Considering it was a mid-week meeting, a healthy crowd turned up for night one of the International Midget Series. Six yanks were in town, mostly in local machinery to take on the Kiwi's. Unfortunately the meeting failed to fire as a variety of track conditions, untested machinery and dumb formatting conspired to produce a less than memorable night.

Early on the track looked to have plenty of potential. It widened early and looked fairly smooth. I think I read in the programme that some Limestone had been added to the surface to help it bind together. I'll take a guess that this was the white stuff in both corners. It didn't appear to do much from my perspective. During the night the track failed to widen. During warmups the middle of the track looked to be the wettest and although this isn't normally a sign of what lies beneath, it may have been the issue tonight. The lack of raceable width made Sprintcar passing almost impossible. On the plus side the TQ's were great. A hole opened up here and there but they were avoidable and certainly weren't the worst we've seen. The track had plenty of potential and although it wasn't the quickest track ever it wasn't that far off the mark. 6/10

Just the one race for the kids tonight. The regular Aucklanders were joined by some Ruapuna visitors. The youngsters from down south failed to impress on the night as the Aucklanders left them in their wake.
Winner - 4a Taylor Clarke

The F2's were pulled from their regular slot off the back of the Midgets and got their own race. Yay - my favourite class and a whopping 5 cars in attendance. They also ran their own feature off the back of the B-Main. I found more interest in scanning the crowd looking for the prettiest girl.
Winner - Row G Seat 121

There was hardly a pass all night in the Sprintcars as the track simply wasn't wide enough. Ossie Sokol made a return in the Ron Salter 63a and looked OK given he has been out of the seat this season. Race 1 saw 10usa Ricky Logan race away from pole. 71a Jamie McDonald made a couple of spots in the opening exchanges. Race 2 saw absolutely no passing. 9a Havard Daniels jumped to an early lead in heat three but 11a Raymond Griffin made a neat move up the inside to take the lead. Daniels went into the wall down the front straight and had to retire.

78a Daniel Eggleton made up a couple of spots although the officials should have taken an interest in the positioning of his left front tyre on one pass. The action was at the rear in heat four. 75a Tommy Rusher put an aggressive move on 18a Greg Pickerill in the early going. Pickerill had to get out of the throttle quickly. Pickerill re-passed a few laps later. By the end of the race Logan had got by both of them.

The quick guys were inverted to the third row for the feature. This was some handicap on this track. 1nz Carl Wilson lead from start to finish. The first stoppage saw Sokol resting on his side in Town Bend. From the restart 27a Alan Wakeling pulled off with mechanical drama's. Late in the race saw a couple of pileups which eventually resulted in the feature being declared.
Winners - 10usa Ricky Logan, 27a Alan Wakeling, 11a Raymond Griffin, 1nz Carl Wilson (2) incl feature

Yay!! A new TQ format was trialled which saw all drivers competing in two out of three heats. Finally, a TQ format that makes sense! Race 1 saw the drivers forget how to grid up, although the absence of the normal pace vehicle was probably a factor. Former NZ Minisprint champion 16a Shaun Cooke was quick to adapt to his new ride. Cooke was chased hard in this one by 27a Hayden Williams and the aggressive 98a Chris Gwilliam. Heat two was another fiercely competitive race. South Island champion 9c Ricky Brett held off 15a Lawrence Baker for the entire race. Thats no mean feat and it's great to see a competitive top level open-wheel car with a C on the side of it.

56a Ross Linklater stamped his authority in heat three with a fine drive from midfield, overcoming 81a Mark Blakely. 19a Brock Mascovich came from deep in the pack to register a fourth place finish. The heats threw up plenty of feature race contenders. The TQ's put on the best race of the night in their feature. Linklater grabbed the early lead in a rather stagnant field. Cooke and Gwilliam had a right ding-dong battle with Cooke prevailing and securing fourth. From grid 21, 3nz Shane O'Conner quickly made his way through the field.

Gwilliam fell into the clutches of Brett and proceeded to have another fantastic battle. Meanwhile up front Mascovich mounted a challenge for Linklater's lead. Mascovich made his move up the inside entering Town Bend. Mascovich threw everything into it and Linklater spun, bringing on the yellows. Upon the restart Mascovich had a flat right-rear, indicating that perhaps there was some contact. 27a Hayden Williams tried to round the stricken Mascovich but could only drive into the back of him. With those three out the way Cooke inherited the lead from Gwilliam. But Brett could not be denied, making the move past Gwilliam and into second.

Linklater was able to retstart and promptly set about destroying the field. If Linklater had driven like this in the first half of the race he would have been half a lap ahead! O'Conner was continuing his forward run, locking horns with Gwilliam for third. Indeed Gwilliam spent most of his race in the thick of the action. Linklater made it all the way back up to challenge O'Conner and Gwilliam for third. Brett closed in on Cooke as the race came to a close but the current 2nz Minisprint could not be denied. O'Conner won the battle for third with Linklater finishing an outstanding fourth.
Winners - 16a Shaun Cooke (2) incl feature, 9c Ricky Brett, 56a Ross Linklater

The USA Midgets were in town and largely failed to impress on night one. Percy was confused to see two USA Midgets running the #12. Heck, there are enough legal numbers in speedway NZ to avoid two team USA cars running the same number! And 47k Corey Kruseman and 12k Henry Clarke presumably have dispensation to run the "K". Either that or Kihikihi has done some seriously good recruiting in the last couple of weeks.

Race one saw 88usa Davey Ray struggling to hold on to his machine. Ray was having to use the full width of the racetrack to tame his ride. Not having any such drama's was 12usa Dave Darland. Darland was magnificient in starting off the back and recording a third place finish. He showed remarkably tidy lines on what was a tricky little race track. Heat two feature big crash #1 of the night. 13a Brad Mosen launched a huge slide job on Clarke entering Pine Tree Bend. Mosen's right rear contacted the left front of Clarke and whammooo the American was hit for six. Clarke got some serious height and was understandibly a bit groggy. The car was more than just a bit groggy - it was a wreck. 54a Michael Pickens looked out of sorts. The car ran out of puff and fortunately made it 20 metres over the finish line without power. The crowd gave Pickens a nice round of applause.

Race three saw 47usa Corey Kruseman on pole. The Kruiser was off the pace, drifting all the way back to 7th. Ray was in better form but even he couldn't foot it with 33a Graham Standring who was looking the best I've seen all season. Darland took an easy win in heat four. The action was further back in the pack. 43usa Brad Kuhn was doing as much lawnmowing as speedway racing and got pinged a spot by the officials. The fifth and final heat saw big crash #2. 3usa Jerry Coons Jr and 87a Lance Beale got together on the drop of the green. Coons Jr did everything but crash. 79a Nick James tried to take advantage of the situation but his move around Beale came unstuck. James rode over Beale's right rear and went for one heck of a wild ride. The Clarke crash was huge, this was monumental. James flew even higher and brought down a piece of the fence with him. Ouch. The car was a wreck.

Next on the schedule was a "test" race. What a joke this was. The grids were determined on qualifying position based on the top 5 individuals from each team. So the grids aren't even remotely fair when you look at the race from a USA vs NZ perspective. Yet the promotion somehow thinks this is a test?? The intelligent Springs fans weren't fooled, there was barely a whimper from the terraces during the race. Apparently NZ won the race - no surprises there we had a big advantage based on starting grids. Under Willie Kay we used to have three test races a night (with fair grids) and the fans would be right into it. But no, SPL knows best and we have to watch them destroy a winning concept. Their arguement may be that all drivers have to "qualify" for the feature. Well, no they don't because if any of the internationals doesn't make it they will get a provisional. So how about racing the International tests and handicapping (if that ability still exists) the internationals off the back in the feature?? Anyway Darland DNF'ed which was about the main point of interest in the test.

The B-Main saw more bad luck for 2nz Bill Clarkson Jr. Clarkson Jr survived a skirmish with Pickens in the heats but finished his heat several laps down. In this race he looked good to qualify before taking a close inspection of the infield. The race was actually pretty exciting. The driving standard wasn't flash but all the drivers were going for it 100%. Most of them came unstuck at one point or another, constantly changing the potential qualifiers.
Winners - 11a Shayne Alach, 3usa Jerry Coons Jr, 25a Scott Buckley, 12usa Dave Darland, 13a Brad Mosen (2) incl test, 96a Chris McCutcheon (B-Main)

13a Brad Mosen led away from 3usa Jerry Coons Jr. Further back Pickens and 81a Michael Kendall got together, resulting in Kendall spinning onto the infield and than back to the track. Darland had no place to go except in the side of Kendall. Whack. Also caught up in the crash was McCutcheon and 21c Phillipa Melrose. From the restart Coons Jr was all over Mosen. Eventually the pressure told and Mosen relinquished the lead. Nobody really made a run from mid-pack. Pickens made a couple of passes, as did Kruseman and Ray but that was about it. Kruseman would succumb to a flat left rear and Ray would overheat, having to make a hasty exit upon parking high in Pine Tree Bend.

Also attracting the black flag (or black blackboard as the case was) was Kuhn. He finished but was disqualified, presumably for ignoring the blackboard. Coons Jr stretched his lead out to half a straight. With three to go Coons Jr inexplicably spun in Pine Tree Bend. Such was his lead, Coons Jr was able to resume in third behind Mosen and 1nz Shaun Insley. Thats the way they finished in what was one of the least exciting Midget features for some time.
Winner - 13a Brad Mosen

Oh Dear. The offIcials dispensed with the starting chalk line coming out of turn four for most of the meeting, the starts suffered. Had Nick James not crashed at the start of heat five the start should have been called back as Mosen went too early. The one start that did get called back would have to rate as one of the worst pieces of officiating I have ever seen. Sprintcar 4a Glen Torpey led the field around with 27a Alan Wakeling on two. It was a slow lead up and the flagman waved the green. Wakeling took off, Torpey was a bit slow. They called it back. Ummm guys, green means go and once the green comes on you can go....

If that wasn't bad enough a large metallic object was on the track in Pine Tree Bend for four laps at the end of one race. The crash crew were waving to the tower to get their attention. The crash crew ended up throwing their yellow flag to the ground! Re-ordering of the field was slow though it was good to see blackboards at either side of the track. Hopefully the tower can get the information to the infield staff a bit quicker next time. Kuhn's one place relegation for grass usage was inconsistent with previous rulings. Kuhn did gain a place on his first grass usage and should have been pinged two spots based on previous meetings. Sprintcar 78a Daniel Eggleton was a little lucky to avoid the same fate although his left front was only just on the grass. Or perhaps the officials saw it and took into account the lack of passing opportunity. Overall it was not a good night up in the control tower. 3/10

The crowd was pretty dead all night long, an indication it wasn't just me who was struggling to get into proceedings. But I'm sure that things will improve as the Americans get their machinery sorted. On a plus side the NZ TQ Champs are being set up nicely. If Shaun Cooke does a couple more meetings he will be eligible and could really give the title a shake up if he enters. Ricky Brett is a genuine contender and when you mix in the best from the Bay it's going to be one heck of a NZ TQ Championship. That's provided of course that SPL apply an appropriate format which as we saw tonight isn't exactly guaranteed. I'm still shaking my head at the "test" race!