Andrew Aldridge added the Canterbury Solo Champs to his list of
achievements this year.

Top qualifier and unbeaten through the heats, Aldridge went on to win the one off final race from Oreti’s Andrew Tree and Nelson’s Sean Cox. Aldridge dominated throughout on the big Powerbuilt Ruapuna circuit.

Tree on the other hand was perhaps the rider of the night, battling away for his track position against Kody Tocher and Sean Cox through the heats and final. His move into the last turn of the final to snatch 2nd place away from Cox was an outstanding move. Entering the turn at superior speed, Tree blasted underneath Cox cleanly and held the turn tight to enter the finish straight ahead in second position.

Nelson’s Nathan Ching with the Christchurch veteran swinger Laurie
McMahon won the Canterbury Sidecar Champs. It turned out to be a
visitors benefit as all his club mates filled the minor places. Neville
Curn and Wolf McGill came home second ahead of Nigel Payton and Chris Harper. Payton won two qualifying heats while Ching scored the other.

The final saw the three Nelson chairs get to the front at the start as
the Christchurch units of Liam Stockman/Blair Lock and Bevan
Nuttridge/Karl Foster missed the start. It was costly for them as the
front three were racing hard nose to tail. The Christchurch pairing of Lionel Green and Aaron Rae blew a clutch in the second heat.

Junior Solos made the best of the good track with Konner McCluskey -
Young taking out the final from Ryan Moss and Auckland’s Ryan Terry -
Daley. Moss and Daley were all sponsored for the night by Lionel Green.
Moss rode Anthony Knowles’s bike as young Ants was not riding as he
recovers from a nasty accident received during the Ivan Mauger Academy. He is well and will return later in the year.

Solo Qualifying.
Heat 1. Aldridge, Tree, Tocher
Heat 2. Aldridge, Tree, Tocher
Heat 3.Aldridge, Tree, Tocher

Qualifying Points
Aldridge 18, Tree 15, Tocher 12, Cox 9, Quinten Wearing 5, Cory Lang 4.

Final
Aldridge, Tree, Cox.

Side Cars Qualifying
Heat 1. Payton/Harper, Green/Ray, Stockman/Lock
Heat 2. Ching/McMahon, Curn/McGill, Stockman/Lock
Heat 3. Payton/Harper, Curn/McGill, Stockman/Lock

Qualifying Points
Payton/Harper 14, Stockman/Lock 12, Curn/McGill and Ching/McMahon 11, Nuttridge/Foster 7, Green/Ray 5, Wilson/Wilson 3.

Final
Ching/McMahon, Curn/McGill, Payton/Harper, Stockman/Lock, Nuttridge/Lock, Nuttridge/Foster, Wilson/Wilson

The Powerbuilt circuit was prepared by Speedworks promotions for the
bikes and did not break up. It was a little dry, but was unavoidable as
the water truck was assisting with a fire that if jumped the road would
have threatened the speedway. The water pump suffered in the heat
exchange and Fulton Hogan came the assistance at the eleventh hour.

It has been frustrating for Speedworks who promised a surface that all
classes could race on. Rain caused problems early in the season while
the hot northerlies have baked it at the other end of the scale.

Supporting events by the ¼ midgets, TQs and Modified Sprints as well as some drift cars demos were entertaining.