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Lining up to compete at the New Zealand streetstock championships at Beachlands Speedway this weekend are brothers (from left) Cody, Travis, Brendon and Sean Gooch. Photo by Craig Baxter. |
When the Gooches from Gisborne head away, they pack more than
toothbrushes and spare pairs of undies.
Four Holden HZ V8s, countless tyres, plenty of oil and grease
- all carted in a convoy featuring a bus and a Hummer.
The Gooch family has arrived en masse for the New Zealand
streetstock championships at Beachlands Speedway this
weekend.
Brothers Travis (22), Sean (25), Cody (27) and Brendon Gooch
(30), all from Gisborne, will be lining up at the
championships over the next couple of days.
All will be driving Holden HZ V8s, and all are in with a
chance.
Father Neil has driven stockcars for more than 30 years and
the family simply followed suit.
First, there was oldest brother Brendon, and then the other
three boys went down the same path.
''We didn't have much of an option, really,'' said Travis,
who is the North Island streetstock champion.
The family owned a motor vehicle garage in Gisborne, and
mother Dawn, who along with her husband was part of the
convoy to Dunedin, said the boys also played other sports
such as rugby and cricket.
But the family which drove together, stayed together.
Gisborne hosted the championships last year and drivers from
Poverty Bay had claimed the top six placings, with Sean,
Brendon and Travis all finishing in the top 10.
Gisborne drivers wanted to come to Dunedin to defend their
titles and over the year had fundraised, with a casino night,
a wine auction and a hangi all helping make the trip south
possible. All up, 11 drivers from Gisborne have made it to
Beachlands.
The Gooch family weekend will be completed when the only girl
in the family, Bianca (20), flies in from the Gold Coast to
be trackside.
Carting four big cars two-thirds the length of the country
did not come cheaply, Neil acknowledged.
''I can't say how much it costs. The wife would kill me.''
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