The second days racing for the Easter East Coast Champs, missing from the original 11car field was 72w the red mini from Wellington and 56m Stacey McGovern so we had 9 cars left with top points scorer from last night 21m Steve Williams was going to be hard to beat. 

Race 1  I drew the back of the field on grid 9 and up ahead were a lot of good drivers, we were under way and I knew from the results last night I had to make as many places as I could. I was following 18b for a couple of laps and passed him through the apex of turns 1& 2 then it was 15h who was having problems through turn 3& 4 but I got passed down the start finish straight which now put me into 6th place and that's where I finished.  

Race 2  Saw me on grid 4, beside me on 3 was 39b, 28w was on grid 2 and Brent Sloman in the 85p car was on pole. The race was under way and as 28w & 85p were going down the back straight somehow they came into contact and 85p was in the wall, take into account we hadn't completed the first lap so it should have been a restart. Brent had pulled up to the pit gate to check what damage he had and we all were in single file thinking that we had to go back into our starting positions but that wasn't to be, 85p was back at the front then the Steward let us go racing once again, so we were all off like a shot, I tucked in behind the 28w car of Owen Larsen and I could see that he was having under steer problems so I followed for 3 laps before I made an outside pass coming off turn 4 which then put me into 3rd spot behind Ashley O'Dowd 39b. The track conditions were not good and I could see 39b and 85p having problems exiting  turn 2 so I thought if I could get close enough to 39b through the turn I might just get him. I tried for two laps , inside Ash and then outside but I was having problems also with the track surface. We must of had 3 laps to go, when through turns 3&4 my car jumped out of gear and 17w Stu Cunningham had nowhere to go and he went under the left rear of my car puncturing a tyre but I carried on and Stu passed me which put me into 5th place and I limped over the start finish line to finish.

Race 3   Going into the final race 39b,28w and 21m were vying for the first 3 placing's.  On the front row 15w on pole 17w on 2 ,39b was on 3 and I drew 4, and the front runners were all behind us. I worked out that before the race even if I went on to win I didn't have enough accumulated points to take out the Champs. The race was under way and 17w was off to a flying start and so was Ashley and I was right behind we had all shot passed 15h, this was going to be a good race Stu was about 3 car lengths ahead of Ash and myself and I pushed my car harder into the turns so that I could pass Ash, I knew from the last race he wasn't exiting the turns very quick so after 4 laps I got passed Ash and then a lap later the 17w car had spun up through the  apex of turn 3 & 4 and apparently a broken disc,  so on came the yellow lights and I was the lead car with 39b right behind me, we did a lap under yellow then we were back racing again and you wouldn't believe it on the next lap coming off turn 4 I hit the kill switch to the Off position, so while I was coasting down the start finish Ashley went past me at a great number of knots but I had the switch back on and I was on the chase again. After the next lap I got the 39 car with an outside pass through turns 3 & 4  and went on to win .

So overall I was ok with the weekends racing but the officials need to take a good look at how they interpret their rules. The Napier Track needs a lot of work and preparation before next seasons Super Saloon Champs.

Overall winners of the East Coast Limited Saloon Champs 1st 28w Owen Larsen, 2nd 21m Steve Williams, 3rd 39b Ashley O'Dowd, 4th 17w Stu Cunningham, and I ended up in 5th place.  

Next meeting is this weekend in Wellington for the Anzac Champs which is 2 nights 25th and 26th.  

Cheers Doug