Doug Walsh JR's Racing ..... Limited Saloon 16g

Due to a very hot day in the Hawke's Bay and lots of wind the track surface wasn't going to handle a lot of cars racing on it regardless of how much water they put on, and my predictions wasn't far off, by the time we went out for our first race (race4) the track was going off.

1st Race I drew grid 8 up ahead was Phil Toogood 48m, Ash O'Dowd 39b, Shane Simpson 4w, Owen Larsen 28w, John Browne 18b, and beside me was Brett Sloman 85p. The race was under way and it didn't take long for the track surface to look like a Tarseal Track, a lot of cars spinning up. A couple of laps into the race I was chasing 28w, 18b, 48m, 39b, and 4w, I was up to 6th place and all I had to do was to pick the rest off one by one. Being a 12 lap race I had to keep my cool, half throttle round the turns, (because the track was slick) and just catch the cars up ahead by passing them on the outside. With about 6 laps to go I got past 28w coming off turn 2 and 39b Ash O'Dowd was up ahead and coming through turn 3&4 I tucked up the outside of the 39b car and passed him, then the very next lap 48m and 18b had a come together coming out of turn 4, by this time Shane Simpson was way ahead of the field. We did about 4 laps under the Yellow as the towies tried to get 48m and 18b off the wall, the cars didn't look good. As we got the green flag 4w was leading the race and I was in second place I knew by this stage I had done enough, and that's how we finished.

Before we went out for race 2 I was on the phone ringing my tactician Brett (who is also the Mechanic for Joe Farams Sprint Car who was racing at Bay Park Speedway in the North Island champs) to see what was our best option for the race as the track wasn't going to get better, after a few changes to the car we went out for our second race. I drew grid 4 beside me was 85p and up ahead were the cars of 39b and 28w. The water truck for obvious reasons dumped a lot of water on just before we went out causing us to do about 6 laps of wheel packing, the race was under way and 85p and myself were doing a lot of duelling for most part of the race but Brett got the better of me, and that's how we finished, 39b won the race with 28w second 85p third and myself in 4th place.

Race 3, I knew before going out that 28w and myself were tied on 1st equal points and I was starting on grid 3 and he was back on grid 7, all I had to do was to keep my cool and try to pass the cars ahead of me who were Mike Hermansen 9b and Chris O'Connor 4b. At the start I got the jump on 4b and was following 9b for three laps trying to go outside and then inside and just keep the pressure on Mike. It paid off and 9b got it all wrong on lap 4 and going through turns 1&2 he got a bit loose and I tucked underneath him to put me into the lead all I had to do was to keep a place between 28 (who I thought wasn't to far behind me) and myself. As it turned out with 2 laps to go I saw a red flash come up the outside of me and I knew that it was Ashley O'Dowd, but I kept my foot into it to take the win and take out the 2002 Hawke's Bay Limited Saloon Car Champs. Second was Ashley O'Dowd 39b and in Third place was Owen Larsen 28

It was a great feeling to win the champs and credit to all the crew. Overall the track would have been the slickest and dustiest track I've raced on in my racing career.