Festivals of fun

We must get around to going to the Wellington Sevens one year - it looks like a blast, and as they say, when it gets a bit quiet, you can always watch the rugby!

However we are off to have some fun this weekend - the petrolhead in us will come to the sutrface when we head over to Palmerston North for the biggest event on the Speedway calendar, the ENZED Superstock Teams Champs. Superstocks are the kings of the contact classes in New Zealand speedway - lightweight missiles, powered by smallblock V8's (and Toyota and Nissan multi-valve motors are fast taking over from the traditional Fords and Chevrolets). And teams racing is no-hold barred, full contact racing at its best, where the object is to eliminate your opposition, and be first to the finish line - here's a taste of the action from last year:



And this year, the Teams Champs goes global, with the addition of the British Lions team. The British team is full of F1 Stockcar racers from the UK including Frankie Wainman Jnr, a regular visitor to these shores, and Stu Smith Jnr - he's the driver put on his lid in spectacular style last year in the video, while racing for one of the local teams. They will join New Zealand teams from Waikato to Otago, all with one goal in mind - winning, whatever it takes.

This has become a huge event, with sell-out crowds of around 16,000 both nights. The crowd will be buzzing in the lead-up to racing tonight, and whilst the costumes might not be as extreme as those in Wellington, each year more people are dressing in their local team's colours to show their support. We will, of course, be supporting the Wanganui Warriors, beaten finalists in 2008, and featuring the best block-man in the business, Kerry Podjursky. He's the "tank" driver that Stu Smith Jnr made the mistake of trying to pass on the outside on the video above. And whilst the Palmerston North Panthers, chasing a fourth successive title will be tough to beat, we reckon its the Year of the Warrior!