Wellingtonian takes Hawke's Bay superstock championship title home
Retired Hawke's Bay Hawkeyes superstock team racer Regan O'Brien had a stern message for his former teammates last night.
"Grow some balls and stop visitors winning the Hawke's Bay championship. This title has always got to stay in the Bay."
O'Brien had just watched Wellingtonian Ethan Levien win the 25-car championship, one of two feature events at Meeanee Speedway's Henderson Road Panel and PaintFireworks Spectacular Meeting staged in front of a near capacity crowd of 5,500.
With a second and two third placings, 19-year-old Levien, won the title by one point rom Hawkeye Quinn Ryan and Levien's brother Keegan Levien was a further point behind in third place.
"I wasn't 100 per cent that I would be safe here but there is a pretty good bond between the Wellington club and the Hawke's Bay boys," Levien told the Hawke's Bay App afterwards.
"That's my first individual championship title and I understand I'm the youngest winner of the title," Levien explained.
He pointed out he has only had two meetings this season and the previous one was at Meeanee so his car was still set up for Meeanee. Hawkeye and defending champion Thomas Stanaway did well to win the first two heats but mechanical issues saw him finish 14th in the third and fourth overall.
Ryan won the other heat.
The 12-car second round of the DVS Super Saloon Challenge was the other feature event. Aucklander Marcus Bullen, who won the previous night's first round in Rotorua, took out the feature race from fellow Aucklander and series defending champion Lance Jennings. Kelvin Garnett completed the Auckland trifecta in the feature.
The sole Hawke's Bay entrant last night, Grahame Strong, did well to win the first two heats before gear box issues ended his night's racing.
Stockcars, production saloons and ministocks provided the support class action. Thirty nine drivers fronted in the stockcar class where Rotorua visitor Dion Henderson produced the best hit of the night. It came in heat two and he smashed Hawke's Bay's Trent McCann into the pit gate.
This was McCann's first race in the class and class rep Greg Zachan confirmed McCann was expecting it as a form of pay back for battles when the pair were in the ministock class previously.
Hawke's Bay's Regan Penn won two of the heats in the class. Wellingtonians Bryce Jensen, a former Hawke's Bay ministock driver, and Josh Prentice, were the winners of the other heats.
Four visitors were among the 16 drivers in the production saloon class. The respective winners of the three heats were Whanganui's Brent Hackett, Hawke's Bay's William Bayliss and Gisborne's Seth McKay.
Five visitors were among the 30 drivers in the ministock class. Hawke's Bay's Keegan Bunce recorded his first career win when he held out clubmate and third generation racer Kara Flynn in heat two. Rotorua's Terrence Dorrell did well to win two of the heats and Hawke's Bay's Bailey Smith had the victory lap in the other.
Host track driver Liam Danielsen had a flip to remember in heat three.
A spectacular eight-minute fireworks display was staged before the final two races of the night.
