Hawkes Bay Three Quarter Midget Club Inc

Saturday 21st April

1st 1NZ Craig Todd
2nd 5G Dylan MacGregor
3rd 2NZ Duane Todd

Congratulations Guys

RESULTS

Sponsored by
Alexander Electric
 

Ph. 021 424 420 / 06 6504242
www.alexander-electric.co.nz

All hail ” THE RETURN OF THE KING ”. 29 cars fronted for the re-staging of the Alexander Electric 2012 NZ TQ Title. after the rain out two weeks prior the drivers were amped and ready to race. Qualifying group 1 heat 1 was convincingly won by a quick 41A of Jarred Taylor, Craig Todd came from grid 12 up to 2nd at the flag with 83C Ben Gilmore 3rd. Heat 2 was a runaway for Todd and this was perhaps when his opponents realised it could again be the 1NZ’s night. 5B Paul Ludeman drove a blinder for 2nd from the again hard charging Taylor. The 3rd Heat is always last chance saloon for some and it proved a bridge too far for the 78C of Lindsay Bailey who took a huge wild ride on the road bend to end any chance of qualifying. Todd would finish top on points from Taylor and Gilmore.

Qualifying group 2 heat 1 showed how things might have been if the 24B car had the rub of the green. Tollison stormed around the outside from grid 7 on what surely must have been the best track surface seen on any clay circuit for years. Drivers could throw the cars high on the cushion and be rewarded by moving forward through the pack. At the line Tollison had blown them away from 71A Danny Keene and 2NZ Duane Todd solid in 3rd. Heat 2 and it all started to unravel for the heat 1 winner. Tollison looking for the pass got caught up on road bend and ended up on his lid. 4A Steven Smith showed his cars pace by taking the victory from 3NZ Dylan McGregor and 42C Tom Lumsden back in third. The huge contingent of CHCH cars were starting to come to grips with the pace of the ZM Meeanee track. The third and last qualifying race was again last chance for some. Tollison needed some solid points after a DNF in heat 2. He came out with 6 guns blazing to take the lead and what we all thought was certain qualifying, but that is when his Tolly luck ran out. Possibly due to the earlier roll over the engine blew dumping one of the fastest cars of the night out of the title fight. McGregor showed he still had something to say in the battle by winning the heat from D Todd and Greymouths Steve Thomsen 3rd.

FINALS of THE ALEXANDER ELECTRIC NZ TQ Championship for 2012. Could Craig Todd be the first driver to do back to back titles since Bryce Townsend in 2000? After only 2 laps of heat 1 he would go along way towards answering that question. The 1NZ was a ballistic missile as he stormed to the front from grid 6. His team mate 2NZ Duane Todd was experiencing the other end of the scale when he had a slow roll over mid heat. With Duane back in the restart it was 41A Taylor wowing the crowd ducking and diving up to 2nd from grid 12. 3rd place went to the solid effort of 98A Chris Qwilliam from the 2 time Canterbury champ 7C Rachel Melrose who fought hard for every point. 64A Gina Harris 5th and 16A Ryan Barry top 6…..Heat 2 saw the 75C of Blair Warren leading . Craig Todd was blasting away on the high groove to move up from grid 18 to 7th in the early laps. 5B Ludeman lost drive coming off the top turn and caused a huge tail back eventuating in both the Todds getting hooked together. Craig at this point thought his car had a major problem and was indeed a very relieved man to find it was just Duane cadging a lift. After his dnf in the opening finals race 3NZ McGregor came back with a vengeance to win the 2nd heat from 75C Blair Warren, 1NZ C Todd, 2NZ D Todd, 74G R McGregor, 83C Ben Gilmore, 42C Tom Lumsden and 84C Martyn Kennett 8th. For the defending champion the 2nd heat drive from 18 up to 3rd is what really sealed the deal and resigned everybody else to the scraps as he would go into the 3rd and final heat with a massive 10 point lead over the pack.

Heat 3 and all eyes were on who would or could join Craig on the podium. 7 cars were all within 6 points of each other as the green flag fell. The pace was red hot on a track that still had a high line and no sign of a blue groove, PURE MAGIC. 4A Steven Smith had already proved he had pace earlier and withstood literally the kitchen sink being thrown at him by both Taylor and D Todd. Craig Todd who just needed to finish 12th or higher had to also keep out of trouble and he had a tiger on his tail with 3NZ McGregor busting a gut to get by. Todd did the wise thing and moved over { a very rare sight indeed, don’t expect that to happen again Dylan } to let the 3NZ by while Duane was hammering the peddle to get by Taylor. Smith was awesome out front and the top 3 cars were on the limit diving to the pole then driving deep up on the cushion…At the line Smith took the win from a vital 2nd for Taylor, D Todd 3rd, 3NZ McGregor, 1NZ Todd, 6A Cooke and 76C Glover in 7th.

Craig Todd { 66pts } had achieved what no other HB driver had since the mid 1960′s and that was go back to back. The NZ champ was now a bonifide 2 time, I say 2 TIME NZ TITLE WINNER. After 6 gruelling races the fun wasn’t over for Taylor and Duane Todd who both found themselves on 58 pts and in a runoff for 2nd place. With Duane on the inside both cars touched coming off the start and Taylor actually pulled a wheelie down the straight. Todd was able to pull a gap the the 41A revving it’s head off chasing. Taylor made a mistake on town bend and spun up bringing on the caution with Todd driving round to get the chequers. As we all know a race must finish on the green so a restart was needed with Taylor back in? and slotting behind Todd. Duane made a fantastic start to pull away but Taylor hunted him down and touched wheels when trying the big outside run. Jarred again spun leaving Duane to go on and successfully defend his 2NZ plate….What a night, what a track and HB cars 1 and 2. Congratulations to the top 3 and a great effort from all with a big thanks to the huge CHCH contingent..

Final Positions

1st 1NZ Craig Todd
2nd 2NZ Duane Todd
3rd 41A Jared Taylor
4th 4A Steve Smith
5th 6A Shaun Cooke
6th 16A Ryan Barry
7th 3NZ Dylan MacGregor
8th 74G Ryan MacGregor
9th 7C Rachel Melrose
10th 71A Danny Keene
11th 83C Ben Gilmore
12th 75C Blair Warren
13th 64A Gina Harris
14th 42C Tom Lumsden
15th 76C Kyle Glover (16)
16th 88B Colin Matthews
17th 84c Martyn Kennett
18th 98A Chris Gwilliam
19th 47B David Wilson
20th 5B Paul Ludeman
21st 18A Shane Phillips
22nd 54GM Steve Thompson
23rd 11C Andrew Marker
24th 62C Mark Morris