This was the first event for 2012 and is usually well supported by competitors; unfortunately only five cars showed and were very disappointing for the organisers and marshals who go to a lot of trouble and work to put these events together.
The weather was brilliant and the riverbank track was in excellent condition, ideal for a good days racing.
Renee and I were on marshal point one, a good location where we could see quite a bit of the track both ways, quite good for pics and movie clips.
Starting point was under the Chesterhope Bridge, through some trees to a long straight with a jump in the middle, through more trees and pass under the Napier/Hastings Expressway Bridge to finish a little further upstream.
The cars only ran one way this time to make it quicker so there could be more runs, a good idea with so few entrants, everyone had a good go at improving there times.
Cars to watch were Gareth McLachlan’s Mitsi Galant VR4, a new car for him this year, Ian Glenny in his Mitsi Starion and the Maiden and Fosters sponsored Honda Integra, the other two cars running were a Datsun 120Y coupe ( Orange Roughy ) and a yellow Honda Integra, a new car on the scene.
The racing was very fast with Gareth and Ian putting on a really good show of handling and car control with no incidents through the day.
Only two breakages for the day were a broken windscreen for the Datsun 120Y on the Tiki Tour, great start for him and Gareth had a gear change cable let go on his last run, both fairly minor and easily repaired.
Other than the low turnout of cars, an exciting day was had by all, a well run event, looking forward to Seafield Road in a couple of weeks.
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