Oval Superstars Tour

Oval Superstars Tour
Category Dirt Track Racing
Country New Zealand
Inaugural season 2013-14
Drivers 32 (2017-18)
Tyre suppliers Hoosier & American Racer
Drivers' champion New Zealand Karl McGill
Teams' champion New Zealand McGill Motorsport
Official website http://www.ovalsuperstars.co.nz

The Oval Superstars Tour (also known as OST) is a New Zealand based motorsport series, with championship rounds held throughout the North Island. Founded in 2013, the tour has grown to become a consistent fixture on the New Zealand Speedway calendar.

Heading into it’s sixth season in 2018-19, the tour has had five different champions in five years. The series is owned by Hadley Group and as of the 2018-19 season will be organised & promoted by a driver-lead group.

Origins

The proposal for a national series for the Minisprint class of Speedway in New Zealand was originally conceived by Wellingtonian James Hadley at the end of the 2012-13 season. Having been involved with the class for several seasons, there was an obvious need for a more organised calendar of events. Drivers supported the idea and concept of what could be achieved was soon in circulation. The following season the Oval Superstars Tour was launched, staging five events throughout the North Island.

Sporting regulations

The OST is run at venues licenced by Speedway New Zealand, the major governing body of Speedway in NZ.

Race day format

In most cases, an OST event consists of the field of cars being split into three even groups. There are three qualifying heats to sort the grid for the Main Event. In each heat, two groups will take part, with the grids ordered to give all drivers a fair chance across the night. As an example, Heat One is Group 1 & 2, Heat Two is Group 1 & 3 & Heat Three is Group 2 & 3. Drivers receive grid points for the race results, with first place taking 24, second 23, third 22 and so on.

Following qualifying, driver's grids for the Main Event are determined by their grid points, with the highest points scorers starting at the front. Main Events are usually 20 laps in distance, except for the tour's annual premier event the Windy City Showdown, which in competed for over 30 laps.

Championship points system

Drivers will earn championship points in heat races if they finish inside the top 10 positions, or in the Main Event if they finished inside the top 12. All drivers arriving at an event also receive 15 bonus points regardless of finishing position.

  1. Heat points: 1st: 15, 2nd: 12, 3rd: 10, 4th: 8, 5th: 6, 6th: 5, 7th: 4, 8th: 3, 9th: 2, 10th: 1
  2. Main Event points: 1st: 25, 2nd: 18, 3rd: 15, 4th: 12, 5th: 10, 6th: 8, 7th: 6, 8th: 5, 9th: 5, 10th: 3, 11th: 2, 12th: 1

Drivers also drop their worst round before the final championship points are confirmed.

Cars

The Oval Superstars Tour currently includes the Minisprint class.

Records

Champions

Season
Winner Race No. Chassis & Engine Second Place Third Place
2017-18 New Zealand Karl McGill 93 Terminator - Toyota New Zealand Shane Dewar New Zealand Lydia Dickinson
2016-17 New Zealand Christian Hermansen 1 Terminator - Toyota New Zealand Jade Barnett New Zealand Dean Cooper
2015-16 New Zealand Dean Cooper 2 Breka - Toyota New Zealand Ben Vaughan New Zealand Brittany Riddick
2014-15 New Zealand Jade Barnett 37 Barnett - Nissan New Zealand Ben Vaughan New Zealand Dean Cooper
2013-14 New Zealand Cameron Hurley 82 Cool - Nissan New Zealand Shane Simpson New Zealand Sean Rice

Oval Superstars Tour Wins

All figures correct as of the 2017-18 Wester Stampede, Stratford Speedway

Key
Driver competed in the 2017-18 OST Season
Bold Oval Superstars Tour Champion
OST Main Event Winners
Rank Country Home Town Driver Wins Seasons active First win Last win
1  New Zealand Palmerston North Christian Hermansen 10 2013–
 2013-14 Windy City Showdown 2017-18 Windy City Showdown
2  New Zealand Kihikihi Jade Barnett 5 2013–
 2013-14 Waikato Champs 2015-16 Waikato War Final
3  New Zealand Taupo Dean Cooper 3 2014–
 2015-16 East Coast Clash 2016-17 Waikato War Rnd 1
4  New Zealand Kapiti Jamie Larsen 2 2013–17
 2013-14 Western Stampede 2015-16 Oval Open
4  New Zealand Taranaki Shaun Dickie 2 2013–
 2016-17 Western Springs 2016-17 Windy City Showdown
4  New Zealand Palmerston North Karl McGill 2 2013–
 2014-15 Oval Open 2017-18 Oval Open
7  New Zealand Taranaki Lydia Dickinson 1 2017–
 2017-18 Waikato War Rnd 1
7  New Zealand Taranaki Sean Rice 1 2013–2014
 2013-14 Oval Open
7  New Zealand Palmerston North Stephen Buys 1 2013–2014
 2013-14 Grand Final
7  New Zealand Hamilton Ben Vaughan 1 2013-
 2017-18 Waikato War Rnd 2

Windy City Showdown

The Windy City Showdown is the premier event on the Oval Superstars Calendar and has been a part of the series since 2013. It has been hosted annually at Wellington Speedway in Te Marua, Upper Hutt. The event itself started in 2011 and annually attracts the nations best Minisprint drivers. The record number of entries for this event is 24 cars, achieved in 2013. Palmerston North driver Christian Hermansen holds the record for the most showdown title wins with three.

The 2016-17 Windy City Showdown 7 event saw Taranaki's Shaun Dickie win the title ahead of three time champion Hermansen, in a 23 car field.

Year Winner Runner-up 3rd place WCS Rookie
2010 Jamie Larsen (P/North) Declan Roe (P/North) Shaun Cooke (Huntly) -
2011 Stephen Taylor (Wellington) James Hadley (Wellington) Glen Shingleton (Wellington) James Hadley (2nd)
2012 Jamie Larsen (P/North) Robert Orr (P/North) Shane Simpson (Wellington) Trevor Stephenson (6th)
2013 Christian Hermansen (P/North) Shane Simpson (Wellington) Jade Barnett (Kihikihi) Jade Barnett (3rd)
2014 Christian Hermansen (P/North) Jade Barnett (Kihikihi) Karl McGill (P/North) Dean Cooper (5th)
2015 Christian Hermansen (P/North) Jamie Larsen (P/North) Shane Dewar (P/North) Conrad Hall (8th)
2016 Shaun Dickie (Taranaki) Christian Hermansen (P/North) Jade Barnett (Kihikihi) Shaun Dickie (1st)
2017 Christian Hermansen (P/North) Lydia Dickinson (Taranaki) Shaun Dickie (Taranaki) Lydia Dickinson (2nd)

[1]

Oval Superstars Hall of Fame

Year Hall of Famer
2017 Shaun Cooke (Hamilton)

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Result
2017New Zealand Speedway AwardsIndividual Event of the YearFinalist
2016New Zealand Speedway AwardsSeries of the YearFinalist
2016New Zealand Speedway AwardsArticle of the YearFinalist
2014New Zealand Speedway AwardsWebsite of the YearFinalist

[2]

[3]

References

  1. ↑ "Windy City Showdown Championship History". Oval Superstars. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  2. ↑ "Oval Superstars Awards". Oval Superstars Facebook. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  3. ↑ "Oval Superstars Awards". Oval Superstars Facebook. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
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