Walker entertains crowd while Patene snares Taranaki title

Jarrod MacBeth

Photo: Tyler Walker and Caleb Coxhead work together to roll William Hughes during racing at MG Taranaki Stratford Speedway on Saturday night. Photo by Michael Espiner. 

Stockcar and Superstock racer Tyler Walker was in somewhat devasting form on Saturday night at MG Taranaki Stratford Speedway.

Seemingly not interested in racing for the Taranaki Stockcar Champs, he whiled away the night sending other competitors to the wall and rolling them over, setting what must be close to a record with four rollovers in one night in two different classes! His victims included William Hughes who he rolled in race one and then again in race two. Nathan Alexander felt the brunt of Walker’s bumper and race four and Phil Gargan was tipped over on the grandstand straight in the Superstocks.

With Thomas Meyer also performing a spectacular roll in the last Stockcar race it was a busy night for the tractor drivers while they honed their car recovery skills.

Action aside, Taylor Patene, who has been in good form all season including finishing fifth in the recent Sentry Hill Motel North Island Stockcar Championship, won the Michielsen’s Transport Taranaki Stockcar Champs. With too many cars for one group, the class was given four races with each driver racing three times to earn their points. After all the heats, Patene was sitting at the top of the points table with Lawrence Barr. The pair raced a run off to decide the winner, Patene pushed Barr to the wall at the race start and then ran away to victory. Mason Woods had a great run all night to take third place.

Newer drivers in the class raced for the Wayne Trott Memorial over one race which Ryan Houghton won.

The Minisprint class raced for both the King of the Mountain Champs and the Taranaki round of the Oval Superstars Tour. Karl Uhlenberg won the King of the Mountain champs by just one point from Cameron Hurley and Elliot Heron while Heron went on to win the Oval Superstars Tour race from a grid twelve start.

Adult Ministocks raced for their Best Pairs trophy. Brayden Shaw and Deacon Selby were a tight combination and won the event by four points from Loyd Clake and Kendra Ludeke. Roger Dettling and Katherine Pollard were third.

In the support class racing, Superstock races were won by Brad Uhlenberg, Scott Williams, Karl Uhlenberg and Adam Joblin. Youth Ministock races were won by Corban Swan (3) and Riley Booker.

Taranaki drivers were racing all over the country the same night with some good results. John Jackson won the New Zealand Modified Grand Prix in Wellington. Craig Korff placed third in the New Zealand Saloon Grand Prix in Huntly, Zen Dodunski placed second in the West Coast Midget Champs at Whanganui while Youth Ministock and Streetstock drivers performed well in Rotorua and Auckland.

The next race meeting at MG Taranaki Stratford Speedway is on February 25th