Both local clubs had members who made the top three finalists across multiple categories, Southern Bolts and Fasteners had Hayden Brookland up for Solo Competitor Of The Year and Kadin Cracknell up for Junior Solo Competitor Of The Year.
Mr Cracknell also made the finalists for Youth Saloon Driver Of The Year for his four wheel performances at Aotea Electric Riverside Speedway, along with Ryder Harris who was also a finalist in the same award.
Riverside’s longtime Race Commentator Daryl Shuttleworth was a finalist for Written Article Of The Year and Commentator Of The Year, an award he has held twice before, firstly in 2019, then 2024.
Mr Shuttleworth was the only local who managed to win, claiming the Commentator Of The Year Award for the third time, and for the second year running, he was a finalist alongside Stu Russell of Palmerston North and AJ Batt of Christchurch.
"I was shocked to win this back to back, I was that convinced I wasn’t going to win, so I really wasn’t following the awards, but I am blown away that I won this, really shocked and honoured," Mr Shuttleworth said.
"It’s a huge sacrifice of time, not just at the tracks as I cover speedway in Cromwell and Dunedin, but leading up to events collecting information on drivers and formats, and to be fair some of the tracks are hopeless at giving this to you, so you have to do it yourself, so to get acknowledgement by winning this award is humbling, I don’t do it to win silverware, I do it for the love of the sport and the speedway fans".
When asked what was next he said "not sure, I’d love to be doing some big meetings up North, that would be incredible, but I guess cementing what I’m doing locally this season will be my focus. I haven’t committed to any tracks yet as I’m still to see who is doing what, and where".
Mr Shuttleworth hails a lot of his commentary success to Speedway Australia who allowed him to be the only New Zealander on a commentary course a couple of seasons ago, on that course Supercars commentators such as Matt Nulty, Chad Neylon and Greg Rust gave insight into what they do and what style changes can be made to better deliver good commentary. The Speedway season will begin in Southland in October with both Oreti Park and Riverside Speedway expected to be rolling out action-packed calendars which will entertain speedway fans young and old throughout the summer. — APL
