It was a chilly night at Placemakers Huntly Speedway as Percy began his assault on the 2008/09 season in earnest. The crowd was fairly mediocre so it was a huge surprise to be told that programme's were sold out by 6:15pm. Pre-meeting entertainment consisted of Four Stroke the clown, whose green mullet would scare off most kids, and a rabbit whose dash around the track and through the crowd had some crowd members on their feet!

The standard of track preparation at Huntly has not diminished since I was last in attendance. A typically smooth surface greeted the drivers. It was slightly drier than I've seen it in past times but dust was hardly an issue. Unfortunately the outside line was noticeably slower for the higher horsepower classes and passing around the outside was limited. Overall though it was a good track. 7.5/10

I can only assume there were several late withdrawls in this class as fans had to sit through the bore of watching 5 Superstocks. It was painfully obvious after the first race that if any entertainment was going to be derived from the class then handicapping needed to take place. It didn't, and the hot dog vendors were the winners.
Winners - 96h Scott Redfearn (3)

With news of a couple of rollovers last week I was quite excited about the prospects for the class. By comparison things were much more sedate tonight with hardly a lick of paint being exchanged. Race 1 saw 18k Ryan Johnson destroy the field with far superior speed. Sadly his car conked out on the final lap and wasn't seen again. The star for the rest of the night was 86h Shaun Wade. In particular his race 2 performance where he went around the outside of most of the field was highly impressive.
Winners - 48h Dave Pilkington, 31h Malcolm Mazur, 86h Shaun Wade

For whatever reason the Saloons didn't really do it for me tonight. Perhaps it was the demise of 21h Steve Williams in a cloud of smoke or the lack of a star like Phil Towgood or Brent McClymont. There was one highly spectacular incident in race 3 when 5k Graham Brockelsby barrel rolled down the front straight. Other than that I'm struggling to recall any incident of note.
Winners - 67h Scott Wilkins, 808r Jo Lunchbox, 43h Aaron Tonks

A decent field of 13 Minisprints put on some solid racing. 72k Brian Edwards (listed as Mark on the Kihikihi website but I'm sure the commentators said it was Brian) streaked away in the opening heat and won by half a lap. From that point on the rest of the night was the Shaun Cooke show. Race 3 proved to be his crowning glory as he came through from fifth, picking the drivers off one by one. Cooke then ran down Edwards and made the decisive move up the inside to take a convincing win.
Winners - 72k Brian Edwards, 1nz Shaun Cooke (2)

Unusually for me I found the racing in the Minictock class to be entertaining. Race 1 saw birthday boy 63r Luke Dilworth off pole. He was closely followed by 14h Matthew Kiddie and 16a Chloe Corban. Lapped traffic played a major role with Corban able to grab the lead for a moment before Dilworth seized the opportunity to re-take the front spot. The battle raged all night with these guys while 88h Mitchell Buck and in race 3 8r Shane Allen were the best of the rest. A double rollover on the back straight in heat three was the only incident of the night despite the fact a field of 30 cars was in attendance.
Winners - 63r Luke Dilworth, 14h Matthew Kiddie, 8r Shane Allen

A solid field of a dozen Midgets included visits from 1nz Shaun Insley and 33a Graham Standring. Those two didn't have things their own way in what was a surprisingly competitive field. Race 1 saw 5h Alvin Cobb disappear into the distance. The entertainment was mid-pack with 17h Michael Brunt, Standring, Insley and 7h Jason Bunney locked in battle. With the outside line being in-operable for the class patience and pressure was the name of the game. Hopefully all the Huntly Midgets get up to Western Springs and vice-versa this season.
Winners - 5h Alvin Cobb, 1nz Shaun Insley (2)

Is there any class in speedway that can raise the heartbeat like Super Saloons? With the likes of 26m Shane McIntyre, 7m Brent Emerson, 21h Steve Williams, 96a Lance Jennings and 31h Kevin Salle this was going to be fun. The 10 Super Saloons did plenty to entertain. Race 1 saw several battles but it all came unstuck. 6m Gary Edwards was very tight the whole race and went spearing off into the wall. McIntyre had a big lunge around the outside of Williams and had nowhere to go except into the stricken Edwards. Crunch #1

I say crunch #1 as there was a pile-up in each race. You couldn't say the drivers weren't giving it 100%. The new Emerson car doesn't lack for pace and once they get the set-up sorted he is going to be the man to beat this season. The only shame was that the feature was cut short after crunch #3. This was a perplexing decision as the class was one of the best on the night and the only thing we lost in the crunch was the odd piece of fibreglass. They should have extended the race. Fired up Super Saloon drivers = entertainment.
Winners - 31h Kevin Salle (2), 21h Steve Williams

I leave the best till last as 29 Stockcars provided the best action on the track. It was hard to know where to look as cars spun left, right and center. Right from the drop of the green in race 1 the likes of 17h Jason Patrick, 158a Daniel Martin and many others decided that tonight was a night for fun. While there were no big wallings or overturned cars the sheer level of action saw fans return to their seats every time the Stockcars rolled through the gate. The biggest hit of the night was a very solid T-Bone down the back straight. Once again take a bow Stockcar drivers.
Winners - 88h Jason Hutchby, 29m Ryan Hunt, 23h Brendon Ashton

The starting procedure for a speedway event is not that complex. Tonight the starts were all over the show. The lights going off on turns 3-4, the lights going off and the green not being thrown or the lights not going off at all and the green being thrown. It was a mixed bag and as a result the starts were shambolic. I would also like to see penalties imposed for Stockcar and Ministock drivers who don't observe the red lights as we almost saw a member of the crash crew run over by a Ministock.

In the previous times I've seen Midgets run at Huntly the officials have proved themselves to be incapable of handling the class. Not much has changed. 7h Jason Bunney spun and stopped just inside the confines of the track in heat two. No yellow, there should have been as he was too close to the track. Race three the same thing happened except his back end was hanging out on the track. Again no yellow except this time 61h Angus MacLeod clipped him and had to be towed off. To make things worse a quad bike driver pulled out right in front of Graham Standring as he was making his way off the track. The officials were quick on the lights for the other classes. 5/10

Overall it was a meeting of two halves. Some of the classes were really good, others were sub-standard. At least it gives the promotion something to build on for their future meetings. Four-Stroke the clown was a non-existant form of entertainment which was a shame as I think clowns have an important role to play at speedway events.

One thing I was excited to hear is that Huntly will host a Sidecar event at the NZ Saloon Champs. The commentators suggested that the best rigs will be in attendance. My only concern is that they may overshadow the main event on what I think is one of the most suited tracks to the class in the North Island.