Sim Racing NZ Rundown December 2012

SIMRACING NZ

MONTHLY SIM RACING PUBLICATION

ISSUE 9 - DECEMBER 2012

PALMY PERFECTION

KIEREN JOHANSEN DOMINATES PALMERSTON NORTH MID-SEASON

PLUS :

FULL DIRT NATIONALS COVERAGE

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CREDITS Editors

Jamie Hall

Designer

Mitch Keys

Writers

Jamie Hall Hayden Kirk

Photographers

Jamie Hall Mitch Keys Sam Gray Peter May

SRNZ Crew Chiefs

SRNZ Pit Crew

Daniel Huia Hayden Kirk Jamie Hall Mitch Keys Peter May Anton Bowen Ayrton Smith Bryce Harding Kieren Johansen Matthew Pluck Tony Drake Vaughn Hutton

Cars/tracks by

Boz Racing UK SOM/Freew67 Dirt Late Model Sim Dirtshop Creations Inc Kiwi Sim Racing Sim Pro Racing ORSM Image Space Incorporated

supported by

Castrol Edge Go Fast Energy Drink Macgors SkyDiveZone

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EVENT SPOTLIGHT

CONTENTS 01 09 15 21 25 29 33 37 39

2012 PRO RACE

Kiwi Superstock Race of Champions

george scores minisprint crown New Zealand Minisprint Title

harris hits home run New Zealand Midget Title

ginns gets big win

New Zealand Modified Title

Mccullagh monsters field New Zealand Sprint Car Title

Wheeler wheels to 1nz New Zealand Saloon Title

kirk cruises to woodford glen win New Zealand Stockcar Title

Class of 2012

2012 SRNZ Dirt Nationals Champions

TIcket to tulsa Event Teaser

1

2012

1 st

Kieren Johansen

WWW.SIMRACINGNZ.COM

2

2nd

Shaun Kingi

3rd

Sam Gray

3

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5

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7

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george scores

minisprint crown

Words: Hayden Kirk

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Photography: Mitch Keys

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The second round of the 2012 SRNZ Dirt Nationals was hosted by Robertson Holden Speedway in Palmerston North.

19 cars made up of mixture of drivers throughout the world who brought with them some serious talent, some of the top NZ contingent from the likes of Kyle George, Mitch Keys & Dayne Powell would be doing their utmost to keep the NZ title in its home but USA driver Keith Fitzgerald & Aussie cannon Brett Wheeler were here to be the first to claim the NZ1 honour.

An early incident involving Kieren Johansen, Dayne Powell & Ryan Nolly saw them retire to the infield early as Sean Challis soon followed the same fate.

Keith Fitzgerald was making the race his own opening up a commanding lead with clear track in front of him. Anton Bowen was trying hard to match the pace but also had to keep and eye out for Kyle George who was closing in fast. George soon worked his way past as Greeks looked to follow suit, another battle was tightly being contested between Mitch Keys & Tait Poole as they raced hard whilst closing the gap. Slight contact between George and Fitzgerald allowed the field to bunch up again, Fitzgerald loosing out dropping two spots to Matthew Greeks & Smithers and thats how race 1 would finish with Kyle George taking first blood.

Mitch Keys set the tone at the halfway point with the field practically nose to tail from 1st to 19th. Slight contact between Sam Gray & Kirk allowed a few of the back marks to gain a few places, George & Fitzgerald among them showing true class working way through the field. Keys went on un challenged to take the win as Smithers took second & Gray claimed 3rd.

As expected Kyle George was holding a narrow points lead with Greeks, Smithers, Fitzgerald & Keys not far behind going into the 3rd and final. George sitting pretty had drawn grid 1 for the final and went onto to take 2/2 National Titles as Smithers claimed 2nz & Keys 3nz.

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final RESULTS 1

Kyle George

68

2

Smithers 164

66

3

Mitch Keys

63

4

Keith Fitzgerald

62

5

Mathew Greeks

60

6

SRNZ_4finga

53

7

Tait Poole

38

8

Sean Challis

37

=

Hayden Kirk

37

10

Sam Gray

36

11

Anton Bowen

32

12

Dayne Powell

30

13

Keegan Levien

16

14

The Game

0

15

CASPER22K

0

16

BrettWheeler

0

17

Ryan

0

18

Kieren Johansen

0

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15

Harris

hits

home RUN Words: Hayden Kirk

Photography: Mitch Keys

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McDonalds Kihikihi Speedway was the setting for the hotly contested 2012 New Zealand Midget Title. Eighteen of the best, made the cut after three qualifying races from the 30 strong field to have a shot at the SRNZ Midget Title. An even mix of Australians, Americans & Kiwis mixed the field up and was a true stars & stripes battle.

Brodie Kostecki lived up to expectations taking out race 1 with a victory from grid 3 just edging out Dale Grotherr. Followed home in third was Hayden Kirk emerging the better from a back n forth battle between Mitch Harris & Brett Wheeler. Heat 2 saw Kostecki start mid pack grid 12. In a similar style to race 1, the Aussie pair battled for the lead it was now the USA contingent had a turn at battling it out as Cory Wentzel took early advantage of Jordin Mitchell who sat on the tailcone patiently. Both drivers full aware that Mitch Keys was gaining ground furiously and couldn’t afford for either to make a mistake.

Midpoint of the second heat Grotherr, Kostecki & Harris were all fighting for a top 5 spot as Wentzel began to walk away with a handy lead. Things went horridly wrong for the serious title contenders as Wentzel found himself up the fence & Kostecki also following in a similar fashion. Mitch Keys went onto fly the Kiwi flag taking heat 2 bagging some much needed points after a disappointing opening heat. Mitchell to follow in second Dale Grotherr 3rd and leading the points chase heading into the final heat.

Grotherr had all the work to do from the rear of the field to try and hold a comfortable gap from Kirk, Harris, Wheeler, Mitchell who were all within 1 or 2 points back. Harris from grid 5 had probably the preferred position as him & Wheeler diced for 3rd position. Kevin J Holley diced hard with Blade Kearns for the much desired win as 75% of the race had gone and Harris & Wheeler still nose to tail for 3rd spot. Meanwhile Grotherr’s hard work was soon to be undone falling back several places, Holley went on to take victory but was not in the championship hunt Kearns 2nd, Wheeler getting one back on Harris fro 3rd but Harris had done enough to secure the 1nz position.

For the first time in the history of Sim Racing history there was a 4 way tie for 2nz. Brett Wheeler, Jordin Mitchell, Dale Grotherr & Hayden Kirk. Drivers would compete in 4x 4 lap races. Race 1 Kirk took the high line paying dividends holding on for the race 1 over Wheeler, Grotherr & Mitchell. Race 2 Mitchell made up for is earlier race taking command right from the get go assuming the lead on lap 1 holding off Kirk for second Grotherr 3rd & Wheeler 4th. Race 3 Mitchell again got straight out from the box and stretched away for the win but Kirk second again managed to just hold onto a slim 1 point lead over the American going into the final. Race 4 Contact between Wheeler & Grotherr on the opening lap left Mitchell with nowhere to go forcing him into early requirement handing the 2nz to Kirk as Wheeler went on to win the last runoff.....or so we thought.....

With the DNF to Mitchell & the win to Wheeler now meant that once more we were in a tiebreak situation for 3nz So the two paired up for 3x 4 lap dashes first to two wins would take the remaining podium spot. Race 1 Mitchell just managed to edge out Wheeler for the opening race only separated by .010 across the line, Race 2 Mitchell suffered a flay tyre on the opening lap forcing him out the the running for the heat, later leading to the dismissal of crew member Dayne Allan Powell. So it went to a 3rd and final race both drivers not wanting to give an inch, they left nothing behind but it was Wheeler ho just had the little bit more than Mitchell claiming 3nz.

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final RESULTS

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1

Mitch Harris

46

2

Hayden Kirk

44

3

BrettWheeler

44

4

Jordin Mitchell

44

5

Dale Grotherr

44

6

Mitch Keys

39

7

01 Bryson Curry Az

36

8

Brodie Kostecki

34

9

Azza Humble

33

10

Kevin J Holley

32

11

Patrick Jeffries

30

12

Cory Wentzel

20

13

The Game

19

14

1 Blade Kearns CA

18

15

Tait Poole

11

16

Dayne Powell

9

17

Mathew Greeks

8

18

Kieren Johansen

6

19

John Kennedy

0

www.electricdesigns.co.nz

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Ginns gets

big win Photography: Mitch Keys

21

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Waikaraka Park was the scene for the 2012 NZ Modified Title. Twelve drivers fronted for what looked like an event ready to be rained out as track preparation was underway for the sudden change of venue. Some real life talent as the driver of the 81c Modified Todd Richards. Not much going his way as a DNS left him stranded on the starting grid.

4Finga Pete took the early lead but was soon mowed down by Kyle George being collected on the way through allowing Wheeler to take the lead and Stockie NZ to take grid 2 and went to advance to 1st place shuffling Brett back to third Kyle regaining to second. 4finga comfortably 4th with Daniel Huia picking up the biggest mover to 5th from grid 11.

Heat 2 Clive got the jump from pole over Richards but had to keep focused as heat 1s big movers George and Huia quickly applied the pressure.

George got through on Clive and Huia was about

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to follow suit as Clive made a mistake allowing huia and StockieNZ through.

Huia made light work of closing the gap back to George but Stockie managed to slip through Dan but Kyle went away un touched for heat 2 win Stockie 2nd Huia 3rd. StockieNZ had probably the preferred grid for the final head as a blanket could be thrown over Wheeler, George, HUia Stockie & 4finga Pete for a podium placing.

Out of the box and away Stockie was gone and never looked back, George the only car who could half challenge him but had Wheeler and Kirk to get through first giving Stockie a handy buffer. Wheeler and Kirk battled hard for 3rd as Greeks got in on some action, Wheeler threw it sideways a bit too hard allowing Kirk under him for 3rd followed by Greeks & Richards. Early contact between Huia and Greeks saw Huia retire with only 2 laps in the race.

final RESULTS 1

Stockie Nz

38

2

Kyle George

37

3

BrettWheeler

29

4

SRNZ_4finga

26

5

Mathew Greeks

25

6

Daniel Huia

20

7

Cory Wentzel

17

8

Hayden Kirk

16

9

Nathan Clive

15

10

Anton Bowen

14

11

Todd Richards

9

12

Dayne Powell

3

WWW.SIMRACINGNZ.COM

24

25

McCullagh monsters field Photography: Mitch Keys

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final RESULTS

27

1

Corey McCullagh

69

2

Beau Breunig

68

3

Mitch Keys

66

4

Smithers 164

64

5

Jay Waugh

61

6

Cam Ginns

54

7

Mitch Harris

37

8

Nick Cooper

33

9

Jordin Mitchell

33

10

Sam Gray

32

11

Daniel Huia

20

12

Kieren Johansen

17

13

Kev64

15

14

Brett Wheeler

15

15

Nathan Clive

13

16

Michael Kemp

0

17

Hayden Kirk

0

18

Cory Wentzel

0

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28

W he e Wh e le el r wheels to 1nz

wheels to Photography: Sam Gray

29

er 1nz

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31

final RESULTS 1

BrettWheeler

59

2

Hayden Kirk

53

3

Sam Gray

53

4

Cory Wentzel

51

5

Shane

45

6

Fourfingapete

43

7

Dayne Powell

34

8

Mathew Greeks

33

9

joel

29

10

Cottie

25

11

Kieren Johansen

17

12

Josh Humble

12

13

Azza Humble

11

14

Anton Bowen

10

15

Miers

9

16

Daniel Huia

0

17

Corey Skurr

0

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32

33

Kirk cruises to woodford glen win Photography: Peter May WWW.SIMRACINGNZ.COM

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35

final RESULTS 1

Hayden Kirk

75

2

Bryce Harding

71

3

Mathew Greeks

70

4

Smithers 164

65

5

Matt Sherlock

64

6

Anton Bowen

63

7

Kyle George

60

8

MadMarty Brandt

51

9

Sam Gray

49

10

Michael Kemp

45

11

SRNZ_4finga

44

12

Daniel Huia

40

13

Dayne Powell

39

14

Azza Humble

38

15

Cooldood2266

35

16

Miers

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36

Streetstocks 1nz - kyle george 2nz - Craig Baker 3nz - Daniel Huia

Minisprints 1nz - kyle george 2nz - Ayrton Smith 3nz - Mitch Keys

Midgets 1nz - Mitch Harris 2nz - Hayden Kirk 3nz - Brett Wheeler

modifieds 1nz - Cam Ginns 2nz - Kyle George 3nz - Brett Wheeler

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sprint cars 1nz - Corey Mccullagh 2nz - Beau Breunig 3nz - Mitch Keys

stockcar teams 1nz - Gisborne Gladiators 2nz - Waikato Raiders 3nz - Wellington Wildcats

saloons 1nz - Brett Wheeler 2nz - Hayden Kirk 3nz - Sam Gray

stockcars 1nz - Hayden Kirk 2nz - Bryce HArding 3nz - Mathew Greeks

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TICKET TO TULSA details coming soon

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