MEDIA RELEASES KAIKOHE SPEEDWAY RACE SEASON 2007 -2008
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Northern News clipping 21st May 2008 - courtesy John Brunt
http://www.northnz.co.nz/sports.php?news_id=1422
Kaikohe Speedway racer Shirley Andresen talks to the students of Springbank School.
Ten Springbank School students are
planning on transforming two lumps of scrap metal into mean,
lean speedway machines as part of their entry in this year's
BP Community Enterprise Project (CEP).
Springbank School teacher Michelle Chapman, who has had
remarkable success in previous CEPs, was getting all 25
students in her Year 9 class (aged around 13-years-old)
ready to take on five challenging new projects this year.
Two of Michelle's five groups will turn two ex-police
impound cars - destined for the crusher - into C-grade
machines ready to race on Kaikohe Speedway.
The cars were donated by Tony and Debbie Taylor of Mid North
Vehicle Recovery. Michelle, who came to an arrangement with
the pair, part of the non profit organisation, the Kaikohe
Car Club (KCC), said the project was true to the spirit of
the Community Enterprise Project, and also - just as
importantly - introduced her students to the sport of
speedway.
"The purpose is to give youth who maybe thinking of taking
up a sport the opportunity to become involved," said
Michelle, noting the students involved were "very
enthusiastic" about becoming racing car designer and
engineers.
The collaboration came about from a chance meeting between
Michelle and Debbie and Tony in a local cafe. The teacher
realised the trio shared common ground when they told her
they intended to make Kaikohe Speedway the best of its kind
in New Zealand.
The Taylors, daughter Michaela and fellow speedway
enthusiast Shirley Andresen recently took three cars to the
school to show the students the type of specs necessary for
a speedway racing vehicle.
Among the special safety features they drew the students'
attention to was the inclusion of roll cages, five point
harnesses, steel backed race seats, fuel cells situated in
the boots, and the removal of all sharp and inflammable
objects from the vehicle (i.e. windows, mirrors, linings
etc).
Debbie and Tony - whose business involves vehicle recovery
and breakdown work and includes the contract for towing and
storing impounded vehicles - kept two recent seizures from
the scrapheap to give to the school for the project. Debbie
laughed as she said "It's like turning bad into good".
One of the cars is a Honda Accord - which will be
transformed by the team of Abbi Robinson, Amy Greenwood, Zoe
Taylor, Netana Wycliffe and Stephanie George - and the other
is a Mazda Famillia - to be adapted for the race track by
James Quinn, Max Lott, Jared Jordan and Bryce Hill.
Once the students return from holidays, they will read up on
the rules and regulations (supplied from the Kaikohe Car
Club website) as they need to understand, prepare a job
sheet for the project, pick up their cars, find sheds where
the preparation and mechanical work can be completed, and
organise their own funding for the project; Michelle noting
plenty of local firms had already come forward with offers
of help.
Once the cars have been built to C-grade racing specs, they
will be delivered to the Kaikohe Car Club for use by junior
drivers, and also those that are maybe interested in joining
and would like to just have a go to see if they like it.
Debbie and everyone else at the Kaikohe Car Club believed
the project was an exciting and radical initiative.
"The cars will belong to the track and be used for youth to
come along and learn to driver in a safe environment plus
have fun and healthy competition along the way," she noted,
adding this was the first time anything like this had been
done in New Zealand.
Meanwhile, back at school, another project taken on by one
of Michelle's industrious groups will be the building of a
landing pad for the rescue helicopter; other ideas being
investigated as projects for the remaining two groups
include the construction of a paintball course and mountain
bike track.
Michelle said the different aspects of the CEP challenge
empowered students by requiring them to become problem
solvers, fund raisers and decision makers, as well as
learning entrepreneurial skills and how to write - and
follow up - a business plan.
She welcomed any ideas from the wider Far North community as
to projects the students could become involved with.
"The sky is the limit," she said.
Contact details for offers of help or future ideas, Springbank School, phone (09)407-5236 or email michelle.chapman@springbank.school.nz
Northland Age March 31st 2008 (click this link) http://www.northnz.co.nz/sports.php?news_id=1308
Northern Advocate 24th March 08 (click this link) http://www.northernadvocate.co.nz/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3767525&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=
NORTHLAND AGE 8th February 2008
https://secure.dataview.co.nz/users/northlan/northnz.co.nz/htdocs/sports.php?news_id=1098
Highlights and
results from the 1st round of NBC racing at Kaikohe. Kaikohe
hosted the first round of the 2007/08 Northland ITM NBC
(Northland Board of Control) speedway championships on
Saturday, January 5.
The NBC was re-animated by Kaikohe two seasons ago to
promote interaction between the four Northland speedway
clubs Whangarei, Dargaville, Kaikohe and Taipa.
Fifty drivers registered for this event and both spectators
and drivers were not disappointed with some great fast and
close racing, with all drivers in each of the classes
competing for individual Northland titles in limiteds,
production men and women, B grade, C grade men and women,
super saloons, and stock cars divisions.
The following is a review of the day's racing at Kaikohe
with various highlights singled out by club reporter, and
production class driver Debbie Beadle.
The limited saloon racing featured one women driver Anita
Sloot (4), but it was Shane Hannam (car No.23), Mike Foster
(34) and Keith Wilson (91) who shared the chequered flag.
Debbie Beadle noted these guys flew around the track leaving
little room for error and said there was not much distance
between the first place getter and the last.
The production men's class featured the largest fields
competing in the champs. The first round saw Robin Greaves
(82) and Alex Harvey (8) hot on the heels of Tony Taylor
(101) as he crossed the finish line.
"These guys showed us how close drivers could get to each
other as they rounded the track," noted Debbie. Round two
saw Rex Roycroft (8d) take the chequered flag, with Tony,
Bruce, and Robin waiting for a chance to move forward in the
grid. Steve Hannon appeared to be having trouble (31)but was
back for the final round after a quick welding repair, only
to strip his gear box.
Dion Irvine (7) also seemed to be having trouble, "or maybe
he decided it would be quicker to come around the corners on
two wheels," commentated Debbie.
In the C grade ladies, Kaikohe club president Wendy
Scott(50k) and Whangarei driver Chloe Blacklock (124) were
dominating for first position, however Chloe's day came to
an end when the engine blew in her Toyota Levin, leaving a
trail of black smoke around the track. Jamie-Lee Aukett
(37k) was another racer leaving nothing to chance by making
saw she was as close as possible to the top place getters.
Onwards and into the Super Saloons, and once again there was
plenty of great, fast racing keeping everyone on the edge of
their seats, not least the drivers. Cordell Armstrong
(69),Dan Oliver (68), Shane Hick (4) and Ray Jordan (97)
swapped for the major positions.
The stockcars featured the smallest field of the day, with a
large number of the drivers having suffered damage the
weekend before at the Taipa two day New Year's meet. Roy
Peel (555), Martin Lorenz (200) and Gary Miles (19k) put on
a great show of driving and all stockcar drivers are
expected to be back on board for the next round.
As the day went on there was a drop in some of the fields as
mechanical problems plagued the racers. Max Andresen
(58)suffered a bent axle, George Price (100k) had ignition
problems,Martin Lorenz (stockcar 200) seemed to be
collecting all the clay from the track as his engine's
bottom end dropped down, while Steven Hannon (31) had gear
box problems. Others, however, ended up even worse off.
Anthony Hoyle (222) from Dargaville collided with the
spectator wall, Dion Irvine tried to go around the cemetery
bend on two wheels but failed, Chris White (95d) did a
spectacular roll in the second lap, and Chloe Blacklock
(124) ended up with smoke bellowing from her Toyota after
she blew its engine. This ended the racing for Chloe,
Anthony and Chris for the day,Debbie noting the trio now
have a lot of work to do before February 2, when the second
leg of the NBC is scheduled in Whangarei.
The overall placings from Round One of the Northland
ITM NBC were as follows. Limiteds - Keith Wilson (91a) 1,Dan
Oliver (68) 2, Shane Hannam (23) 3, Mike Foster (34) 4,Kyle
Webster (13) 5, Peter Blacklock (144) 6, Anthony Dale(44) 7,
Anita Sloot (4) 8, John Bates (99) 9.Production men - Tony
Taylor (101k) 1, Robin Greaves (82)2, Bruce Mallindine (49)
3, Rex Roycroft (8d) 4, Alex Harvey(5) 5, Deon Irvine (7) 6,
Anthony Hoyle (222) 7, George Price (100K) 8, Steve Hannan
(31) 9.C grade ladies - Wendy Scott (50) 1, Jaimee Lee
Aukett(37) 2, Chloe Blacklock (124) 3, Olivia Blacklock (24)
4,Sheryl deWaal (8) 5.Supers men - Cordell Armstrong (69) 1,
Dan Oliver (68) 2,Ray Jordan (97) 3, Shane Hick (4) 4, Max
Andresen (58) 5.B Grade men - Stu Hutton (43) 1, Jesse
Stoney (74) 2, Neil Roycroft (8) 3, Karl Sturmfel (40) 4.
Stockcars - Roy Peel(555) 1, Gary Miles (19k) 2, Martin
Lorenz (200) 3.C grade men -Craig deWaal (8) 1, Kyle Simpson
(77) 2,Myles Greenwood (80) 3; Dave Cortesi (23) 4, Anthony
Thomas (71) 5, 19k Gary Miles (19k) 6, Steve Peers (50)
7,Chris White (3) 8. Production women - Hine Thompson (49)
1, 82 Stephanie Greaves (82) 2, Anita Sloot (4w) 3, Didi
Munchaster Wright(8d) 4, Debbie Beadle Taylor (101) 5,
Shirley Andresen (89)6.
This round of the NBC replaced the original leg at Whangarei
on December 8 which was rained off. The three other
remaining dates are all Saturdays and they are: Whangarei on
February 2, Dargaville on February 16, and Taipa on March 8.
The Kaikohe Speedway thanked the sponsors for both domestic
and NBC events, and advised updates, reports and photos can
be checked out the club's webpage:
www.kaikohecarclub.com.
The next race day at Kaikohe Speedway is Sunday, January 20,
featuring the production men and B grade cups. For more
information on Kaikohe Speedway, contact Debbie BeadleTaylor,
phone (09)401-1886
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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/9/story.cfm?c_id=9&objectid=10490558&ref=rss
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/080206/3/3v8l.html
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Northland Age..........
TV surfers take on Kaikohe Speedway
Thursday, January 24, 2008
THE WILD BUNCH: Kaikohe Speedway racers with the TV crew from Hikoi Mahanga, from left: Geordie Inglis, Max Andresen, Anthony Dale, Rhys Andresen, Shirley Andresen, Tony Taylor, George Price, TK Wano, Dave Cortesi, Margaret Andresen, Matt Sumich, Whare Wano, Colleen Brennan and Richard Curtis. Photo Beadle/Taylor Studios.
The Kaikohe Car Club was contacted
late in the afternoon last Friday by the Toa TV film crew
were travelling around Northland filming for a new series
of Hikoi Mahanga, a popular sports and lifestyle-orientated
show to screen on Maori TV later this year.
The angle for the show is about the adventures of two
surfers, twins Te Kauhoe 'TK' Wano and Wharehoka 'Whare'
Wano, travelling around New Zealand looking for surf.
The crew were filming in Opononi on route to Whangarei when
they decided to contact the Kaikohe Car Club Inc. management
committee and ask if there was anyway they could come and
visit the famous Kaikohe Speedway, home of the
internationally renowned Kaikohe Demolition (courtesy of
Florian Habicht's acclaimed documentary of the same title).
Kaikohe speedway reporter Debbie Beadle Taylor said there
was no problem, "Of course we had to oblige...," and got
onto the jungle drums to round up the local drivers for a
bit of free promotion for the Far North club.
"The management committee of the Kaikohe car club recognised
the film crew as good PR and promotion for our club, and
dirt track racing in New Zealand in general," noted Debbie.
Tony Taylor let TK drive his car (101k) and Shirley Andresen
let Whare out in (89k) for a couple of rounds, although the
twins were told to stay away from the concrete walls or they
would be fixing them.
"Both guys looked a little nervous as we sent them out on
the track," said Debbie, "but they were buzzing when they
came in."
A couple of mock but semi-serious races were organised and
the cameraman man was sent out with Rhys Andresen 17K in a
short race. Uncle Dave Cortesi played the part allocated and
had a great time promoting the club. Debbie thanked Kaikohe
Speedway members Tony, Max, Shirley, Rhys, George, Geordie,
Anthony, Dave, and herself, for making the effort to get
water on the track and cars on the track.
"This was very short notice, we all had great fun and look
forward to seeing the series when it screens. TOA TV will be
letting us know closer to the time."
It was the second time a film crew had been to Kaikohe
Speedway in the new year. On January 5, Papango Media was
filming and out with Rex Roycroft (8d) and Robin Grieves
(82wr) during the NBC champs. Papango TV were working on a
Northland promotional video and the club also hopes to see
this footage in the near future.
In upcoming news, the club's most recent race meet on
Sunday, January 20 was cancelled as the tropical cyclone
Funa hit Northland. The club's next meet will be its club
day champs on February 10.
The club also reminded Far North racers that the second
round of the 2007/08 NBC (Northland Board of Control)
speedway champs will be held on Saturday, February 2, at
Whangarei Speedway.
Check out the website for racing updates for Far North
stock and saloon car racing,
www.kaikohecarclub.com.
Alternatively, contact Debbie Beadle-Taylor, phone
(09)401-1886, or (021)277-7301.