Southern Thunder comes to Teretonga Park in Invercargill this weekend (15/16 March) with the NAPA Auto Parts NZ Super Trucks Championship supported by Kings House Removals and UDC V8 Utes headlining the action. 

All the big names of the NZ Super Truck Championship will be on the grid and action is guaranteed. Shane Gray of Wellington in his Kenworth leads the points as competitors head to this, the third round of their championship. However, he has only a seven point margin over Brent ‘Bones’ Collins of Pareora in his Freightliner Century. Reigning New Zealand Champion Alex Little of Lower Hutt sits third in his similar Freightliner Century and is definitely one to watch. He has won the New Zealand Championship the last three years in a row and has won the Mobil Delvac 1 Trophy at Teretonga five times, Troy Wheeler of Gisborne in another Freightliner, a six-time NZ Super Truck Champion, is next in the points with Dave West of Pukekohe, the winner here last year, next up in his Freightliner Argosy. 

One of the interesting facets of the Super Trucks is the Flying Farewell races where often other drivers take the wheel of trucks for that one race.Garry Price of Cromwell steps into Ron Slater’s Scania this weekend while Alex Little’s sister Rachael will pilot his truck. 

The UDC V8 Utes pay their first visit to Teretonga Park for many years and it will be a good old-fashioned Ford versus Holden V8 battle with an even mix of Holden’s and Ford’s. Leading the way is two-time champion Brad Kroef of Hamilton in a Falcon. While Kroef carries the number one as defending champion it is another Falcon driver, Glen Collinson of Ohaupo in Waikato, who leads the series as it comes south after winning all three races and setting a new lap record at Timaru last time out. Others to the fore thus far have been Blair Gribble-Bowring of Auckland in a Falcon, Phill Ross of Cambridge (Commodore) Simon Ussher of Pukekohe and Kroef’s father Greg, of Auckland, both in Falcon’s.

The only familiar name remaining from the last time the Utes visited Teretonga is Geoff Spencer of Palmerston North in a Commodore.

The Allied 24/7 Fuel Mainland Muscle Cars have failed to assemble a full grid for this meeting but several competitors that are travelling south will be on track in races combined with the NZ6 Saloons. That includes Holden Commodore drivers Pete Templeton of Cromwell, Ross Wylde of Westport and Invercargill’s Tony Forde and Dunedin driver Paul Clarke (Mustang) and Gary Shaw (Falcon). Clarke and Shaw will also back up in the Pre 65 Saloon races. 

The Noel McIntyre Drainage Club Saloons Class features some awesome machinery such as Bradley Rule’s VE Commodore SuperTourer and Kyle Dawson’s Jaguar XKR while the Pre 65 Saloon class contains last year’s round winner John Smolenski of Invercargill in his Falcon. Other frontrunners will be Corey Ross of Rolleston (Mustang), Invercargill drivers Wayne Tuffley (Mustang) and Dave Robertson (Falcon) while Garry Price is on the grid in his Chevrolet Nova. Peter Fitzgibbon of Richmond will line up in an Austin A40.

The annual One Hour race will be contested on Sunday’s programme.

Presale tickets are just $40 plus any applicable charges while a weekend pass at the gate over the weekend of the event is $50. A single day pass for either Saturday or Sunday is $30 per day while children 14 & under are free throughout the event as long as they are accompanied by an adult.

Saturday’s action commences with testing and qualifying from 10am with racing from mid-afternoon while the on-track action on Sunday starts at 9.30am.