Big weekend for Stratford Speedway | Taranaki Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Taranaki

It was a speedway junky's delight  with door-to-door racing as Stratford Speedway  hosted the New Zealand saloons grand prix during the weekend.

 The 30 roaring V8 saloons were split into two groups on qualifying night, with  20 making the finals.

Flag men on the infield would have  been prepared for a busy weekend but there was only one significant crash in qualifying, when Stratford driver Mark Hinton (46s) rolled  after being clipped by Gisborne driver Dan Corrin.

Corrin was stripped of his points after officials said his pass was not clean. Mark's brother, Dave, made it a family affair by hitting the wall and colliding with a car on its side.

Four  of the  dozen Stratford drivers qualified for the finals. Craig Korff was ninth overall while Brett Barron was 13th, Ash Cook 17th and Mike Fale 19th.

Although a huge percentage of the crowd comes for the crashes, the spectators were  in awe as they watched the 20 finalists race around the track door-to-door without a yellow light - a rare event.

With impressive passing and a fast pace in each race, Auckland's Nigel Ross was the car to watch  as he won the grand prix with a first, fourth and a fifth in the finals. He was also  top on points for the qualifying with two wins.

``It was brilliant racing. I'm still on a high. It hasn't really sunk in yet,''  Ross told the Stratford Press on Monday.

``My team wanted to tell me the score but I told them I don't want to know; I'm going to go out there and do the best I can. I wanted a podium finish, but to win it was surreal.''

Stratford used to be  a boogie track for Ross but he says it's now one of his favourites.

``I told them, invite me back and I'll come.''

Although 10 cars missed out on the GP title, there was  the King of the Mountain title to chase and it was Stratford drivers who dominated the support event. John Young (28s) won the title from Stratford's Jarrod MacBeth and Wellington's Ian Shingleton.

In the Taranaki youth ministock champs, the  visiting drivers  were better on the night, claiming all three podium spots.

The pit box was a frenzy after the lap scoring system failed and the third heat  was manually recorded. When this was completed, it was too late for the run-off between Wanganui's Aimee Barnes and Wellington's Jayden Musgrove.

They will return at a later date to decide the title.

Wanganui's Cody Brockway was third.

The New Zealand modified champs were also held during the weekend.

The 1NZ title changed hands but will remain in Stratford.

Bunter Pierce will change his number from 63s to 1NZ after fighting off the field to win.

 The title was  held by Stratford driver John Jackson.

``I struggled big time in qualifying. I had to sort myself out quite a bit but it all went well for me last night (Monday),'' says Bunter.