Race Report - Ruapuna - 7 & 8 March 2009
(Thanks to Daniel Patrick & Les Hitchcock for the spadework)

Saturday - 7th March 2009
The weather was beautiful - fine and sunny and very warm. We were also given a great spot in the pits which was nice and close to all the amenities, which was a nice change from last time when we were right down the end of the pits.

Qualifying:
Fifteen cars took to the track for qualifying and we welcomed Shane Hobman and his EJ Holden who had travelled from his home in Wanganui to race with us in the next three rounds. We also welcomed Angus Fogg who had entered in Gareth’s impressive looking Chev Nova. Unfortunately, the car had a few minor teething problems, but didn't stop him (and Wayne Patrick) from coming within 0.09 second off the lap record.
Not surprisingly Wayne P took pole position, followed closely by Manny. Jim Kelly was very disappointed with his 5th placing and Roy had major vibration issues which turned out to be that the driveshaft has not been seated properly by one of his employees.

Race 1 - Saturday: hot and sunny - 26 degrees:
Manny had a demon start once again and surged to the front of the field, but as the race went on he missed a gear and went into a corner in neutral, which enabled Wayne P to take the lead. The four cylinder cars were lead by Johno, followed by Greg L and Bill and it was great watching the battles within battles. Greg Stewart's engine issues continued to haunt him and he retired early from the race with a run bearing. Stu Mitchell had sorted his handling issues from the last meeting, but he continued to have other issues e.g. discovering a hole in the clutch which lead to no gears in qualifying and a broken diff for this race.
Angus Fogg in the Nova continued to have teething issues, but finished the race 1 lap down. Roy still had vibration problems and ended up turning the driveshaft 180 degrees for the next race. Jim Kelly found the lost horsepower from qualifying and finished 3rd, followed by Cliff Brunning, Roy and Brian Scott. Johno held on to the lead of the four cylinder cars followed by Greg L, Bill and Ray. Shane Hobman found the track a bit of a mission and a handful, but said it was a lot of fun. Last but not least the field was completed by Ian Perry who was also having engine issues.

Sunday - 8th March 2009 - another fine, sunny and very hot day.

Race 2: Reverse top half
Johno found himself on pole with Brian beside him. Roy was on 3 with Cliff at his side then back to Jim K, Manny, Wayne P and Angus. Angus proved that there was more than gremlins in the Nova and quickly got to the front with Wayne P closely following him.
Manny got a poor start, which was unusual and only managed to make one lap before the gearbox packed a sad. Stu completed two laps, but had to pull in when his car developed a miss. Cliff was "honoured" to be tapped by Angus, but was disappointed not to get under 1:40 mainly because of gearbox issues. Another person to have gearbox issues was Brian Scott - he had problems finding 3rd gear. It also didn’t help to find the bottom inner arms were loose, but this didn't effect his times too much as he got within split seconds of Roy in Bertha. Ray and Bill were having a dream run in their cars but the two C Class cars to watch were Johno and Greg Lyons who finished within a car length of each other.

Race 3 - reverse grid:
Stu and Ian Perry started off together and unfortunately Stu spun in the infield right in front of Ian who had no where to go which took out both cars. Greg Lyons had a great start and led for two laps and eventually finished 1 in C Class. Jim K had changed his tyres which made a huge difference and managed to hold out Angus & Wayne P to take the win. Bill Evans suffered overheating issues, but the rest of the field finished with no problems.

Only two rounds to go and we meet again at Levels next week (14 & 15 March 2009). Looking forward to seeing you all there!