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Queen’s Birthday at Taipa
The sidecars made their first ever appearance at Taipa in the Far North for the annual two day Queen’s Birthday weekend meeting. The ‘07 running of the event was bigger than ever with 253 competitors signed in on day one shared among 180 vehicles. Aswel as the sidecars, other invitation classes for the meeting included sprintcars/modifieds, super saloons, superstocks, midgets/minisprints, quarter midgets & mini-stocks, which added to Taipa’s regular classes of stocks, streetstocks & a number of saloon grades saw over 120 races take place over the two days.
The eight sidecars were split into two heats of four and raced 6 rounds over the two days. The track held up remarkably well & made for some top racing. The crowd response was great and many that hadn’t seen sidecars race before were quite taken back by the passing antics and close racing. Midway trough the first day the local commentator made an appearance on the side of the #46b bike for a few hot-laps with Russell Stuart much to the crowds delight!
The racing, although close and competitive, went incident free apart from when Anthony Goodyer parted company with the #37 bike in the last corner of the third round on day 1. Day 2 saw a few bike/rider/swinger changes. The 39 & 37 bikes were swapped for the final 2 rounds, and Jason Hercock (usually swinger on 21k) showed he is also handy on the throttle in the final race of the weekend.
Following Sundays racing a few of the bikes spent about half an hour on the track giving new people a taste of sidecar racing. I think Russell was the only one who was able to spit his first-time swinger off though when the hit a slick spot halfway down the straight!!
All in all a great weekend though with first class hospitality with prizegiving, food and entertainment both nights after racing. A big thank you to Robbo & Rhonda and the Taipa club for the invite & look forward to doing it again next year.. Also to our race sponsors; Grouting Services NZ Ltd, Huapai Tavern, Progressive Plumbing, Team Chiplin & Firestone Otahuhu & to all the teams that made the trip up (especially Russell- around 10 hrs drive!)
…..indoor pit bays even!
RESULTS:
Race 1: 1st 37a Edmonds/James, 2nd 46b Stuart/Mason, 3rd 21k Murray/Hercock, 4th 39a Arnerich/Anderson. Race 2: 1st 28a Chiplin/Adam, 2nd 66a Patchett/Clark, 3rd 11a Lowe/Mason, 4th 48a Longman/Pearce.
Race 3: 1st 37a Edmonds/James, 2nd 46b Stuart/Mason, 3rd 21k Murray/Hercock, 4th 28a Chiplin/Adam. Race 4: 1st 39a Arnerich/Anderson, 2nd 66a Patchett/Clark, 3rd 11a Lowe/Mason, 4th 48a Longman/Pearce.
Race 5: 1st 46b Stuart/Mason, 2nd 39a Arnerich/Anderson, 3rd 21k Murray/Hercock, DNF 37a Edmonds/Goodyer. Race 6: 1st 66a Patchett/Clark, 2nd 28a Chiplin/Adam, 3rd 11a Lowe/Mason, 4th 48a Longman/Pearce.
Race 7: 1st 37a Edmonds/James, 2nd 46b Stuart/Mason, 3rd 39a Arnerich/Anderson, 4th 21k Murray/Hercock. Race 8: 1st 28a Chiplin/Adam, 2nd 11a Lowe/Mason, 3rd 66a Patchett/Clark, 4th 48a Longman/Peace.
Race 9: 1st 46b Stuart/Mason, 2nd 37a Arnerich/Anderson, 3rd 28a Chiplin/Adam, 4th 66a Patchett/Clark. Race 10: 1st 39a Edmonds/James, 2nd 21k Murray/Hercock, 3rd 11a Lowe/Mason, 4th 48a Longman/Peace.
Race 11: 1st 46b Stuart/Mason, 2nd 21k Murray/Hercock, 3rd 28a Chiplin/Adam, DNF 37a Arnerich/Anderson. Race 12: 1st 39a Edmonds/Lathan, 2nd 11a Lowe/Mason, 3rd 48a Longman/Pearce, 4th 21k Hercock/?
