Let’s have a look at some of the racers.

Some of the trolleys are very sophisticated, built with hundreds of hours of loving labour, carefully streamlined and beautifully prepared. Here’s an example, Red Rak III by Tim Bayley:

He was second fastest on the day, reaching the incredible speed of 84 kph!

Others were somewhat more rudimentary:

Believe it or not, on this machine Sandy Edwards reached 56 kph which must have been quite a sensation that close to the ground.

It was a real family occasion. You could see what a buzz some of the young kids were getting, for example Morgan Dacombe (who reached 63 kph):

And the not quite so young:

Another beautifully crafted machine was Red Rak II. Piloted by Liam King-Turner it came fourth, reaching 81 kph.

I was surprised at how stable this was. At the end of one of its runs young Liam slid to a halt in a well executed but quite noisy four wheel drift, finishing up near the spot where I was standing.  Then he spoiled it by announcing that he had been totally out of control.  Lots of rubber on the new seal!

One fast (73 kph) racer showed its origins quite clearly, having made the transition from an aquatic to terrestrial environment:

Its pilot seemed totally relaxed, the epitome of cool:

Finally, the fastest vehicle on the day was the beautiful ‘Spirit of Burt Munro’ of Gordon Dacombe, reaching 86 kph

If you’re still interested after all of this, check out the full list of speed results here.  100 or so low resolution pics have been put up on my pBase pages and you can get high resolution images by contacting me directly.

Up close, they look even more impressive:

Although the ride can get a bit wobbly:

Ken Lupton in Annihilator 3

and sometimes there did not appear to be all that much room at the mark:

Even the older boats were dancing:

You can find out more about this event here.

Right in front of me, a vehicle very obligingly flipped (at a fairly low speed) and managed to complete about four revolutions before coming to rest. “That’s nothing” said the spectator next to me “I’ve done seven!”

The driver seemed to be fine, and he was competing in his next race half an hour later. Tough breed!

Ronnie Moore, speedway World Champion

The track is surrounded by a low earth embankment, so spectators can watch the races from the comfort of their car.  Or, if you want to go to a bit more trouble, a sofa you’ve just happened to bring along.

The club has a control tower with a pair of excited race commentators:

St John’s provide emergency support:

and there is a great bunch of track marshalls, officials and other helpers:

So all in all, far and away the best speedway track in New Zealand!

While working on this image, I noticed that there was space for one more tattoo, on his left shoulder.  “Can I have a bit of fun with Photoshop?” I wondered.  His partner suggested a large heart with the words “Momma’s bubba” in a banner across it.  This seemed a great idea at the time, but then I remembered that he is every bit as tough as he looks.

Here is some evidence for that statement:

So the gap remains.

The wind was so strong that one of the yachts lost its mast.

At my Rotary meeting the following night, I got the real story from a skipper who was immediately behind these two. What I thought was a simple dismasting was something very much more serious. Two boats had collided in a classic port/starboard incident. The boat on port tack had tried to bear away, but was not able to dump the main sufficiently quickly and hit the starboard boat (9113) at speed. Its bow was buried deep in 9113′s side and the impact brought down its mast. The first pic taken shortly after the collision shows the two still firmly stuck together.

This second shot was taken a minute or so later when crew were trying to extract the bow, pulpit, etc from inside 9113′s hull.  Unfortunately 9113 is a 37′ boat of quite advanced construction materials and so the repair bills will likely run into $20-30k, maybe a lot more.

Fortunately no one was hurt and I would imagine it would be a very clear-cut case for the insurance companies.

The leaders raced on, oblivious. I like this shot as they ran down past the iconic lighthouse on Nelson’s Boulder Bank.

For the photography buffs: I was using a 300mm lens with a 1.4x tele-converter, giving me more than 600mm in equivalent film terms. I had the camera on solid tripod, weighed down with a heavy bean bag.  The wind however was buffeting me so much that in the end I gave up and placed the bean bag on the (very solid) top rail of a fence and used my spread legs as a human tripod.  That worked really well.

It turned out to be quite a challenge: only competitors, officials and the accredited photographer were allowed on the floor. All the rest of us were up in the gallery seats.  The light was not good at all, so there was no hope of sharp action photographs.  I would have to choose my moments carefully to make the most of a slow shutter speed.

Maddy, my friend's daughter

Luckily, I found two very helpful assistants in a couple of senior grade contestants from Wellington. These 11 year-old girls were able to advise me about the routines: which moves were the most difficult (and therefore yield the most appreciated photographs); exactly when I could expect a pause in the routine (and so get away with the slow shutter speed); which gymnasts to watch out for, and so on.  They were a great help.

The photographs turned out very well, the family were very happy with them and I learned a whole lot about low light sports photography.

But there was a sequel to this.  A couple of weeks later, I was visiting my brother in Wellington. Around mid-afternoon, we walked down to the local primary school to collect his seven-year-old daughter.  While we were waiting in the schoolyard as the schoolkids poured out of their classrooms, one of the older girls ran over to us. It was one of my assistants from the gymnastic competition.  I got an update on her results (she got two bronze medals). My niece knew her, she was one of the big girls at school and well known because of her gymnastics prowess.

I was delighted with the whole encounter, not only because I scored some points with my niece but also because I’d obviously made the right impression on these girls.  I had felt very self-conscious during the event, a large man with a grey beard and a camera with a very large lens, even though it had been obvious that I was with a family.

You can see some of my sports photography at New Zealand Pictures Online.

Postscript:  in an email today from her mother, I learned that at her zone athletic sports, Maddy beat everyone in the 80m sprint and came 1^st – she now goes to the Canterbury Zones final on Dec 1.  What a talent!