Firstly Happy New Years to you all and hopefully your Christmas and New Years was as fun as ours.
Well it's been a little while between updates as I have been extremely busy with Business, family and to be honest lying on the beach when time allows - Have you seen my tan?
Well the South Island Tour - What a fantastic holiday it ended up being with great friends and family…
Klaas, Brenda, Brett & Chad decided to jump aboard Jessie Jayme's (our motorhome) and head south with us which was good news as Klaas & I can share the driving …and drinking!!! We mapped out a route which had us heading down the West Coast catching Westport, Greymouth, Reefton & Hokitika which Rachel, Jessie, Jayme and I haven't had the pleasure of seeing so it was a fantastic to drive down the shore line and see the country side we call home. We ended up stopping in Franz Joseph for the night and had a BBQ with plenty of laughs round the camp-site. We needed to get to Queenstown as we were meeting our Australian friends for New Years and lucky for us, we landed up in a penthouse at the Glebe which was fabulous so we stopped there for 3 nights which had us all out wining, dining and finding those thrill rides we all love to ride…
Well the time had come to get down to the business end, so we headed to Christchurch; it's always great catching up with the rest of the Waka Crew and we found them relaxing and having a few ales at the camp. Muzza is the heart-beat of the Waka and was laid back, but I could tell by the smile and the glimmer in his eyes he was ready for racing…
Saturday night rolled around and at 5.00pm down came 30 minutes of heavy rain and hail (yep typical NZ weather - four seasons in one day) I immediately thought let's load-up and head for cover. The Christchurch Club had a different opinion and worked like soldieries to drain the track and pits and got the racing back on schedule for racing.
I drew a good group but couldn't believe it when I drove out onto the track to see the water-cart doing a few laps. We rolled out 3 races over the night to qualify and the track was in superb condition all night which everybody was very grateful to the Christchurch Club - Great work guys and girls!
We hadn't much work to do on the Waka after night one - but like any championship our maintenance took all day - We were first inn and last to leave but we knew we had a fast car which was hopefully going to give us some glory by the end of the night all going well….
Race 1 - I drew grid 25 (couldn't ask for a better grid) and I had my old mate next to me Scotty Redfern on grid 26 so we both gassed it of the start praying for a pile up in turn 1 which never really eventuated. I had to drive the wheels of the Waka as I had to pass over 20 cars to have a shoot at the title. Well things were falling into place for the first 10 laps as I roared up in to 6th position with only 5 laps to run but I got turned coming off turn 4 by Faram but lucky I gathered it together and only lost 3 or 4 spots. I caught Faram up a lap later and paid him back with only a little interest - certainly was as much interest as I desired, but I didn't have time on my side for pushy pushy...
Race 2 - Grid 12 and I knew I was in trouble a whole lotta trouble and I got turned on the first corner with the whole field passing me so it meant coming from the back again. I managed to get the Waka home but certainly wasn't in the hunt to become 1NZ!
Race 3 - Grid 3 right behind Scotty Redfern so we had a drag race in which I managed to pass him and gave him a cheeky smile on the way pass and I drove off into the distance. I came off turn 2 a few laps later and seen Frankie in a spot of trouble so I decided to give him a bash on the way pass handing the lead to Scotty in which he drove into the sunset and won the final heat. I felt good for Scotty as from the news outta his camp, it was his last drive in the Gordge so to go out with a win is something Scotty will always remember.
Congratulations must be awarded to the men in the South as they drove well all night and put 3 races together. I feel we had a fast car but we just didn't have that lady luck and without her no body can win a championship. Without any disrespect to the podium, I would off loved to of seen Higgins on the top spot as he's being a great driver for Nelson year after year and he deserves top honours.
Malcolm has been a stand-out performer over the pass few seasons and he's certainly done all the hard yards with building a new car, travelling North at every opportunity and I'm positive he will represent 1 NZ the way it's suppose to be - Congratulation Malcolm and Crew.
Well it was time to head north to Nelson so we packed up and north we headed. We stopped for lunch at Culverden and our partners in crime rolled in 10 minutes behind us - Yes the blue bus which stables the silver bullet. We were booked in the same motel with the Penn's in Nelson and our little pitcrew Chad is hanging out with there little pitcrew Kayla so we have to keep an eye on them as they like to vanish plus Chad will give all our secrets away to keep in the good books with the Penn's - I'm on to him - Grins!
We called into Hanmer Springs for a few hours and rolled into Nelson about 9.00pm, it was Brett's 17th birthday so we ripped into celebrate at "Burger King" of all places (only because it was the last shop open) but we made it safe and sound to Nelson which was the main goal.
Bootie called and offered us his workshop which was fantastic so both the Silver Bullet and the Red Waka ended up there carrying out our repairs and talking stock-car talk most of the day. We had a lazy old night but headed out to Kaiteriteri just south of Golden Bay for a few hours before racing. That bay is amazing and if you ever get the chance, do allow a whole day or better a few nights to relax out there as it's breathless.
Down to Racing - Well I drew the harder group with the newly crowned 2 & 3 NZ which I was happy about as those Nelson boys are super fast around there track so hopefully they were gonna show me the way round. The first 2 races I found us to be off the pace but Muzza and Klaas weren't going to have a bar of that, so we made the changes needed to get us up to speed for the 20 lap final. I had grid 7 and after a few laps I managed to pull myself into second place behind the new 2 NZ. I could have turned him earlier in the race which would off given me full control from the front, but I had Frankie breathing down my neck waiting to pounce on me like a lion. I raced a few laps behind 2 NZ until Carey Haywood had a different opinion and he waited for me from lap 12 onwards. Carey was letting 2 NZ slide pass but was blocking me which gave 2 NZ a handsome lead and with the track becoming slicker and slicker, I couldn't make the gains and ended up getting caught and spun while dealing with Carey which took me right of the podium all together.
I've been racing for many seasons and I'm still learning about set-ups and driving techniques - I should off taken the chance and turned 2 NZ earlier in the race, along with a few others on the way pass...
Huge congratulations to the Nelson boys once again, Dale certainly drove like a man possessed and he fully deserves to be our GP winner and 2 NZ of 2009 along with 3NZ rolling into another podium finish - Congratulation Dale and Brendon, you've had a superb week of racing with great results!
We loaded up and headed to the water so we could catch the 2.00am sailing with Shane Penn only to find they wouldn't allow the Penn's on the ship as they had too many passengers. We could off sailed but what kinda mate would leave his friends sitting on the wharf at 2.00am in Picton of all places, so we declined the 2.00am sailing and lit the BBQ up and had breaky together only to find once we boarded the 8.00am sailing we were down 1 engine and it took 6 hours to cross the straight - Bloody Penn's!!!
I decided over the winter I wasn't going to race at the World 240's because of a personal issues I had in 2008 as my crew and I felt we were insulted and treated unfairly so I'm standing by my decision. I was nearly persuaded to head to Rotorua, but I have decide to head to the beach and take some much needed R&R with my lovely wife and kids - but I will be ready to race come the 248's
