Second generation life member thrives in borrowed car
Veteran super saloon driver Grahame Strong admits he didn't expect to be awarded Hawke's Bay Speedway Club life membership at the club's Labour Weekend opening meeting.
"I thought I had to be dead so I didn't have to pay for another season of racing," Strong quipped.
However switching back to serious mode, Strong, 54, pointed out he was rapt to be the only second generation life member at the club. His father Brian, a former competitor, steward and promoter at Meeanee Speedway, who began taking his son along to the sport when he was a toddler, is also a life member.
"We may be the only second generation speedway life members in the country still alive," Strong explained.
A former North Island champion in the streetstock class and former 3NZ and 2NZ in his current class, Strong, will be one of 14 starters in the second round of the DVS Super Saloon Challenge at the Henderson Road Panel & Paint Fireworks Spectacular Meeting at Meeanee on Saturday night. Darren Melling is the only other Bay competitor in the challenge which begins in Rotorua on Friday night and is a second tier series for the class.
Strong, who is racing his brother-in-law Johnny Browne's car this season, did well to finish third equal with Stratford's Joe Ingram in the two-round Quin Building Series which finished at Meeanee on Labour Weekend.
"I didn't have the best of first rounds in Palmerston North. I'm doing all eight rounds in the Challenge this summer. I'm learning a lot and hopefully I'll get better each time I race in it. Johnny and I are looking for adjustments each time I go out ... I'm not just hanging on and keeping it on the track like when I have raced it in the past," Strong explained.
He pointed out Browne is focusing on his son Jeremy Browne's final full season in the ministock class and will only have the odd super saloon class race this season.
Last summer's champion in the challenge, Aucklander Lance Jennings and the previous season's champion, Huntly's Steve Williams, are expected to be Strong's toughest opponents on Saturday night.
"I should be near the front at the end of the night," Strong, who runs Onekawa Metal Recyclers with his father, added.
The Challenge will see all 14 starters compete in three heats. The top six drivers after the three heats will compete in a Dash for Cash and the finishing order in this race will determine the order for the first three grids in the feature race for the class.
The other feature class will be the 19-car Hawke's Bay Superstock Championship. Defending champion Thomas Stanaway and fellow Hawkeyes extended squad members 1NZ Randal Tarrant, Quinn Ryan and Clayton Hagen are among the favourites for the title.
Long-serving superstock class rep Barry Sklenars pointed out he wasn't expecting as many visitors as at opening night.
This isn't a surprise. With 10 drivers in the Hawkeyes extended squad it doesn't take a genius to work out a visitor will have little chance of making the podium.
Support classes to the two feature classes will be stockcars, ministocks, and production saloons. More than 40 stockcar drivers are expected to front.
The Kevin Milne Memorial Cup will be up for grabs in the ministock class where at least 30 starters are expected. At least 12 production saloon drivers are likely to be on the drivers' list.
The annual fireworks display, which for the last two decades at least has been the best in the Bay, will end the meeting.
Gates open at 4pm and racing begins at 6pm.
