Top Tigers to meet tough Panthers

The Nelson Tigers might just have been too good for their own good in Palmerston North last night.

In dominating qualifying at the 2010 ENZED Superstock Teams Champs, they not only alerted their rivals to their talent and form, but they earned a semifinal matchup tonight against the standout team in the sport.

Second-ranked Nelson amassed 340 of a possible 370 points in their two races at Robertson Holden International Speedway, humiliating Canterbury and backing that up with a big win over a strong Rotorua team. Their reward, as top qualifiers, is to meet the Palmerston North Panthers in tonight's first semifinal. The Panthers have won the last four titles on the trot and are the subject of a TV3 documentary which will screen in a fortnight from now. They slipped back to third place in qualifying after a contentious result in their first race saw them relegated to second behind a Waikato driver when it appeared Wayne Hemi had won the race for the Panthers. Needing to score heavily to advance in tier one tonight, Palmerston North swept Auckland, taking the first four placings.

Nelson had earlier done the same against Christchurch for a 185-10 victory, while they took first, second, fourth and fifth in the race against Rotorua's Rebels.

Second qualifiers, 25 points adrift of the Tigers, were the British Lions, consisting of Great Britain drivers competing in borrowed New Zealand superstocks. After finishing third overall on debut last season, most fans thought the Lions would struggle without the element of surprise this time around but newcomer Craig Finnikin led them to victories over Auckland and the Manawatu Mustangs, a strong second lineup out of Palmerston North.

The UK team will take on Waikato in the second semifinal tonight with the winner to meet the team that advances from the Tigers-Panthers matchup.

Nelson will be pleased with their night's work. They showed strong team work, good pace and an astute feel for the changing roles in a teams race.

The Christchurch contest was over early when Daryl Peterson's early hit took out Andrew Good and Dale Ewers targeted Malcolm Ngatai. A moment of hotheadedness saw Canterbury's Brad Rosewarne run on to the infield to take a swipe at Peterson and he was later excluded from the race and the meeting. With two cars down, the Canterbury Glen Eagles were in trouble and they lost a third car when Ewers put a hefty shot on Jason Smith in turn two, Smith requiring medical attention as a result.

Shane Harwood had an untroubled run at the front of the field, with Brendan Higgins crossing for second, Ewers third and Peterson in fourth. Ngatai was the only Canterbury driver to finish, Ewers gaining some measure of revenge for a hit earlier in the season when he collected Ngatai in turn four and rubbed him along the wall.

Rotorua, who had surprisingly lost their opening race to Stratford, loomed as a stronger opponent, but Nelson's teams racing experience shone through with Blair Cunningham initially taking the lead, then dropping back into a block role with Higgins and Peterson, allowing Ewers a run to the flag. Peterson had an especially effective race, targeting Rotorua's faster cars as Higgins and Cunningham picked off the stragglers. Ewers and Peterson took the quinella for the Tigers with Higgins fourth and Cunningham fifth.

Biggest crash of the evening came when Waikato's Karl Ross clipped the corner of a stationary car and rolled his Chev V8 twice in turn three, while Auckland's Trevor Mason also managed to turn turtle when he slid sideways into parked team-mate Darryl Hammond and flipped over.

The Nelson Tigers are supported by the Stables Restaurant and Bar, Bays Breweries, Discover New Zealand Motorhomes, Collision Centre (Richmond), and the Nelson Speedway Association.

- © Fairfax NZ News