Painting the town orange

BY PETE MCNAE

Call it an omen or an idea whose time had come. This was the Chinese Year of the Tiger and that became the mantra and motivational message for the Nelson Tigers superstock drivers at the 2010 ENZED Teams Champs in Palmerston North at the weekend.

And when the Nelson drivers parked their battered cars and ran a victory lap of Robertson Holden International Speedway at 11pm on Saturday, Chinese philosopher Confucius might have wanted to impart his own wisdom: "Never try to pass Brendan Higgins on the outside".

The veteran superstock teams racer was in the form of his life as the Tigers won just the second teams champs title in their long history, a decade on from their breakthrough win in the 2000 season. They had come desperately close on other occasions, losing the final last summer to the Palmerston North Panthers as the home team stacked up their fourth title in a row.

After qualifying on top of the table on Friday, Nelson knew that any path to the trophy would have to take them through Palmerston North. In qualifying third, the Panthers created a semifinal matchup against Nelson that would have stood up as the final in any other year. The Tigers knew that to beat the most formidable lineup in teams racing, they couldn't just race with the Panthers, they had to "smash the P".

"We had to take it to them," Higgins said as he and his team-mates were swamped in a sea of orange-clad supporters after the meeting. "Running with them was never going to be good enough, we had to take cars out to turn the odds in our favour."

Those odds shifted somewhat in the warm-up laps when Tigers captain Dale Ewers had his car coast to a stop with a fuel pump failure. Reserve Blair Cunningham took his place on the grid as a distressed Ewers watched from the infield.

"It's never good to see your main guy in the middle, but Blair slotted in and we stuck to the plan," Higgins said.

That plan involved Shane Harwood pushing for the lead as the other three Tigers targeted the black and gold cars of the home team. Peter Rees took an early lead for the Panthers but his race ended when he tangled with Harwood in the grandstand straight and rolled his car. But Nelson lost Cunningham at the same time, a hit on Peter Bengston breaking a battery terminal and stopping his 86N Tank.

While Harwood was setting the pace, there was nothing in it until Higgins began his seek-and-destroy mission. He held up Shane Penn's car for Harwood to deliver a hammer blow, then ripped the steering out of Bengston's car with a full-speed impact. With Harwood scooting towards victory, Higgins and Daryl Peterson – Nelson's two survivors from the champion 2000 team – put the squeeze on Scott Miers' Tank, eventually tipping it over in turn two.

With Penn's car crippled, Harwood led a 165-0 sweep that ended the Panthers' formidable reign and set Nelson up for a place in the final. Their opponents were the Great Britain Lions, surprise conquerors of Waikato in the second semifinal. Although the British had made a fine impression in just their second season in Palmerston North, Panthers captain Miers had no doubt which team would win the final. "This one is going to Nelson," he told the capacity crowd of 15,000.

And so it proved, Ewers reclaiming his place in the starting lineup and leading Nelson to the title, three laps clear of the closest chaser, Tigers team-mate Peterson.

The old stagers were again in devastating blocking form, Higgins drilling UK champion Frankie Wainman as Peterson took out frontrunner Craig Finnikin before slotting in ahead of Ewers to clear the route home.

The race was done as a contest when Higgins had his path blocked by Tom Harris but drove his car up and over the front of the Englishman's car, powering out the other side as the Brit's car was towed off with a disabled engine.

"There's a heap of luck involved. Any one of those hits could have flattened tyres or broken something but the car just kept climbing over things," Higgins said.

"The plan tonight was to hit anything that moved, hit hard and don't give guys a chance to come back and punish us. It's a risk if it goes wrong but it paid off."

Ewers was just pleased to have been a part of the victory after the frustration of missing the semifinal.

"It won't sink in for a while. This has been such a strong motivating factor in my racing and something that hadn't worked out for me until now, so it is going to take a while to absorb," he said.

"I just couldn't believe it when the car died before the semi but the guys did the job and my car was fresh for the final."

Driving Ewers' second car, Peterson provided an ingredient missing in previous campaigns. While he left the king hits to Higgins, Peterson's teams racing nous showed as he set opponents up for the hit before changing roles to protect Nelson's runners. Harwood and Cunningham each played vital parts, Harwood taking the semifinal win before blocking in the final.

The younger duo will be crucial to the Tigers' defence next season. While Ewers is determined to return to Arena Manawatu, Peterson is ambivalent and Higgins is planning to step aside.

"The car needs to be sold," he said. "There's too much money involved and I've got a young family and can't go getting hurt so that's it for me, I think."

Ewers would love to have his lieutenants alongside him on February 4 and 5 next year.

"Hig and Fatty [Peterson] are absolute champions at this type of racing, not just in words but real champions," he said. "The whole group has a lot to be proud of.

"This time last year, I was apologising to the fans for the poor effort we gave in the final but there's a lot of very, very happy people in orange here tonight."

The Tigers beat Christchurch 185-10 and Rotorua 165-30 on Friday with one opposing car finishing each race. They trounced the Panthers 165-0 in their Saturday semifinal, while Wainman was the only British driver still mobile after the final.

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

- © Fairfax NZ News