|
Team GB
Items for sale
Orders for Team GB 2010 Polo Shirts can be placed via email below
TEAM CHAMPS DVD
Now on sale
the 2010 N.Z. Team Championship DVD at a remarkable price
of only £11.00 including postage and packaging from the web-site
team.gb@hotmail.com
Special thanks to
Alan of 1st
signs for the brilliant report below
New Zealand Superstock Teams Champs –
5th & 6th February 2010.
Teams Champs time again and a glorious NZ day greeted the 11 teams
who were scrutineered in the square in the heart of Palmerston North
City. Due to there being only 11 teams and not the usual 12 a
slightly different format had to be used. Each team would race
twice and the points total would be added from the 2 races on the 1st
day. The top 4 points scorers would got through to the 2nd
day and race for the Championship. The next 4 top point’s scorers
would go into a 2nd Tier and race for a highest possible
position of 3rd (just as the Lions had done in 2009).
With 100 points for the win, 40 for 2nd, 25 for 3rd,
20 for 4th and 10 for 5th it is vital that the
Team not only gets the win but also gets as many cars across the
line as possible.
Team GB, The British Lions, had a slight change to last year’s line
up with Craig Finnikin replacing Mark Taylor and Daniel Wainman
coming in as the 6th man. So Mick Harris was in 00GB,
Frankie Wainman jnr in 01GB, Tom Harris in 02GB, Stuart Smith jnr in
03GB and Craig Finnikin as 04GB, with ex Wellington Wildcat and
Teams racing legend Tony Maclanachan taking the reigns as Manager.
On arrival at the track Team GB were already having dramas with
problem with the 03, Stuarts, car. A decision was made to swap cars
which meant Stuart going into the Mick Harris car and Mick going
into the new Palmy Track Car. So now 2 of the Team were in cars
they had never driven before!
In a packed stadium of around 16-17000 people (every UK promoters
dream) there were numerous flags and people sporting the red, white
and blue of the British Lions. The Lions first race was race 4 and
they were up against the Auckland All-stars and after the 4 laps
practice the Teams took their positions on the grid. Craig took
pole with 8A Bryce Marx on his outside, in row 2 it was Trevor Mason
4A with Frankie on his outside. Inside row 3 was Stuart with Keven
Roberts in the Tank on his outside. This left Tom on the outside of
row 4 alongside 6A Daryl Hammond. Mick Harris sitting this one out
as the reserve. From the start it was plain to see that Craig and
Frankie were the “runners” with Tom and Stuart as “blockmen”. Craig
was into the lead with Frankie removing the 4A car and then spinning
Roberts and himself onto the infield. Craig was then spun whilst
attempting to pass one of the Auckland cars and the reds came out to
halt proceedings. This left Frankie in the lead despite being
positioned on the infield facing the wrong direction! On the
restart Tom was blocking the 8A car whilst Stuart was under attack
from Daryl Hammond resulting in a puncture for the 03GB car and the
car ended up immobile on turns 3 & 4. Craig crossed the line for
the win after Frankie had held Roberts to allow him through. This
left Frankie in 2nd with Roberts 3rd and Tom
in 4th who then cleverly collected the immobile car of
Stuart and pushed him across the line to take the 5th
spot and ensure all cars scored points. This gave the Lions a
healthy total of 170 points and left them in 2nd place on
points after round 1 of the races.
Race 2 was against the new look Manawatu Mustangs which included
the 2 Joblin brothers of which Scott Joblin had recently won the
World 240 at Rotorua and the 248 Global Challenge at Palmy on
consecutive weekends and were acknowledged to have 2 of the fastest
cars in New Zealand. The Mustangs had drawn pole for this one with
52p Scott Joblin taking his position with Craig on his outside,
Frankie was inside row 2 alongside the Tank of Brett Hyslop 9p. Row
3 consisted of 77p Chucky Norris and Tom with a first time Teams
start for Mick Harris on row 4 alongside Simon Joblin 72p. Stuart
was sitting this on due to damage incurred in Race 1. From the
green 52p went into the lead chased by Craig. The rest of the grid
had hardly moved with Frankie turning right on the Hyslop tank
holding him against the wall with the rest of the cars holding
position behind. As they started to move it was 52p from 04GB and
01GB. Tom put Simon Joblin into a spin whilst Frankie attacked the
Hyslop tank leaving it parked on the edge of the track. 52p was
flying at the front with Craig still chasing hard, Tom had a dive
for the leading car missing by inches. Mick was keeping the other
Joblin car busy blocking him for a whole lap. Frank and Tom then
had a combined attack on the 72p car this then combined to slow the
lead car down who was struggling to find a safe way past allowing
Craig to gain on the 52p car. Just as he almost caught up Scott
Joblin was away again. The reds came out with 72p holding Frankie
hard against the wall just out of Turn 2. On the restart Frankie
hit reverse and then drove up the inside of Joblin and away. With
one lap to go the Mustangs were still holding 1st place
and it was beginning to look as thought Tier 2 awaited for day 2,
when Mick connected with the 52p car causing it to wobble and
allowed Frankie to get the hit on him to spin him allowing Craig
through for a dramatic last lap win. The final result was Craig
from Scott Joblin followed by Frankie, Mick and Simon Joblin. The
job was completed and at the end of round 2 the points scores were
Nelson 1st on 345 points, Team GB 2nd on 315
points, reigning champions for the past 4 years the Panthers were 3rd
on 270 points with Waikato 4th on 230 points. This meant
Nelson would take on the Panthers and the British Lions would face
Waikato in their respective Semi Finals.
Day 2 – Finals Night.
Another glorious day awaited the finals night. The first semi final
was a repeat of last years Final, but this year the Tigers had the
better of the Panthers. Peter Rees was rolled early on and then it
was just a complete demolition job by the Nelson Tigers crippling
and immobilizing every Panther for a memorable 1, 2, and 3 across
the line.
The 2nd Semi saw Team GB take on Waikato with Team GB
winning the toss. This put Frankie on pole with 93H Karl Ross on
his outside. Behind Frankie was Jared Wade 94H in the tank with
Craig alongside. Row 3 inside was Mick alongside Warwick Ansty and
on the final row was Lance Ashton 97H with Tom on his outside. At
the green Wade squeezed Craig briefly holding him against the wall.
Ross was in the lead chased by Frankie and as Ross came up behind
Mick Frankie launched an attack on Ross causing all 3 cars to hit
the infield. This had allowed Wade into the lead and a skirmish
between Mick and Ansty resulted in a shower of sparks coming from
the 00GB car whilst he continued his blocking role. Ansty then
climbed all over Tom. At around halfway there was a huge melee on
the start straight involving half a dozen cars. Tom attacked the
front end of Wade’s car and on the second hit he detached the front
wheel of the Tank which caused the reds to come out. This left
Craig in the lead with 5 laps to go. On the restart Craig rode a
hit from Ansty with Wade still trying to wreak havoc in the 3
wheeled tank. As the chequered fell it was Craig from Frankie which
meant the Lions were through to their first final in only their
second attempt and meant they were guaranteed of beating last years
achievement of 3rd place.
As the cars came out for the final Tony Maclanachan announced that
the 02 car of Toms had been too badly damaged and it was decided to
put Tom in the 03 car due to how successful he had been in the
previous races at blocking. So it was an unchanged foursome that
were going to try and tame the Nelson Tigers, who had been looking
more and more impressive as the weekend went on. The Lions lost the
toss giving 84N Shane Harwood pole with Frankie on his outside, row
2 was Craig and Brendan Higgins 81N. Nelson captain Dale Ewers 85N
was on row 3 with Mick alongside leaving Tom on the inside of row 4
accompanied by Daryl Peterson 82N. At the green Higgins and Harwood
attacked the 01GB car. Mick took Ewers allowing Craig into the lead
with Tom and Peterson holding one another at the line. As Craig
came round to lap the Higgins, Harwood, Wainman skirmish he went for
a gap around the outside but the Tigers saw him and launched a
devastating blow crippling the 04GB car. The reds came out for Mick
who was left stranded across the track out of turn 4 and the 00GB
car was subsequently removed to the infield. Ewers was now 3 laps
ahead of anyone else and the Tigers had all 4 cars running compared
to the Lions 3 of which Frankie was the only car race worthy. On
the restart 81N went clean over the top of Toms car leaving him
facing the wrong direction and immobile. The reds came out again to
remove Tom’s car. On the restart the 84N car was holding Craig and
81N had Frankie up against the wall, again Frankie used reverse and
came up the other side of the Higgins car swiping him into the
wall. At the flag it was a convincing win by the Nelson Tigers with
Ewers taking it from Peterson and Frankie in 3rd.
The final presentations were made with the Mustangs taking out 3rd
spot, the British lions in 2nd and the Nelson Tigers
taking a well deserved win. There was one other award to be handed
out for the Entertainer of the Teams and this went to Tom Harris for
his outstanding blocking efforts all weekend. The full British Team
did a jog round the track to a standing ovation from the crowd.
Once again the weekend had been a huge success for Team GB and
thanks must go out to the drivers who laid everything on the line
for the cause, Guy Parker for all the logistics, Tony Maclanachan
for his mentorship, all the guys who crewed on the cars all weekend
and the sponsors for making it all possible.
So 2009….3rd, 2010…..2nd, roll on 2011.
Alan
1st Signs Ltd
www.1stsigns.co.nz
|
