With the forecasted rain eventuating and an uncomfortable wind, even the most ardent speedway fan would have questioned their attendance at Springs Speedway. So it was no surprise to see a modest crowd in attendance for opening night. Those that did come endured the almost constant light rain and subsequent greasy track conditions to be rewarded with some quality feature racing and the potential for a really big season.

A new surface has been laid and you would have to give it the thumbs up on what we saw tonight. Unfortunately the moisture content was excessive due to the atmospheric conditions and this resulted in one lane racing for much of the night. The track had that much moisture that the pace truck almost ended up in the back straight fence at one stage! When we did get a dry spell the track widened and the racing was exciting. Perhaps the most positive aspect was the smoothness and although it wasn't perfect, nobody could complain about the consistency of the surface. 7/10

With just seven cars in attendance (six made the start line) the Quarter Midgets provided fans with the opportunity to use the track facilities.
Winner - 4a Taylor Clarke

The TQ class is running under one of the most bizarre formats ever devised. The top 14 run two heats, the 2nd heat being the reverse grid of the first to decide the top 14 grids in the feature. The rest get just one heat race with the top 10 advancing to the feature. So conceivably you could turn up, finish outside the top 10 and be putting the car on the trailer for the night after just one race. Who comes up with this crap? So instead of getting a second heat, the Quarter Midgets get two heats, the 4 car field of F2's get a feature and the Midgets get a B Main with about 4 cars. There is only one word to describe this - ludicrous.

Race 1 saw 15a Lawrence Baker win all the way from the back on a track that was making passing difficult. Baker looked unstoppable. 81a Mark Blakely also made a run through the pack. 9a Hayden Williams tried to employ a high line right out by the fence but failed to make forward progress. Race 2 saw 71a Gavin Hamlin in outstanding form, once again the race winner coming through from the back of the pack.

Baker dominated heat 3 but there was plenty of action mid-pack. 64a Gina Harris was the car going forward. Going into the feature it looked like the only thing that could stop Baker from winning was the SNZ officials (you know what's coming next...). Baker led away and established an early lead. 19a Brock Mascovich never gave up, whitling down the lead until disaster struck. A car that was about to be lapped rolled in front of the two leaders and left them with nowhere to go. Despite not being the cause of the crash both Baker and Maskovich were sent to the rear of the field. Under the yellows the incumbant leader 56a Ross Linklater retired to the infield, leaving 98a Chris Gwilliam with the win.
Winners - 15a Lawrence Baker (2), 71a Gavin Hamlin, 98a Chris Gwilliam (feature)

The big bangers became track sweepers in the first half of the meeting. 59a Alan Haigh retired to the infield prior to race 1 and failed to return. As the track became more user friendly the class got seriously quick. In particular 71a Jamie McDonald was fast. Not having such a good night was 78a Daniel Eggleton who had a rather spectacular power steering failure that saw him meet the turn 2 concrete, right infront of a clay statue of a child that would have to be the best clay statue in the history of New Zealand Speedway. It was a beauty.

The feature saw 22a Dean Brindle lead from pole. Behind him 71a Jamie McDonald got past 35a Hans Boere and set off in pursuit of Brindle. Lapped traffic played a role, bringing McDonald right up to Brindle. The two of them were side by side behind 8a Ryan O'Conner who appeared to lose power momentarily coming out of turn 4. Both frontrunners made contact with O'Conner. Brindle rolled and the McDonald machine was deemed unfit to continue by the infield staff. 27a Alan Wakeling inherited the lead and it stayed that way to the finish.

Behind Wakeling 11a Raymond Griffin put in a very credible performance in finishing third. Griffin drove to the conditions all night and benefitted as a result, holding off 21a Mark Browne at the end of the feature. A little further back 1nz Carl Wilson had an adventurous race, finishing in 7th position.
Winners - 21a Mark Browne, 35a Hans Boere, 22a Dean Brindle, 71a Jamie McDonald, 27a Alan Wakeling (feature)

The Midgets always produce exciting racing at Western Springs. 13a Brad Mosen made his intentions clear with a dominating performance in heat 1, passing 21a Carl Worboys and 1nz Shaun Insley on the way to claiming the win. 11a Shayne Alach lit up heat two with some typically aggressive driving. We had our first big crash of the night in heat three. 33a Graham Standring led the race until lapped traffic allowed 54a Michael Pickens to catch Standring and take the lead. Standring tried a lunge up the inside of 27a Mark Oudney and made contact, sending both cars into synchronised rolls.

If Mosen hadn't made his point already heat 4 signalled that he was the man to beat tonight with another commanding win. Worboys also looked the goods, coming from well back with some aggressive moves to secure second place. Heat 5 was punctuated by another big crash. 5h Alvin Cobb got together with 17h Michael Brunt, Cobb running over the front of the Brunt machine and into a series of rolls into the concrete fence. He walked away although an ambulance was seen departing the arena a few races later.

The B Main was a waste of time, as was the F2 Midget Feature. Rather than getting rid of an obvious failure, the promotion have decided to run the F2's off the back of the heats and give them their own feature. The F2 drivers were a little errant in the heats and were involved in a few near misses. Their feature sadly looks to have a regular slot in the schedule. The class boasts a total of 5 competitors in the souvenir programme, less than the Modified Sprints did all those years ago when this same promotion cut them from the schedule.

Anyhow the Midget feature got underway with Mosen, Alach, Worboys, 25a Scott Buckley and 54a Michael Pickens establishing a quick breakaway. However Pickens lost it in Town Bend and did everything but roll, somehow rescuing the car before hitting the wall and pulling to the infield. The race resumed with Mosen showing the way.

Mid race much of the excitement was back in the pack. The crashers (27a now driven by Lance Beale and 33a Graham Standring) were picking their way through the traffic which wasn't proving easy given the traffic included 1nz Shaun Insley and 2nz Bill Clarkson. Back to the front and Alach showed a new lease of life in the closing laps, catching Mosen in traffic. Mosen and Alach proceeded to put on an amazing battle including countless passes for the lead. With two to go Mosen launched up the inside of Alach into Pine Tree Bend to take the lead only to see Alach regain the lead on the same lap.

On the final lap Mosen tried the same move up the inside of Alach and once again it stuck. With the benefit of some lapped traffic Mosen was able to skip far enough clear to secure the win. Alach tried desperately to make up the gap, only to contact with Bill Clarkson Jr and end his own race on the final corner.
Winners - 13a Brad Mosen (3 incl feature), 25a Scott Buckley, 54a Michael Pickens, 11a Shayne Alach, 79a Nick James (B Main), 51a Neven Bowman (F2 Feature)

I can only suggest that this years officials are different to the ones we had last season. Last season everything was being pulled up, especially driving on the grass. Tonight nothing was pulled up at all. No grass cutting, no barging, nothing. Perhaps the officials were making allowances for the track condition but you have to draw the line somewhere and some drivers got away with a fair bit tonight.

Starts were generally good with the worst start getting called back. Mysteriously the track lights didn't go to yellow until 3/4 of a lap despite the starter never waving the green. To be fair the boys in blue were having a passable night until the incident in the TQ feature. Despite clearly not being the cause of the crash, Baker and Maskovich were restarted at the rear instead of assuming their rightful spots in first and second. To make matters worse the officials had the benefit of a video replay to get their decision right. It was an absolute shocker of a decision. 4/10

Overall we saw plenty of positives and negatives. The big positive looks to be the track. The efficiency that was shown tonight was also a positive, the night finished well before the 10:30 curfew and it was just as well because a substantial shower of rain came across the stadium 5-10 minutes after the meeting had finished. On the flipside the current format and programme will not produce a total nights entertainment as there are going to be four races every night that wont produce the goods.

It's going to be an interesting season and I will most definitely be back next week. Lets hope for some decent weather.