A brilliantly hot Auckland summers day gave way to a temperate evening for the World Midget 50 Lapper. A big crowd turned up although the numbers in attendance didn't reach the giddy heights of Boxing Night. The night also failed to reach it's potential due to some dumb formatting and another brilliantly bad performance from the officials. More on those aspects later. Thankfully Brad Mosen and Jerry Coons Jr saved the show with a brilliant duel in the 50 lapper.

The debut of the efficiency rater has thrown up some issues. It's damn hard when Time Trials take place! So I will attempt to take out the time trials.
Laps per hour - Approximately 70.38 lph

On arrival to the venue the level of water on the track was something to behold. Indeed such was the moisture level the Sprintcar class was required twice to pack the moisture in. The TQ's could barely turn a lap and Midget after Midget fell victim to the Town Bend concrete. And that was just warm-ups! As the racing began the track settled. It was fairly dry underneath the top layer and as the top peeled away the high line came in - with plenty of moisture. As the night went on the high line was probably a bit too good but you can't get too upset about that. It did get a bit dusty but I've seen worse. Smoothness was another positive aspect. 7/10

A field of 11 cars had two races on the programme. It was business as usual in race one as 4a Taylor Clarke was an easy winner. Clarke DNF'd in the second heat as I was busy trying to text message various people around the country.
Winners - 4a Taylor Clarke, 6a Connor Clarke

Another five car field subjected fans to two races that had the combined entertainment value of watching ants crawl around a sink. Just to insult the fans intelligence even more both were run fastest to the front. With time becoming a factor the second race should have been removed from the programme.
Winners - Hot Dog Stand & Ammo Bar

I talked about the dumb formatting in the opener and the TQ class suffered tonight. All races were fastest to the front and the class that has produced the goods recently was reduced to little more than a programme filler, particularly in the later races. Race one was the C-Main with positions based on heats from Thursday. 9a Dave Bennett looked good coming through the pack from a rear grid but he was unable to challenge the leaders. 66a Shaun Rose was the early leader until he went wide coming out of Town Bend and got lost in the wet stuff. 27a Hayden Williams and 98a Chris Gwilliam took full advantage amongst others.

The B-Main followed with Williams and Gwilliam advancing by virtue of top two finishes in the C-Main. Both were a factor, particularly Williams who ended up finishing a very credible third. But he couldn't run down the top two of 14a Paul Le Cren and 6b Duane Todd. The leaders certainly weren't settling for an A-Main transfer as they went hammer and tong to try and win the race. The advancers from the B-Main had little impact on the A-Main. 9c Ricky Brett was on pole but 2nz Craig Todd assumed the lead early. They were first and second until late in the race when 56a Ross Linklater put on the afterburners and went around the outside of both of them.

They were back at it in the feature as Linklater and Todd went toe to toe in the opening laps. Linklater prevailed. Duane Todd made a few passes in midfield and that was about as exciting as it got. Sadly Hayden Williams couldn't make the start and a noise yellow interrupted proceedings.
Winners - 27a Hayden Williams, 6b Duane Todd, 56a Ross Linklater (2 incl feature)

Tonight we witnessed the best Sprintcar racing at Western Springs for a long time. The class ran it's normal format (thankfully). 18a Greg Pickerill was on fire in the opening heat. Pickerill had the car on a piece of string, making several passes up the inside. 1nz Carl Wilson made some initial progress before falling off the pace. Heat two was the J-Mac and Logan show. 71a Jamie McDonald made a couple of exquisite inside passes to take the lead from mid-pack. Meanwhile a fearless 10usa Ricky Logan was going around anything that dared impede his progress. 75a Tommy Rusher was another to progress forwards, particularly in the early going.

The third heat was another good one. 9a Havard Daniels was the early leader but he came under all sorts of pressure from 59a Alan Haigh and 1nz Carl Wilson. Haigh eventually made a move stick around the outside. 18a Greg Pickerill joined the party, passing Wilson only to see the national champion return the favour. J-Mac was another to move forward. The fourth and final heat appeared to be a foregone conclusion with 10usa Ricky Logan off the front. But this is speedway and Logan went wide early on coming out of Town Bend. 21a Mark Browne and 8a Ryan O'Conner took full advantage, going three wide to make the move on the American.

48t Jason Scott was off pole for the feature and made it count, pulling away from Logan. 27a Alan Wakeling was quickly up the inside of the American and it wasn't long before J-Mac got by Logan as well. Further back 8a Ryan O'Conner and 1nz Carl Wilson were both making exciting moves. McDonald put the pressure on Wakeling and made the move up the inside entering Town Bend. A recovering Logan would also get by Wakeling. As J-Mac put the pressure on Scott, he tried a move around the outside. Scott moved up the track ever so slightly and J-Mac spun, performing a donut on the infield. The car leapt skywards and rolled in a spectacular demise.

The race restarted and Logan promptly went around the outside of the Cromwell registered Scott to take the lead. A few laps later we saw a massive crash. 1nz Carl Wilson clipped a right rear entering Pine Tree Bend and went for a huge ride into the safety fence. Wilson emerged looking unscathed, the car and fence were anything but. Security removed peeople from an area behind the fence. The race went for a few more laps with Logan clearing out from Scott, Wakeling and Boere to take the win. To be honest the Sprintcars upstaged the main event tonight and it's been a long time since I've been able to say that.
Winners - 35a Hans Boere, 71a Jamie McDonald, 59a Alan Haigh, 21a Mark Browne, 10usa Ricky Logan (feature)

The biggest night of the year and only SPL could come up with a format that makes Midgets not exciting. We had Time Trials followed by fastest to the front dash races to decide the grid for the 50 lapper. 54a Michael Pickens topped time trials and was the only bloke to go under 14 seconds. Not far behind him was 88usa Davey Ray, 13a Brad Mosen, 47usa Cory Kruseman and 3usa Jerry Coons Jr. There were drama's for 12usa Dave Darland. His first time trialling effort didn't register and the car sounded very sick at the end of it. He hopped into the Alach machine to do a time. We didn't see Darland again until the 50 lapper.

The first race was the test race. The Yanks were without Darland but 11a Shayne Alach didn't last the distance so it ended up being 4 on 4. Pickens led from start to finish. Kruseman drifted back a couple of spots which was about the only thing that happened during the race. The C-Dash saw 1nz Shaun Insley get by 33a Graham Standring. Insley was able to hold off a resurgent Standring late in the race.

The B-Dash was equally as uneventful and by this stage I was finding more interest in talking to one of the managers from work. Why is it that we have a perfectly good formula to use on normal nights but when it comes to the biggest night of the year we change things and put on a sub-standard show? The A-Dash was the same until a noise yellow intervened. After the noise yellow we finally saw some great racing. Race leader 54a Michael Pickens came under attack from 88usa Davey Ray. Ray was throwing the car into the corners but couldn't quite make the move. Late in the race 13a Brad Mosen made a pass on Ray and looked like he had something for Pickens had the race gone another couple of laps.
Winners - 54a Michael Pickens (3 incl trials & test), 1nz Shaun Insley, 25a Scott Buckley

Boy the promotion were really tempting fate here. They seemed oblivious to the 10:30 curfew, starting the 50 lapper at 10:00pm after a four wide salute we didn't have time for. The latest you would start a normal feature of 25 laps is 10:10pm so this was just asking for trouble. The race ended up being completed about 2 minutes before curfew. Good fortune - yes. Good management - No. Thank goodness there wasn't a red light. Anyway the fans finally found their voice just prior to the green.

From the drop of the green Mosen left Pickens in his wake. 3usa Jerry Coons Jr also went by and those two set off into the distance. Pickens continued to fall backwards as 11a Shayne Alach made a move. 12usa Dave Darland was off to the infield on lap 1 with mechanical drama's. It wasn't long before the first stoppage. 9h Angus MacLeod rolled down the front straight and while that was happening 21c Philippa Melrose pulled infield. I think commentator Jamie McCarthy mentioned a flat tyre.

The race was restarted for a few laps until 47usa Cory Kruseman lost power coming out of Town Bend. 10a Wayne Green got into the back of him as chaos erupted. The end result was a crash back in the pack as both 1nz Shaun Insley and 43usa Brad Kuhn went over on pretty much the same piece of turf as MacLeod had gone over on earlier. 10a Wayne Green received the dreaded black flag, not sure what for. On the issue of the black flag it was announced that the Brad Kuhn incident from Thursday has been appealed to Speedway New Zealand. Thats #2 for the season being appealed to SNZ that I know of and it may be three after a later incident in this race.

We finally got some racing after this stoppage. Mosen and Coons Jr cleared out and began a race long battle. 88usa Davey Ray passed Pickens for fourth. That's how the order remained with no one really making a run through the pack. 33a Graham Standring exited the scene with a roll in Pine Tree Bend. But in front Coons Jr and Mosen were putting on one heck of a show. They were toe to toe for lap after lap. Coons Jr trying for a pass up the inside into Pine Tree Bend on several occasions. Coons Jr looked like he could have slid up the track and taken Mosen's line away on a few occasions but he opted not to and saw Mosen power around the outside.

Lapped traffic added to the excitement as Coons Jr grabbed the lead momentarily. But Mosen wasn't about to give up as he re-took the lead. 87a Lance Beale had passed Pickens for fifth but his ride died soon after. Under the yellow flags the mysterious black flag made another appearance, this time for Davey Ray. Ray couldn't believe it and neither could I. What was this one for?? God only knows and I think even God himself would be struggling to comprehend the officiating we have seen during the International Series. I was shouting at Ray to not stop but he did, on the track and was pushed off. Whatever explanation he was given certainly didn't satisfy him - he wasn't impressed.

We pick things up with four to go. From the restart Alach launched a huge slide job on Coons Jr and pulled it off. Coons Jr re-passed quickly but it gave Mosen a bit of breathing room. Coons Jr ran down Mosen but with one to go it looked like a forlorn chase. In Pine Tree Bend Mosen made a small mistake, giving Coons Jr a sniff. Coons Jr launched a move up the inside coming into Town Bend but Mosen powered around the outside to claim a memorable win. Thank goodness the front two put on a great show because nothing happened in the rest of the race. Alach was third, Pickens fourth, 25a Scott Buckley fifth and 81a Michael Kendall sixth.
Winner - 13a Brad Mosen

The Springs officials must now rate as one of the worst crews in the country. Their one redeeming feature tonight was an obvious jump start incurred a relegation in an F2 race. Dodgy race starts were let go as per previous meetings. Debris was left on the track despite a crash crew member waving in Town Bend as per a previous meeting. A field was not re-ordered prior to the green being thrown as per a previous meeting. There were mysterious black flags as per a previous meeting. Don't be surprised if the Davey Ray black flag ends up on the SNZ Headquarters desk. In the 50 lapper 96a Chris McCutcheon clearly wasn't the cause of an incident yet was given no chance to re-assume his spot in the field.

Are these guys aware the TAB runs a book on this? They couldn't even run a fair time trial. Davey Ray turned up late - what was he doing, making adjustments to his car?? No penalty was issued. You can't just turn up when you feel like it! Some cars also had transponders that didn't work including Ray. I'm sorry folks but if your transponder doesn't work bad luck. That's your responsibility. If the system breaks down that's a different issue. Dave Darland had his car break down and was somehow able to trial in Shane Alach's car. I wonder if Steve Shanley had known that, would he have liked a time trial in the Michael Pickens machine? I thought it was about as legal as Dora the Explorer's Immigration status. If a Kiwi driver like Shanley had these problems would the same courtesy have been afforded? Just give the Americans a provisional off the back. So much for a level playing field. 2/10 or a combined 9/40 for the Series.

The officiating in this International Series has been amongst the worst in living memory. If the SNZ officials were working for a professional organisation they would be joining the line at WINZ on Monday morning. Hopefully SNZ sends up some blokes who know what they are doing for the NZ TQ Champs.

This meeting summed up a lot of what is wrong with Speedway in this country. This should have been the best meeting of the year - a meeting that rates 9 out of 10. It should be the meeting where Western Springs showcases the best of what it's got. Instead fans were served up a diet of boredom in the form of formatting that didn't require passing. Michael Pickens could have won the 50 lapper tonight without passing a car. There is something very wrong with that. Likewise Ricky Brett could have won the TQ's without passing a car. On top of that the fans also had to sit through two F2 races just to add to the excitement. As a result the crowd was dead all night until the 50 lapper. Thank goodness Mosen and Coons Jr put on a duel to remember because without that this meeting may have attracted the worst Western Springs rating of the season.

If I wanted to watch a meeting like this I would tune into Formula 1.