Rees rolls up a trifecta in his tank

Peter Rees became one of the first stockcar drivers to get the full trifecta on opening night at Arena Manawatu on Saturday.

Rees has made no secret of his intention to cause mayhem in his new tank, and if opening night is anything to go by, the other stockcar drivers won't sit back and take Rees' punishment lightly.

By the end of the night, Rees had been rolled by George Frear, rolled Hawke's Bay's Shane Mellsop in his superstock and won the stockcar feature in his Tank.

"It's only the first night but the Tank is well and truly run in now," Rees quipped. "It was great fun and there's a lot more to come."

Rees debuted his new tank alongside long-time adversary Scott McIntosh at the front of the big 32-car field. McIntosh, who is now contracted to Wellington, immediately blasted Rees into the wall.

Rees then set about attacking any car in front of him until Frear tipped him over onto his roof on the bonnet of Frear's car.

There were few rolls last year, with Scott Miers winning the roll over trophy with just three rolls, but with three rolls on Saturday alone the stockcars at least, will provide plenty of action each week.

Track manager Bryan Puklowski was rapt to get the night's racing in despite the small crowd that turned up on a bitterly cold night.

"It was an average crowd but it was raining all around the region and we had been fielding phone calls all day asking us what our weather was like," Puklowski said. "They didn't believe me when I kept saying it was fine.

"I'm pleased with the large number of competitors who were ready to go, especially in the stockcars and sidecars and the track was good for everyone."

Popular Rotorua visitor Stan Hickey won two of the superstock races from the front, with Kevin Smith having an impressive night in the track car, picking up two third places finishes and a win in the feature. Rees, Russell Harrop, Craig Humphries and newcomer Bevan Humphrey all raced near the front during the three races.

Pumas team driver Brett Lloyd made his weekly trip from Gisborne worthwhile with two wins, while Rob Mason, Alec Wilson, Gary Davis, Rob Miers and Darrel Wallace impressed.

A lot of interest in the sprint cars has been around Nelson Hartley. His win in the opening race showed he'll be a driver to beat at the Robertson Holden Speedway, and hopefully nationally.

The star of the night was Feilding's Rob Garratt who won the second race and then the feature. Garratt started near the end of last season but showed when he narrowly missed out on Amercian Joey Saldana's lap record, that he's got loads of speed.

Gisborne brothers Deane and Rob Miller took out one sidecar feature with the other going to Mike Zachan and Sam Ludlow.

Steve King and Shaun Carter were impressive as well.

Stepping up from the youth ministock class, Christian Hermansen won his first race then won the feature with the promising Taylor Lampp winning a race as well. Graham Peter, Jarrod Allen (Gisborne), and William Humphries won youth ministock races.

- © Fairfax NZ News