The four brothers carry the family colours into one of the biggest events on the Speedway calendar, also trying to get close to Hemingway, who will be in Wellington to try to defend his title.<\/p>\n
All for one, one for all<\/p>\n
Between the four Ashton brothers, they have a spread of championship experience: Brendan enters his sixth New Zealand title, Kyle has competed in both stockcars and superstocks, Caleb lines up for his third, and Flynn makes his debut.<\/p>\n
Eldest brother Brendon started racing more than 20 years ago in the ministocks class.<\/p>\n
He said the novelty of four siblings now racing at the same event isn\u2019t lost on them, even if they rarely end up in the same qualifying groups.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good fun when we\u2019re all on the track together,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut at the big meetings we\u2019re usually split into different groups. When we do get out there together, that\u2019s the good part.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kyle, the team\u2019s signwriter and designer, said the brothers operated as a tight unit when travelling.<\/p>\n
Lance Ashton used to race Speedway. Now he is helping his kids succeed.<\/p>\n
\u201cPick on one of us, pick on all of us,\u201d he laughs. \u201cIf one of us needed a hand to qualify, we\u2019d be there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Family business<\/p>\n
All four brothers work within the wider TWS McLeod Sheetmetals and King Signs family businesses, meaning they also have easy access to the equipment needed to keep the cars in top shape.<\/p>\n
Flynn, the youngest, jokes that he contributes the least.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just race the car \u2026 or try to. [My brothers have] got to teach me everything, and I don\u2019t listen that well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the banter, he\u2019s clear about what Speedway means to them: \u201cEverything. It\u2019s what we\u2019ve done all our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fast cars, fine margins<\/p>\n
The Ashton fleet runs engines in the 450\u2013500 horsepower range with the brothers saying the cars are getting faster as set-ups evolve.<\/p>\n
And the margins are so fine in a sport where contact is part of racing.<\/p>\n
Drivers have limited in-car adjustments.<\/p>\n
Brendon, Kyle, Caleb and Flynn Ashton represent a Speedway lineage that began with their grandfather, Colin, racing at Hamilton\u2019s Forest Lake Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re the one out there feeling what the car\u2019s doing,\u201d Brendan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the set-up calls are mostly your own.\u201d<\/p>\n
An important race<\/p>\n
The Ashton team will travel to Wellington in a four-trailer convoy.<\/p>\n
At the event, up to 120 cars are expected to contest the title, split into multiple qualifying groups with only the top five progressing from each.<\/p>\n
With three heats per group and front-middle-rear grid draws, qualifying remains the biggest hurdle for the Ashtons.<\/p>\n
The weather will also play a role, with forecasts ranging from heat to possible rain.<\/p>\n
Inside the cars, temperatures can reach 60\u201370\u00b0C, although the brothers say the heat is only noticeable when stationary.<\/p>\n
Prepared for anything<\/p>\n
The Ashton team has arranged access to workshops in Wellington should repairs be needed, but they hope to limit work to washing and cleaning between races and a full car check in between the two nights.<\/p>\n
The four brothers are also entered into the World 240s race in Rotorua, but they will reassess after the weekend dependant on how the cars come through the national title chase.<\/p>\n
For now, the focus is on Wellington, and on continuing a family tradition that shows no sign of slowing down.<\/p>\n
Graeme \u201cMintie\u201d Mead is a sports commentator, the host of the radio showWaikato All Sports Breakfastand a Newstalk ZB overnight host. He is also a Hamilton City Councillor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The four brothers carry the family colours into one of the biggest events on the Speedway calendar, also…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[806,111446,20438,18239,39789,12131,3011,6288,1861,5812,111,139,69,7798,3512,24831,37525,213,139366,1961,4767,52,1533,80],"class_list":["post-235881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-as","tag-ashton","tag-brothers","tag-championship","tag-compete","tag-dynasty","tag-four","tag-hamilton","tag-history","tag-make","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-race","tag-racing","tag-siblings","tag-speedway","tag-sports","tag-superstock","tag-this","tag-weekend","tag-wellington","tag-will","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}