The Rock Riverside Speedway hosted round three of the four round series. Going into round three McMullin held a one point lead over Raymond Phillips with Kevin Fulton another point back in third.Race one saw Rookie Vaughan Marshall pull out a handy lead over the entire field after starting mid pack, the closest anyone got to Marshall was when he tagged onto the back markers towards the tail end of the race.
Distant second was Dean Miller who seems to have found some good mid season form, while Scott Williamson secured a well deserved third.Race two was to be more of the same but this time Marshall had a front row start and it took him no time at all to take ownership of the race.
Allan Finch (18) dominated the Adult Ministocks, head to head with Jacob Duncan for the race lead. Photo: Corbyn ShuttleworthThis time around it was Michael Jackson who put the challenge on Marshall but the rookie had too much pace, bagging two wins from two starts, Jackson settled for second with Williamson once again third.By the time race three was set for a start the track surface had deteriorated considerably and a number of cars decided against running, leaving a condensed field of cars to race for the final points on offer.
Williamson who had a good points haul for the day never made it out after retiring due to mechanical issues, Marshall this time had to start from the rear of the field and this would be a true test of his driving skills to come through a competitive pack.Miller got a jump at the start of the race and had an agressive battle with Fulton who eventually limped around the track with Phillips both suffering mechanical woes but still banking good points due to the smaller field.Marshall worked his way through the field to second, chasing down Miller who was looking unstoppable up front, but a spin in turn three meant Marshall was sent to the back of the field for the restart.
This bought Miller back to the pack, with series leader McMullin on his tail, it didnt take long though for Marshall to work his magic once more, slicing through the field and battling with McMullin as Miller drove off into the distance and claiming a well deserved win, Marshall was impressive coming home second with McMullin third.
Jase McMullin (84) tries to hold off Vaughan Marshall (67) for the Southern Bullet Series. Photo: Corbyn ShuttleworthThis gave the overall points on the day to Marshall followed by Miller with McMullin third, McMullin now leads the series by just two points over Phillips and eight points clear of Fulton and Williamson tied for third.Due to a rain out in December both the Saloons and Six Shooter grades raced for the Christmas Trophies in their respective grades.
Shanarrah Stronach had a solid debut in Six Shooters, third in the Christmas Trophy Photo: Corbyn ShuttleworthGraham Williamson of Cromwell bagged a race win and a couple of placings to do enough in Saloons to claim the overall win, second place was decided in a run off with Dean Shearing and Camden Crack, Shearing using his experience to outclass Crack who was on debut at Riverside, it was still an impressive third placing for Crack after dominating race one, winning by a country mile.
Jack Brown claimed two race wins in the first two heats of Six Shooters, luckily for Brown this was enough to give him the overall victory after his car suffered considerable damage in a pre-race incident in race three.The talking point of the Six Shooters was the performance of Georgia Gordon who was second overall and Shanarrah Stronach on debut third, Dwayne Cracknell also won a race on debut.
17 Camden Crack was impressive on debut. Photo: Corbyn ShuttleworthRiverside also hosted the Southland Adult Ministock Championships with a good contingent of Dunedin cars making the trek South to contest the title, Allan Finch made it three race wins from three starts to take the silverware.Production Saloons went into teams mode, Saturday night the Riverside and Beachlands teams raced in Dunedin and the Riverside Production Saloon team left with a four point buffer thanks to two race wins to Tony Jones.Day two in Invercargill saw Asha Clements and Tam Clements score a win a piece for Riverside to give them a comfortable victory over their Northern rivals.By Daryl Shuttleworth