The final round of the Burger King Super Saloon Pro Dirt Series (round 9) was held 3 February at the Robertson Holden Speedway in Palmerston North, the same day as the Ultimate Super Stock Teams event — due to the time restrictions, the super saloons would only have two groups both having two races before the final main.
One of the biggest draw cards for this round, besides the fact that we’d see a champion crowned, was that American driver Bobby Pierce was flown in to get into the driver’s seat. Bobby had race here two years prior, cleaning up our top guys and showing what a professional driver can do. Would he go on to do the same this year? The answer was no! The car wasn’t up to to its usual fast performance and in the final, he hit a wall with the right rear puncturing a tyre and knocking him out for the night.
Group 1, heat 1
Mark Pitcher (9W) made a return to the series after having a major crash at the New Zealand Super Saloons, after which lots of hours had gone into fixing the car. Unfortunately it didn’t last long before Mark was upside down again, emerging from the car slightly pissed off but that’s racing . Mark will be back as he’s not one to give up.
Chris Cowling (2NZ) has had numerous wins this season and keeps piling on the points, taking out top honours for the group 1, heat 1 race.
Group 2, heat 1
This group had all the top guys, so we were going to see some solid racing. From Steve Cowling (1NZ), Steve Waddell (18M), and Steve Flynn (5B), to Bobby Pierce himself. Steve Cowling would end up on top of the podium here.
Group 1, heat 2
Steven Flynn (5B) knows this track like the back of his hand, just like his home track of Meeanee, there was no stopping him in this heat taking out the win.
Group 2, heat 2
Sam Waddell (18M) was on a mission to win everything tonight, he wanted to be the Burger King Pro Dirt Super Saloon Series champion, and with points so close, he could do it — especially after winning group 2, heat 2.
Final main
The track was pretty dry for the final main, which mean quite a bit of dust being chucked up from it during racing, and with such high stakes racing was super tight. Unfortunately that would lead to a big crash, Craig Cardwell spun out hitting the wall with another four cars piling on to make matters worse. With clean up looking to take a long time and already being 20 minutes past the curfew, the racing was forced to finish with five more laps to go! First across the line was Chris Cowling (2NZ) followed by Sam Waddell (18M) and Steve Flynn (5B).
Season results:
1. Chris Cowling (2NZ) — 1885 points
2. Sam Waddell (18M) — 1874 points
3. Steve Flynn (5B) — 1717 points
