The measure of a successful meeting is best reflected by the mood of those involved as they leave for home. Qualifying chucked up a couple of surprises, Race one was universally applauded as a great start for the season, Race two destroyed the euphoria for some and Race 3 capped off an almost perfect event with clean close and exciting racing. Round one for those who have been around a while was pretty much as we have come to expect.

Qualifying began what was to be a weekend of mixed fortunes. Robbie Hill stunned the historical front runners by popping off a chart topping 151.356 to pip Bob Smith who joined him on the front row on 151.391. Dave Goodwin and Phil Blythe formed the second row and Brad Lathrope would have surprised even himself to qualify 5th just ahead of Greg McDonald (6th) Roger Brader after limited testing time shared row 4 with Chris Guinan with Ian McDonald and Phil Kerr rounding out the Pro7’s. Kerr had arrived at Taupo with his brand new car just in time for qualifying but alas discovered as soon as he got onto the track that something was terribly wrong. Turned out a steering joint was loose and qualifying for him was merely a rear grid start.

Pro7 Plus also served up some surprising results. Chris Hanley would have expected to be near the front, but right at the front must have been a dream come true. Dean McMillan meanwhile would surely have expected that his 1st race would have been from grid 4 or more. Not so, the returning former Pro7 driver adapted to a still “works in progress” car very well indeed qualifying alongside the Son of one of his old sparring partners from back in the day. Grid three saw Paul Savage make a similar effort to last seasons opener where made a statement on behalf of the S4 models. Matt Lockwood would not have enjoyed qualifying 4th but would prove to be no real handicap once Race 1 got underway. Martin Hicks and Bruce filled grids 5 and 6 ahead of Garry Bradburn and Myles Fothergill. Ian Martin, John Jackson, Debbie Hill and Eric Sinton completed the Plus group numbers for this first encounter.

It’s been quite some time since Pro7 racing has welcomed such a good number of new/returning drivers to the club. Some familiar cars in unfamiliar hands included John Jackson with the Ex Steel Bat, Dean McMillan, ex Paget Bat, Deb Hill, the red Martin car, Roger Brader in an ex Smith S1, Brad Lathrope, ex Bates/Rush and Robbie Hill, in Mums car. Then there were Garry Bradburn, Bruce Gay and Ian Martin in their own cars.

Race one
A great start from the Plus group resulted in close combat right from turn one but it wasn’t long before Myles and Garry got touchy feely and Myles went into a spin. From there on the race was relatively clean with the highlight being Hanley sustaining all sorts of pressure from Lockwood who had made a good start and quickly threaded his way to second place where Hanley ensured he stayed. Savage and Gay were in similar contest with much the same result, 3rd and 4th in that order.

For Series 1 the big test was to be one that many had not figured on. R888 it seems is to be the tyre of choice if you want a great start. This version of the Proxes certainly has greater traction than the RA1 as a few of the S1 drivers quickly discovered. Not that this was to be of any concern to Phil Kerr, he was rather busy trying to stop an unbraked car at turn one and probably wished he hadn’t gotten any traction from the start at all. It turns out that his obliging nature came back to bite him. Earlier whilst repairing the steering problem, he was interrupted by a Mini competitor looking for a tyre gauge, this it seems was a distraction just long enough for the brake hose to not be long enough and a crimped brake pipe denied Kerpy of the ability to stop unaided. Thanks to Greg McDonald this could have been far worse, using Gregs car to slow his rate of excursion, Phil then attacked the kitty litter like a cat with diarrhea and messed up his beautifully presented version 2 Series 1. Meanwhile Brad Lathrope was experiencing the difference between Ford Escorts at 4000rpm and RX7’s at 6800. His big problem was trying to figure out which revving rotor he was listening to, they all sound the same. Result a dud start to his first encounter at this new game, however to recover from that to only drop one place by race end was a great effort. Dave Goodwin on the other hand had an excellent race until 3kg cost him any classification in the results. With no fuel to top the tank to his liking before the race he found himself on the wrong side of the scales upon leaving the track.
Smithy would have been the happiest of the S1 brigade with a win in race one for the season, I imaging the black car is no longer for sale. Phil Blythe complimented the Wanganui effort with a well driven 2nd from Robbie Hill 3rd place in his first Pro7 race.

Race two was to serve up a taste of what can happen will happen. About the time my cell phone went crazy with text messages I quickly guessed Sundays racing had started. It seems that 70 does not divide by 39 and that this simple rule of arithmetic was demonstrated to several Pro7 Plus drivers who found themselves trying hard to avoid becoming victims of the resulting attempt. Hanley and Sinton suffered the consequence but no where as severely as Debbie Hill who crested the brow to find Marty Hicks staring her in the face. With nowhere to go the resultant impact has left Debbie with whiplash, a sprained ankle and an indelible memory of just how it sounds and feels to have a head on crash, not something she has experienced before.

Once again the ability of race organisors to get it right was sadly lacking. How it is that people who encounter repeat occurrences of race restarts, after lap one incidents, can continue to get the procedure so very wrong must surely be questioned. Race meetings at this level deserve better, we are not running clubmans races where there is nothing at stake. These are Championship events with points and titles and sponsor money. This is a Series that is governed by regulations and Sanction by the sport. It simply is not good enough that the most basic procedures are not adhered to. It was like comedy central, one car sent to pit lane, the rest queued for a single file restart with the order incorrect and apparently no real understanding of what should happen.

Upon the race recommencing the Plus group that remained mobile enjoyed an otherwise uneventful but well fought battle to the flag. Jackson penalised for a jump start, Hanley commendably finishing a lap down after a pit stop for repairs, McMillan his first race win with Bradburn second followed by Lockwood from Savage and Fothergill.

Pro7’s had some drama as well albeit not by contact but DNF’s for Greg McDonald and Robbie Hill, steering failure for the former and broken gearbox the latter. Whilst Phil Blythe and Bob Smith deserved their 1st and 4th places respectively, the outstanding drives of Kerr and Goodwin from the back of the grid earned recognition for a job well done. One question that remains from Race two is whether Bob was trying to reclaim his old car from Roger Brader, or was the tap in the side just to say welcome along.

Race three was a return to normal service. Track behavior was good and the racing enjoyable to watch. Matt Lockwood reclaimed his traditional winning ways and Paul Savage ensured the weekend tradition of a S4 being on the podium stayed intact. Dean McMillan will have returned home quite excited at the prospect of a successful debut season after 3rd place rewarded him with two podium places for the weekend.

For Pro7’s, Wanganui again showed a clean set of heels. Blythe winning the last race of the weekend from Smith with Robbie Hill 3rd and no doubt quite delighted that his start to Pro7 racing has seen him as a real contender for the title. Tight racing, enough respect to keep things clean and some talent that will shine in coming rounds all bodes well for a great season.

The established ones expect a good after match social time each Saturday. Those new to Pro7 racing can now score that as a bonus point. All but one driver enjoyed the BBQ and interaction time where getting to know each other off the racing surface has proven to be just another good reason to come Pro7 racing.
Most went home happy, most went home looking forward to Pukekohe, 85% content has to be a reasonable pass mark in my book.

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