There’s a full throttle start to an exciting December racing calendar at Baypark Speedway this Saturday night, with the Bay Super Bowl delivering the dirt track action at the fourth race meeting of the summer season.
Four classes feature on the programme, headed by the big horsepower Super Saloons, who have assembled a 23-strong entry for the Prestige Pools South Pacific Championship.
The annual event is Baypark’s longest-running title with a history dating back to the original venue, which closed in 1995.
It’s a championship-quality field of Super Saloons, which includes former NZ champions Steve Flynn (Napier), along with brothers Chris and Steve Cowling, and Brent Emerson (Tauranga).
The Cowling Motorsport squad has been the early-season force, starting the season in winning form with Chris Cowling taking his new car to multiple wins before taking a break last weekend as the team debuted Steve’s new car in winning style at the opening of the upgraded Waikaraka Park track in Auckland.
With an influx of new cars and drivers, the Super Saloons have been a rejuvenated class in recent years, headlined by last season’s hugely successful NZ title at Baypark.
Contenders including Baypark’s Damian Orr, Manawatu racer Peter Bengston and Hawke’s Bay drivers Jason Long and Thomas Stanaway have progressed from Super Stocks, while Baypark’s Trent Amrein has moved up from the Saloon Car class.
Young racers Jeremy Browne and George Crawford have taken the leap up to big-displacement V8 horsepower from the junior ranks of 1200cc Youth Mini Stocks.
Along with Chris Cowling, the former winners of the South Pacific title who are entered his weekend include Brent Emerson, Grant Flynn, Bruce Beaumont, Martin Halcrow and 2023-24 winner Bodie Abrahamson.
Super Saloon heat races will decide the grid positions for the 25-lap final.
Sprint Cars are back in action this weekend with a 16-car grid expected, including the return of former national champ Michael Pickens following a California Midget Car campaign in recent weeks.
For the third appearance of Super Stocks this season, the format gets a shake-up with a “Double Trouble Pairs” contest that has attracted a 16-car field.
The Formula 2 Midgets will again deliver very competitive non-wing open wheel action with a full 20-car line-up.
Early season feature race winner Troy Jeffries is back in action against a field which includes James Earl, Dion Kendall, and Brynn Jackson, while Midget Car front-runner Luke McClymont makes another F2 appearance and teenager Campbell Hayes will be worth watching after a promising debut in senior racing a fortnight ago.
The December 6 race meeting is the last action until after Christmas, when the Mt Maunganui venue hosts the Bay Superstars and Bay 51 Midget Car events on December 27 and 30, with a line-up headlined by newly crowned United States Auto Club national champion Cannon McIntosh.
Racing starts at 6.30pm.
Header Image: Stuart Whitaker/The Write Angle
