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From left, St John officer Tim Reid, Fire Service officer Richard Connolly, Super Black representatives Greg Hann and Paul Radisich, Rural Fire Service officer Scott Marchant, and NZ Police officer Sharon Glen.
Recruitment of volunteers was the motivation behind a joint emergency services day held at Wellsford last month.
But those who braved the rainy conditions also got the chance to meet representatives of NZ’s only V8 Supercar racing team – team principal Paul Radisich and Greg Hann.
The Super Black team has a special connection with Wellsford through its main sponsor, Tony Lentino, whose property Spring Hill is the team’s base. The town’s name appears on its car.
“The global audience for supercar racing is huge, probably around 450 million, so it is great publicity for Wellsford,”
Paul said. “We’ve been at events in Australia where someone local has come up and said, ‘What’s Wellsford’s name doing on the back of the car?’”
While the team competes mainly in Australia, it will race at Pukekohe on November 6 and is off to Kuala Lumpur next year.
Paul says the man to watch is up and coming driver, 20-year-old Andre Heimgartner. Andre became the youngest driver in the world to win a Formula Ford Championship when he took out the NZ Formula Ford Championship, during the 2010/11 season, when he was just 15.
The combined services open day was a first for Wellsford, involving representatives of the fire, police and St John ambulance.
To find out more about becoming a volunteer, the Wellsford services can be contacted on the following numbers:
• Wellsford Fire Station 423 8888
• St John Ambulance 423 8330
• Wellsford Police 423 8228.
