food for thought...

I am surprised that you say many of the drivers were disappointed by the track, in context we have drought conditions yet the track held up [ full tide helped retain moisture], not rutting or a dust bowl. You could view from the hot laps right thru to last lap of the feature clear as.
There was a lot of laps turned by the super saloons yet only one yellow light all night and that was in the 30 lap feature and even the 2 DNF cars drove off the track.
Think because the lap record was shattered early on in the night some may of been expecting that to continue thru out the night.
How many nights racing in this class thru out the country ruined by poor track conditions and dust bowl, so big thumbs up to the track team.
A few years back the Hypermac chassis turned the class up side down and took titles up and down the country, now Pro X is doing the same and the USA chassis of 23p also setting the pace.
The Harding chassis 24A & 63A still holding their own.
The cars are so much faster now but I don't think HP has increased that much, if you watch their cornering they sit flat now [ 23P exception] not lifting wheels of years gone by, and as BB said earlier Chris Cowling had such a huge lead before the yellow he looked slow.
Saw Petrolfumes walking around so should be some good videos up on his site.

Too much power.
Your dreaming.

[bfknz]

I’m also surprised drivers made comment about the track. Quinn for one praised the track prep team and I would say more would have commented. The comments I heard in the club room were only positive and from what i saw it looked great from a spectator view.
Prepping the track as many on here would know is not a short game. Dave spent hours this week preparing it and every other week. They only go about 10km hour when watering the track then thumping it then watering again. That’s multiple loads or water in the latter part of the week unfortunately sprinklers don’t cut it. Most Friday nights are spent in the water truck and then all day Saturday. These guys have normal jobs as well as doing the track so it’s great to see the positive feedback, you can’t always please everyone.

[John W.]

Hey....I am not saying the track crew did a bad job - I do believe it was a brilliant track - but I am just looking at how the tracks always go black and right down to the base rock when BK series run on them - hence my comment. I was interested to see if spectators prefer the high power (and often lack of passing in the latter stages or do they prefer less power, but more passing throughout the race.

As for comments in the clubrooms - unfortunately I did not see any of the BK series drivers or teams up there after racing. I was disappointed with this as it allowed no social interaction with the drivers, and more importantly, no chance for the volunteers and track prep team to get the recognition they deserve for giving up their time.

[midway]

Feb 2, 2020 17:03:25 GMT 12 John W. said:

Hey....I am not saying the track crew did a bad job - I do believe it was a brilliant track - but I am just looking at how the tracks always go black and right down to the base rock when BK series run on them - hence my comment. I was interested to see if spectators prefer the high power (and often lack of passing in the latter stages or do they prefer less power, but more passing throughout the race.

As for comments in the clubrooms - unfortunately I did not see any of the BK series drivers or teams up there after racing. I was disappointed with this as it allowed no social interaction with the drivers, and more importantly, no chance for the volunteers and track prep team to get the recognition they deserve for giving up their time.

So where did the prize giving take place ,or wasnt there any ,you as there rep on the night should of invited them up along with the clubs president ,or did they sit back in the pits enjoying Big Bernies Colonial bacon BBq over a few beers ..

[John W.]

Feb 2, 2020 18:24:44 GMT 12 midway said:

Feb 2, 2020 17:03:25 GMT 12 John W. said:

Hey....I am not saying the track crew did a bad job - I do believe it was a brilliant track - but I am just looking at how the tracks always go black and right down to the base rock when BK series run on them - hence my comment. I was interested to see if spectators prefer the high power (and often lack of passing in the latter stages or do they prefer less power, but more passing throughout the race.

As for comments in the clubrooms - unfortunately I did not see any of the BK series drivers or teams up there after racing. I was disappointed with this as it allowed no social interaction with the drivers, and more importantly, no chance for the volunteers and track prep team to get the recognition they deserve for giving up their time.

So where did the prize giving take place ,or wasnt there any ,you as there rep on the night should of invited them up along with the clubs president ,or did they sit back in the pits enjoying Big Bernies Colonial bacon BBq over a few beers ..

I do not think there was a prize-giving or any presentation. Also, I was not the driver rep as the series have their own - I did however go around and thank the drivers for travelling and putting on a good show (I was raised well - lol).