Team racing lives up to the hype

There was plenty of trash talk before the much-awaited clash between the Nelson and Canterbury Superstock teams at the Milestone Homes Top of the South Speedway last month.

The Canterbury Beagles insisted they hadn’t made the long haul to come second.
Beagles spokesman Jay “Huggie” Holtham described the approach of his five car team as more technical than crash bash.

Crafty might have been more apt as he and two other drivers had slipped up to the local track for the previous meeting to check out the circuit and probably the local competition as well.

The approach of the revived Nelson Tigers, or Cubs, was more direct.

“No fear. Everyone has a can-do attitude and just make it happen. The big tigers versus the little beagles. They can go back to the pond,” says a fired-up Alex Hill.

At 29, the Superstock Appleby lap recordholder is hardly a cub and talks about some of his teammates as young fellas.

Alex had done a couple of team races previously and was experienced enough to know they had to be careful not to wreck too much gear or themselves. Especially as not all the drivers had enough spare parts.

“And we hadn’t had much time to practise together. Just a bit of a play. A taste of smacking drivers around.”

After all the build-up, it was all on in the one-off 10 lap teams race.

Tiger Cubs Captain Blake Hearne was put in the wall at one stage and so was the Beagles’ Jake Berry. The race defining move came from Riley Evans who shunted three of the cubs in one hit and surged from fourth to first. He then held on to win the race for the visitors.

And how’s this, the Beagles star is a professional greyhound trainer so is used to high speed. He’s a regular winner too, lying fourth in the national premiership standings.

Riley was gracious in victory, saying the Tiger Cubs were competitive and they would like to host them in Christchurch next year.

“Brutal”. That’s how an emotional Blake summed up the provincial clash.

“I wanted to send Riley in to the fence, but I just couldn’t catch him at the right time. That’s team racing. It was probably an ever-closer contest than we expected,” says Blake.

After his first taste of that, he can’t wait to eventually compete in “the Superstock Mecca” Palmerston North.