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2009 NEW ZEALAND TQ CHAMPIONSHIP REVIEW After the initial date of the New Zealand TQ Championship on the 28th February was postponed until the following week, the TQ section had another week of waiting to see who would come away on top. So on Saturday 7th March, the competitors and their crew all came out in the hopes that what light rain had emerged would disappear and they’d be set to go racing. From 12pm onwards scrutineering was held on the field outside the stadium, with a long line of TQ’s from both the North and South Island waiting patiently to have their vehicles checked over. As each TQ was successfully scrutineered it was pushed inside the stadium to be impounded in the infield of the track until the meeting. As scrutineering was administered, drivers received a bucket of goodies and the Auckland Three Quarter Midget Association held a barbeque while everyone waited to enter the stadium. With a field of thirty-eight TQ’s, the field was divided into two groups of nineteen (The Classic Hits Group and Radio Hauraki Group). Each group ran two heats, with the top ten point scorers from each group moving straight into the feature for grid positions one to twenty. For those outside of the top ten in each group, they would run a repecharge with the top four place getters taking the last four grid positions in the feature. Classic Hits Group Heat One With 19 TQ’s starting, the Classic Hits group had a good start to the night with an incident free race, unlike that which been expected. Brock Maskovich, in the 0800 Beater sponsored 19a lost his muffler and was unfortunately black flagged, which was a shame after such a strong start to the race. Aucklanders strutted their stuff for the first race, with the top three place getters all being Auckland based drivers. Paul Le Cren in the Alkiris Antennas sponsored car (14a) took the honours for the win, with Kumeu -Huapai Panelbeaters driver Lawrence Baker (15a) in second and former New Zealand Minisprint champion Shaun Cooke in the Harris Racecars 16a in third. (P. Le Cren (14a), L. Baker (15a), S. Cooke (16a), R. Stone (35c), C. Todd (2NZ), J. Hopewell (13a), B. Curtin (58a), E. Smith (61a)) Radio Hauraki Group Heat One In stark comparison to the previous group, the Radio Hauraki Group quite literally went off with a bang with a racing incident in the first lap that saw Gina Harris’ Harris Racecars 64a all but climb right over the fence. After four restarts of the first lap due to racing incidents, the group finally went racing. Ricky Brett (39c) was a big mover in the field, coming from grid twelve to finish third. However it was Hayden Williams (27a) who took the Exide Batteries sponsored car to collect the chequered in first, followed by current 3NZ Onsite Group sponsored Shane O’Conner in second. (H. Williams (27a), S. O’Conner (3NZ), Ricky Brett (39c), C. Gwilliam (98a), M. Blakely (81a), S. Baker (88a), J. Taylor (41a), D. McGregor (5g), S. Smith (4a), S. Fergusson (21a), G. Milroy (45c)) Classic Hits Group Heat Two The Classic Hits Group lived up to its previous form, with fewer casualties by race incident in their second heat. After showing a promising start and being forced to retire in the first heat, Brock Maskovich (19a) showed good pace starting from grid six and finishing first. Following in second place was current 2NZ Craig Todd in the Efficient Racing car, who also had a fantastic race after starting from grid twelve and heat one winner, Paul Le Cren in third. (B. Maskovich (19a), C. Todd (2NZ), P. Le Cren (14a), S. Cooke (16a), L. Baker (15a), R. Melrose (7c), A. Johnson (12a), A. Warren (33a), J. Hopewell (13a), S. Phillips (18a), C. Bargh (28b), E. Smith (61a), M. Alexander (29b)) Radio Hauraki Group Heat Two In the Radio Hauraki Group’s second heat 2009 North Island’s third place getter PDL Electrical sponsored Ross Linklater (56a) made up for his first heat DNF by racing well to gain a hard-earned first place from grid sixteen, once again showing his competitive pace. Christchurch driver Ricky Brett (39c), after a battle royale for second with Hayden Williams (27a), who clinched onto second place, with Shane O’Conner charging through from grid nineteen to round out the top three in third. (R. Linklater (56a), R. Brett (39c), S. O’Conner (3NZ), D. Todd (6b), H. Williams (27a), J. Taylor (41a), D. McGregor (5g), J. Webb (8c), G. Harris (64a), S. Fergusson (21a), G. Milroy (45c)) Repecharge With only five cars contesting this race out of a possible eighteen, this could have been considered a slight disappointment to the punters with not much of a show to be had with so few cars. However there was still action to be had in a five car race, with Christine Bargh (28b) tipping over on the start/finish straight after battling with Gina Harris for the fourth spot and Anton Johnson (12a) having unfortunate engine problems, leading to a great deal of smoke, on the final corner of the last lap. This unfortunately ruled him out of contesting the final race. With only three finishers, only twenty-three would start in the feature. Michael Aulding (11g) took the win, followed by Jeremy Webb (8c) and Gina Harris (64a). (M. Aulding (11g), J. Webb (8c), G. Harris (64a)) New Zealand TQ Championship Feature This was it, the final. The one we’d all be waiting for. Twenty-three TQ’s took to the track for twenty laps of racing in a bid to earn the right to run the number one on their car. Shane O’Conner (3NZ) and Paul Le Cren (14a), both top qualifiers in their respective groups headed the pack off grids one and two. O’Conner took off to a roaring start, leading the pack into the first turn only to be halted by an incident involving Lawrence Baker ( 15a ) and Shaun Cooke ( 16a ) when hit from the rear by some over enthusiastic mid grid cars . Both cars had to retire to the infield before they even finished a lap. On the restart and in a Green light to chequered flag race O’Connor had no signs of any real challenge to his position throughout the twenty laps. Despite showing contention for grabbing a spot in the top three, Ross Linklater (56a) appeared to have car issues, forcing him to retire from the race. Hayden Williams moved through the pack to jump into second place, while Brock Maskovich had his work cut out for him, charging through the pack to third. It was great to see the New Zealand TQ title top three places going to three Auckland young guns. It was a terrific effort from these three young drivers, showing a lot of promise in the sport and for the talent within the TQ ranks. While O’ Conner took the honours to win the championship, the drive of the night came from Brock Maskovich, fighting his way from grid 14 to take third place overall. (S.O’Connor (3NZ), H. Williams (27a), B. Maskovich (19a), R. Brett (39c), P. Le Cren (14a), C. Todd (2NZ), D. Todd (6b), M. Aulding (11g), D. McGregor (5g), J. Webb (8c), R. Melrose (7c), G. Harris (64a), S. Fergusson (21a), G. Milroy (45c), S. Phillips (18a), A. Warren (33a)) Congratulations to our three Auckland drivers, Shane O’Conner, the new 1NZ, Hayden Williams (2NZ) and Brock Maskovich (3NZ). Well done. A big thank you to all those responsible for helping with the buckets and t-shirts, as many of these items were graciously gifted to the club, either attained by club members or sponsored. Also many thanks to those who helped out on the day. All help was very much appreciated and it contributed greatly to the success of the day.
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