After the Girls’ School dominated the National finals of the Soap Box Trolley Derby last term, Year 7 student, Ocean Scott was crowned New Zealand champion, qualifying her to travel to Ohio, USA to compete in the All American Soap Box World Championships during the July holidays. What an amazing opportunity! Read about her week away competing on the world stage!

Report for 79^th All American Soap Box World Championships
With thanks to Mr Warren Frazer

On Saturday the 9^th of July, under the watchful eyes of the officials, Team Kiwi unpacked the crate at Derby Downs and started assembling Ocean’s soap box. Support crew, Paul Scott and Mike Thorpe had worked out the race weight previously in NZ and we placed the weights as per the plan. Once the soap box was assembled, we then had to remove the body shell again and leave it off for the Sunday inspection.

Sunday 10 July was the shell re-attachment and weigh-in day. Once the soap box was assembled, it was then brake tested and cleared for Ocean’s one and only test run. We were matched up against the other NZ team member in the Masters’ class and we were only just beaten to the finish line, at this stage our hopes were high.

Once the soap box was taken back up to the scrutineering shed, it was then weighed in. At the weigh in, Ocean and soap box were 9.5lbs over weight. We had limited weights to remove from the front and rear and no spare fixed weights for the centre. We managed to organise a smaller centre weight, but we had no idea what our overall weight was, unfortunately the officials wouldn’t tell us our overall weight.

Monday 11 July was the parade of champions; it was a scorcher of a day. We drove into Canal Park Stadium where the Champions all lined up in their regions for the parade. There were approximately 489 Champions entered. Once the parade had finished we moved down to Lock 3 where each Champ was formally introduced on stage and they had an opportunity to throw their memorabilia into the crowd. It was a fun day.

Tuesday 12 July was the International race. It was 32 degrees that day. Ocean was competing against an American and two Canadians. Each lane had its own wheels, so wheel swaps were required before each race. Ocean had two races against one of the Canadians, but was unfortunately eliminated by the Canadian who was the eventual winner of the International title.

Wednesday was the Super Stock Subway Challenge; it was overcast which was a welcome relief. Ocean’s first race was at 8.20am. Her first race was in lane 2, in which she placed first. Wheel swaps were again required for lane 1 and 3. Ocean placed 3^rd in her next two races, which meant her total elapsed time was slower than the overall winner, so this meant Ocean was eliminated from the Subway Challenge.

The following day, father, Paul Scott competed in the parent’s race. Paul won his first race, but was eliminated in heat 2. There was also a build and battle competition where the Kiwi team assisted the Japanese to build and decorate a trolley within a certain time frame and then race the trolley, but the Japanese driver was eliminated after round 1.

Friday was the weigh in day for the World Championship race. We were fortunate enough to get the officials consent to adjust the weights of the trolley, due to the mediocre results during the week. We had received plenty of advice from numerous people and changes to the weights were made. Ocean chose her wheels for the World Championship race, the wheels were changed over and Ocean and trolley were weighed in, reaching the maximum weight. The trolley was then parked up for the big event for the following morning.

Saturday the 16^th – the big day – the World Championship Race! Ocean was competing against two other drivers in the first round, where only the winner moves forward to the next round. Ocean came 3^rd in her race, which meant she was eliminated from the event and her racing came to an end.

The last formality of this amazing event was prize giving.  Ocean received a competitor’s International plaque.  We would sincerely like to thank our NZ sponsors who gave Ocean this wonderful opportunity to represent her school and country, Auckland East Rotary, Carotrans, Electropar, Saint Kentigern Trust and Parent and Friends.

It was a great experience and a massive learning curve to be able to compete against the rest of the world. With New Zealand’s 3 month shipping requirements and limited testing ability, the odds were stacked against us, but it was certainly fun trying!

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