Steve Williams wins 2010 1NZ Saloon Class Race in New Zealand!

Below is how Steve Williams himself describes his win earlier this month in saloon car racing, his most passionate hobby, outside of golf. "Saturday night at Bay Park Speedway Mount Maunganui one of my dreams came true. Having previously won the New Zealand Super Saloon title also at Bay Park in 2006 my goal was to win the coveted 1NZ in the Saloon class, this all came together Saturday night. Sixty Saloons made it the biggest number of entrants for any Saloon car event the format split the cars into three groups with twenty cars on the track at the same time all completing five laps of which your fastest lap would be your qualifying lap. Four heats of fifteen laps lined up based on your qualifying time with the top four advancing to the feature race with the remainder of the field going into the D, C and B mains battling for the remaining eight spots for the twenty-five lap feature to decide the National Championship. I lined up in the 2nd qualifying heat off grid four and had a clean run to the chequered flag, which would line me up in dash two off grid four in the second dash. The eight car dash would determine starting positions for the outside row in the feature race, I moved up one spot which gave me grid six in the New Zealand Championship race. Crew chief Mel Hills elected to set the car up for the first half of the race enabling me to get to the front after two laps and I would go on to win by a car length over current 1NZ Brent (Stick) McClymont. Mel said the car would go off a little bit towards the end which it did but fortunately the track was superb and we stayed out front the entire distance however four cautions definitely made it interesting. My heart skipped a beat exiting the final turn as a car had lost water on the track and I momentarily wheel spun allowing Stick to almost take the lead but fortunately there was more drive out wide and I pulled away to the chequered flag. It was an incredibly exciting win and to do it at Bay Park was very special to go along with my Super Saloon Championship. This past week was my most memorable in speedway having taken out the North Island title on Thursday and now the National Championship. There is no rest as this weekend is the New Zealand Super Saloon title at my home track Huntly Speedway. I would like to thank all those people who have sent messages through the website." Results New Zealand Saloon Car Championship 1NZ Steve Williams 21H 2NZ Brent McClymont 5M 3NZ Terry Corrin 46M