Nick Edmonds and Paul James from Auckland won the fiercely contested sidecar title from fellow riders Les Plummer and Kervan Demanser.
Invercargill’s Grant Lightfoot with Chay McWilliam and later, Laurie McMahon won a run off for third by beating another Auckland pairing, Frank Arnerich and Sam Mason.
Some hard fought qualifying races, particularly for in the first two laps, saw units rubbing their way around the track whilst jostling for position. Plummer and Demanser were involved in one incident which saw them loose good race position when some minor contact they caused, saw them slip down from 1st to 3rd on one turn. They recovered to finish 2nd but were put to the back of the field by the referee.
Lightfoot and McWilliam were tipped by Edmonds and James as they swung the tail out entering turn 1 taking away Lightfoot’s front wheel. Despite a dislocated shoulder that was put back in, Lightfoot went on to win the rerun with a badly bruised swinger, after Edmonds was put out. The referee was involved several times, and some combinations were unhappy with the action taken. The greatest headaches were the starting tapes which proved frustrating for everyone. They worked well for half the meeting before crying wolf.
More controversy was to follow as the three final races were contested. Edmonds won the first final from Plummer with Arnerich 3rd. Plummer was put to the back of the field for barging. Lightfoot moved up to 3rd. Second final was won by Plummer from Edmonds with Arnerich 3rd. The third final race saw the referee awarding the race to Plummer from Edmonds and Lightfoot after some confusion over the finish when the Arnerich unit spun on turn four.
Edmonds had enough points for the title from Plummer while Lightfoot and Arnerich were tied for 3rd. Lightfoot had to call on the services of McMahon for two final races and the run off as McWilliam was too sore to continue.
Kevin Macdonald and Karl Hosie from Invercargill won the non qualifiers races from the Christchurch units of Josh Wilson and Darren Butt and Rob Dunn and Dan Smythe.
