Speedway: Hickman & Nickel dominate minisprint racing

Jarrod MacBeth

Photo by: Contact High Photography

It was the Duane Hickman and Daniel Nickel show in the Minisprint class at Pick A Part sponsored event at Five Star Liquor Stratford Speedway on Saturday night.  The class was racing for two events with a large field of twenty competitors and despite some promising drives from the likes of Erin Uhlenberg who was using the outside line to make passes, it was Hickman and Nickel that would fill the top two steps of the podium, twice.

First up was the King of the Mountain Champs, a three-heat deal that saw competitors accruing points from their finishing positions in each race.  Craig Mason nabbed a win in race one from a pole position start but it was Hickman who impressed to finish fourth from a grid fourteen start.  He then went on to place second in race two from grid five before coming home fifth in race three from grid eleven.  Hickman’s ability to move forward in each race saw him win the champs by a three-point margin from Nickel who had recorded seventh and two thirds.  Mason was third overall.

The Taranaki round of the Oval Superstars Tour was run over one race, the winner of the King of the Mountain champs choosing grid one or two and the rest of the field being set in descending order of points from the earlier event.  Hickman elected to start from grid two which put Nickel on grid one, Mason on three and Erin Uhlenberg on four.  At the race start Nickel beat Hickman to turn one and stayed in the lead for the duration of the race to finish first ahead of Hickman with Mason again taking third place.

Saloons raced for their Heritage Shield with three heat races setting the grid positions in the one race final.  Heat races were won by Thomas Korff, Craig Korff and Paul Hosking.  T.Korff lead the final from start to finish after starting from grid two.  Bradley Korff was closing in on him in the latter stages of the race and was close enough to make a dive up the inside through turn three on the last lap but was not successful and finished second.  C.Korff completed the Korff trifecta for the podium in third place.

First year Stockcar drivers had their chance at glory when they raced for the Wayne Trott 1st Year Driver Memorial in the first race.  Cory Symes led this race from start to finish and will now have his name etched on the same trophy that his father Kylee won fifteen years ago.

The remaining Stockcar races were won by Codey Wilton, Ryan Nolly and Cory Symes.  Both grades of Ministocks completed the race program with wins in the Adult class going to Brayden Shaw (2) and Katelyn Symes.  Youth Ministock races were won by Troy Erkes, Jamie Walsh and Cruz Selby.

Speedway takes a break for a couple of weeks now with the next event being run on March 1st and featuring the Under 23 Stockcar Champs, New Zealand Minisprint Grand Prix along with the Taranaki Streetstock and Saloon Champs.