A beautiful sunny new years day greeted TWS Paradise Valley Speedway for the TWS 2020/21 NZ Superstock Championship Shakedown Meeting featuring over 100 of the 150 plus entered for the record breaking weekend. Cars came out for a series of 8 lap sprints with 15 cars per group out for the official warm up to the main event. There was some exceptionally presented machinery on track which lived up to expectations as the cars circulated around the tight Rotorua circuit.

A wettish track greeted the first group as they came out for the first time causing a few spin outs especially in turn 1 with a big pile up of 5 cars near the end however the water truck was used at regular intervals to alleviate both the incidents and to keep the the dust to a minimum in the hot weather. There were no major crashes, just the odd bump here and there in the turns and cars sorted themselves out. 

There were loads of cars on the pace in fact most of them looked to be doing good lap times. My pick of the bunch from Palmerston North were former 2nz Peter Bengston in his Lintern 58p also the Red Waka team consisting of 2002 winner 591p Wayne Hemi, 571p Jayme Hemi and 581p Jordan Dare while ex 2 time champion 72p Simon Joblin, 71p Shane Mellsop and the new car of 36p Jake Baker all went well. Hawkes Bay were well represented with 2019 champion 41b Jason Long on the pace along with defending champ Randal Tarrant in the 1nz car sporting flash new livery for the weekend. Also quick for the bay were 9b Adam Groome, 22b Zach Lawrence and 52b Kairyn O' Brien. From the South Island it was 2009 national champ 19c Malcolm Ngatai, 557c Darrel Wallace and 85c Tom Cooper out of Christchurch who impressed while from Nelson it was 48n Brett Nicholls and 95n Alex Hill who are regular visitors to the track and looked good in their runs. The best of the rest were 75s Carl Shearer and 33s Logan Sharpe from Stratford, 52w Paul Fairbrother, 22w Richard Gaskin and current World 240 champ Keegan Levien in 5w out of the capital, Baypark represents 13m David Elsworth and 98m Mark Costello looked sharp while local hopefuls 81r Damian Orr and 118r Bryce Steiner showed top pace on their home track. 

A few were less fortunate though 77r Lance Elsworth and 185s Dale Michielsen both coming to grief after hitting the wall in separate incidents. Local drivers 911r Carl Southall and 611r Amanda Morris both spent time on the infield and will be hoping for better tomorrow. Meanwhile the 4s of Wayne Crawford popped a tyre and his counterpart in 4v Hayden Green went up in steam during his second outing. 

Most drivers looked good on the sensationally prepared race surface, full credit to Stan Hickey and his team for that, with all bar a few able to drive back to the pits unassisted. So that's the entree done, standby for the main event with qualifying tomorrow night and the all important finals on Sunday, weather permitting!

01-01-21 Lap Data.

TWS New Zealand Superstock Championship details:

2nd January 21
Scrutineering will be at the Lakefront from 10am to 2.30pm – Please keep well clear of the scrutineering area at all times.

The Fan Van will be there and you can buy T Shirts and Programmes from there.

GA Tickets are available on line at Eventfinda or at the Gate.  To be guaranteed of a seat, bring your own deck chair or blanket. There seems to be a lot of interest in this meeting and although the seating capacity has been increased, there is a possibility that the venue will be quite full.  We ask that you do not spread yourself far and wide, and if you could move closer together when it is obvious that someone is looking to find a space for their deck chair.  Land Grabbers with blankets will be asked by security to reduce the area to suit the size of the people sitting on it.

There are a few Reserved seats for turn 1 available. $20 each and available at the Fan Van that will be at the Shakedown meeting and the Lakefront. All the other reserved seating has been sold. 

There are no other support classes.  6 groups of Superstocks 3 qualifying races.

For those of you who enjoy looking back at a bit of history, Sharon and Murray Fleet are setting up a display of the early years under the New Clubrooms in the pits.  Please go and have a look before the meeting starts as the pits are shut to the public one hour before the start of the Meeting.

There is NO driver signing session for posters/photos, if you want these done you will need to get the signature when you collect the poster.

Grand Parade will be at 6pm
Meeting Starts at 7pm

Entry Details: Adult: $30.00 Child/Senior: $10.00 Family: $65.00
A child is 16 years and under unless they have a student pass.
A Family Pass is Two Adults and up to four children 5 - 16 years, under 5's are free.
Gates will open at 2pm with a 7pm start.

3rd January 21
Scrutineering is at the Track – Please keep well clear of the scrutineering area at all times.

Meeting Starts with Repecharge at 6pm followed by Grand Parade including 37 ex 1 NZs from as far back as 1967.

Only support class Rotorua Rascals V Waikato Raiders Stockcar Ross Orr Memorial Teams Race.

Other Events
TWS NZ Superstock Finals
PTS 2nd Tier Championship
Classic Builders 3rd Tier Championship
PG Hydraulics Best Pairs for the next 52 non Qualifiers.

Presentation on the track with Fireworks.

Entry Details: Adult: $35.00 Child/Senior: $10.00 Family: $75.00
A child is 16 years and under unless they have a student pass.
A Family Pass is Two Adults and up to four children 5 - 16 years, under 5's are free.

Gates will open at 2pm with a 6pm start - Repecharge.

FM Transmitter frequency is: 88.3FM

Yes there is live-stream, details on the right, in the purple box. Please, read the terms and conditions for the live-stream. The Pits Media TV are providing the live-stream, please be aware that scammers will be operating and looking for your hard-earned dollar, don't be dooped into their scam.

Rainoff date: 4th January 2021, 6.00pm.

If there are any announcements to be made, they will be on the website and facebook before anywhere else. Asking won't speed up the process, we appreciate getting the info out is paramount.