O'Briens aim for a taste of "sponsor's luck" at Meeanee
So much for Regan O'Brien's retirement from the Hawke's Bay Hawkeyes superstock team!
"That's still the case but I could still be teams racing on Saturday night," O'Brien said as he pondered the 26-car Technical Welding Services Superstock Masters Championship at Meeanee.
O'Brien announced his retirement from the Hawkeyes after seven years of racing at the prestigious Palmerston North Teams event last February. However O'Brien, 41, and fellow long-serving Hawkeye, Mike McLachlan, 40, expect to adopt some teams racing tactics in an attempt to return the 40 years and over title to the Bay.
"This is the second year the event has run. I didn't race in it last summer but if Mike or I are near the podium going into the final heat the other driver will be doing their bit to boost his chances of taking the title," O'Brien promised.
"All of the cars coming from out of town are good and whoever wins the title will have to work hard for it," O'Brien explained.
While he is tackling the Masters event O'Brien's son Kairyn and daughter Dominique will compete in the Kuru Cup stockcar event which is sponsored by the family's O'Brien's Aluminium and Maintenance company.
"Hopefully one of us can have similar luck to what Brett [Loveridge] did when he sponsored and won the Hawke's Bay stockcar championship last weekend," O'Brien said.
A former Meeanee Maulers stockcar teams racer, O'Brien, intends having another crack at making the team this summer. Expect him to be a serious contender.
Along with defending champion Peter Bengston, the Joblin brothers, 3NZ Scott and Simon, and Kerry Podjursky are other fancied starters from Palmerston North in the Masters event. The Rotorua pair of Paul Vazey and Pat Westbury are no strangers to success at Meeanee.
Meeanee Mauler Cameron Swift will aim to retain the Kuru Cup in a 22-strong stockcar class field. The cup is one of the biggest on the Speedway New Zealand scene and Swift won it in March 2019.
It wasn't contested last summer because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Along with Swift and the O'Brien siblings expect Hawke's Bay champion Loveridge and fellow Mauler Brandon Symes to be near the podium on Saturday night.
A 12-strong TQ field, 14-strong mixed saloon field, 28-strong ministock field and nine-crew sidecar field will provide the support classes.
