Baypark Speedway’s recently crowned New Zealand Super Stock champion, Todd Hemingway (Tauranga), made a winning return to his home track on Saturday night.
Hemingway headed off a quality field of 27 cars to win the annual Super Stock Rumble, negotiating the heavy traffic and several multi-car pile-ups to post a third and a fifth placing before winning the third race and top scoring with 75 points.
The national champ was two points clear of Hawke’s Bay racer Quin Ryan, while Waihi’s Ross Ashby raced strongly in a borrowed car to complete the podium. Baypark’s Luke Alderdice and Stratford racer Blair Uhlenberg were the other Super Stock race winners.
The penultimate event of the 2024-25 season shifted the focus to the contact racing classes of speedway, and another big field contested the annual Harry Fredrickson Memorial Stock Car Gold Cup.
In the final, Aucklanders Sam Wright and Karl Garnett swapped the lead and raced away from a couple of late-race restarts before Garnett gained a slight advantage to win by 1.5secs. Rotorua’s Jordan Latham was third, and the best of the Baypark drivers was fourth-placed Ryan Decke.
Bay of Plenty titles were decided in two classes. A 15-lap feature for F2 Midget Cars saw James Earl in control with a narrow lead, while a battle raged for the podium placings.
Earl claimed his third feature win of the season by 0.685s while Harry Hodgson made the most of a last-minute opportunity offered by the BSL Racing squad – to replace the unwell Beau Patchett – with an impressive run to second place just ahead of Auckland’s Brynn Jackson.
On his last night of racing in the junior ranks at his home track, pace-setter Bryan Fraser claimed a narrow win in the BOP Youth Mini Stock Champs. With a field of drivers representing six tracks, Fraser had a third, first, and second place to edge out Auckland’s Lucas Baldwin by a single point for the title, with Rotorua’s Jordan Wadsworth in third place.
Two attempts to start the Sprint Car feature were delayed by first-lap crashes, and the race was declared without a lap being completed. Due to time restrictions, the BOP Title was left undecided. Rodney Wood (Tauranga), Daniel Thomas (Hamilton), and Keaton Dahm (Tokoroa) were the Sprint Car heat race winners.
The 2024-25 season finale at Baypark Speedway will feature the annual Demolition Derby on Saturday, April 19.
Header Image: Jessica Barnes/Blissful Photography
Words: Colin Smith
