South Island riders dominated the NZ Under 21 Speedway Solo Champs at Palmerston North last weekend.

Defending Champion Grant Tregoning from Hornby won his third title. Second home was another Christchurch rider, Kody Tocher who has achieved one of his best results in his speedway career.

Third home was the ex Auckland rider Jamie Moohan who now
resides in Invercargill. It was absolute despair for the local Palmerston north local and media pick, Jade Mudgway who suffered from heart breaking mechanical failures when it mattered most. He was the on
field pick and all class and determination before problems arose.

The short season at Redcar in the UK has certainly paid off for Mudgway. He however made amends on Sunday when he earned a 2nd placing in the NZ Open speedway Champs. He only dropped one point to English rider Jason Bunyan, who picked up his fifth NZ title . The Christchurch rider Larry Ross finished 3rd. In his 54 year, Ross is still masterful to watch as he still has the edge over many of his younger rivals.

Bunyan and Mudgway were the only riders to beat Ross. Bunyan as the Isle Of Wight Premier League captain was just too good for the rest of the field.

Sean Cox, aNelson rider, another of the more senior brigade, was fourth equal with the Halswell rider Andrew Aldridge. Sixth equal was a group of riders, the young and the old.

Invercargill’s John Tuffley, the Bays Graig Ramsay and the Auckland 15 year old flyer Sean Mason. Mason suffered from a machine failure while in a leading position which was extremely costly. A young man to keep an eye on in the future.

Tregoning and Tocher did not contest the open champs after they were rained off on Saturday.

Extremely close racing was witnessed in the NZ Sidecar Championships.
2NZ Les Plummer and Kervin Demanser won the runoff for 1st place from Russel Stuart and Andrew Parker.

Third after another runoff was Derek Ramsay and Tony Hislop who overcame the surviving Australian pairing of Joshua Sinnott and Hamish Golding. It was a good result for some of the Palmerston North combinations as once again, the media favourites, John Hannan and Jason Wallis had difficulty finding some drive from the surface like all competitors at varying stages and finished 5th overall.

Warrick Korstanje CMSC Media.