The southern club has crowned Southland champions across almost all of their grades; the only ones not contested have been sprintcars and super saloons along with youth mini stocks who are not a contracted grade to the club, but the other seven grades have all had their championships decided, remarkably six local champions across those seven grades.
The club has had a fairly low key year as far as big meetings go, while it hosted rounds of the Southern Sprintcar Series, Brian FM South Island Saloon Series and Debbie the Webster Super Cup, it did not have any national or island championships which will all change next season with a couple of big meetings in the pipeline.
The club also had their big Christmas meeting which was meant to have fireworks, and while they were postponed, the Christmas date proved to be one of the biggest on the calendar as was the ILT Fireworks Extravaganza in March, dragging a big crowd trackside and proving that moving the date away from its usual November spot four years ago has worked well for the club.
The Cecile Kergozou Memorial for Streetstocks will be a closely contested title. Local driver Steve Dryden would dearly love to add this trophy to his already impressive haul in his 50th season of Speedway, but several travelling drivers are keen to leave Riverside with the silverware. Sentimental favourite will be newcomer Ethan Kergozou, who will be proudly competing for his grandmother’s trophy for the first time.
Stockcars will compete for the Ronnie Tree Memorial, and this is a meeting where you pretty much need to decide when you role out on track exactly what trophy you are racing for. Are you racing for the podium and the glory that comes with that, or do you want to win the big trophy, the biggest stirrer? The real Ronnie Tree trophy. There will be a bumper field of cars set to wreak mayhem in the last meeting of the season for many of these drivers.
Saloons are also expecting an influx of visiting drivers as they host the best pairs championship. Last year’s winners, Graham Williamson and Dan Black, get a chance to team up and defend their title against randomly drawn combinations on the night. Williamson may find himself paired up with a new partner as Black is still on the mend after a mid-season injury.
Youth saloons and production saloons will also be racing as support classes.
Racing starts at the earlier time of noon, with public gates opening at 10am.
- By Daryl Shuttleworth
