This review wont quite follow the normal format. Percy ran 14km around Lake Taupo around 1am Saturday morning, getting back to the hotel at 5am. After a few hours sleep it was back out on course before confirming the weather and driving for three hours down to Palmy. The friendly policeman who breath tested me in palmy seemed interested with the number of lollies I had in the car but let me on my way. So folks, by the time I reached Palmy I was hardly in a frame of mind to be reviewing Adult Ministock racing! Anyway, three days on and lets see what Percy can remember.

First Impressions count for a lot. They set the mood for the evening. When the gate you go through doesn't have any programme's it's not a good sign. It was probably a good thing as the programme that eventually ended up reaching me was more suited to a Waharoa club day. Surely the printers must have stuffed up and a programme was hastily thrown together at the last moment? Hot Laps started too late which meant a 15 minute delay to the start of the meeting. The field came out in drips and drabs. The whole thing looked disorganised and unprofessional. By the way, if the three minute bell applies to championship races then surely it must also apply to time trials??

Once things got underway fans had to sit through individual time trials. This is how things were done 2-3 seasons ago, not 2009. What it meant is that by 8pm fans hadn't seen any racing whatsoever despite paying $25 bucks at the gate. I'm not saying the format was bad, it was the only format Palmy could use given the track they have. It was the way the promotion went about using the format. The crowd was as dead as a dodo. That's if you could find anyone else. The crowd was pathetic for a title of this magnitude. Things were not looking good.

First of all a big congratulations to the TQ class. One week out from the NZ Title it would have been easier for these guys to have the week off. Instead they chose to make the trip down to Palmy to entertain the fans. Great stuff. Other classes on display were the Stockcars and Adult Ministocks. The Adult Ministocks were back the following night. Am I missing something here?? This was quite possibly the only crowd during the year that would appreciate Minisprnts and we don't see one all weekend?? I must be missing something - the class must have had a major championship elsewhere in the country.

The Stockcars also put on a good show. But it wasn't enough to justify the entry price. The Outlaws format is not a format that produces great value for the spectator - it's a drivers format. If you are going to run the Outlaws format then you need to stack the support card like Rotorua does for the World 240's. How about a Palmerston North Saloon Championship, a Minisprint Invitation or a Streetstock Bash for Cash. Just give us something!! At 8:30pm I could have quite easily got up and left but the Sprintcars would come and save the day.

Palmerston North is so narrow that it's exciting to watch the Sprintcars grid up. Whilst there wasn't much racing the entertainment value could not be denied as we saw some of the most spectacular wipeouts of the season. Race 1 was a relatively sedate affair. 38c Karen Forsey managed to climb the wall but other than that it was all quite clean. 0usa Jonathon Allard got by 27a Alan Wakeling, 11p Ian Easton and 24w Martin Halcrow in the early stages. Wakeling would also go by Easton and Halcrow but couldn't make up another spot to secure the transfer.

Heat two started with an incident that will be talked about for years to come. 75a Tommy Rusher veered to the right from the green and took 11a Raymond Griffin with him along with 7p Brent Harris and 86m Shay Oliver. The crash was shown on replay about 25 times, it didn't look any better on the 25th occasion. I better not elaborate as my information is that there is more to this incident than meets the eye.

Race 3 almost saw 18a Greg Pickerill come to grief. 15p Rob Garratt performed a wheelstand on the front and back straights on the opening lap. Pickerill took to the infield to avoid contact and tore up an infield sign! 8a Ryan O'Conner had a left rear brake that was sticking and from the restart put on a fireworks display that had to be seen to be believed. Meanwhile 71a Jamie McDonald had a huge crash in turn three. His car was substabtially shorter but would sensationally return for night two after an SOS call to Auckland.

The final heat saw more fireworks as trackmates 4m Kerry Bartlett and 66m Skinny Colson got together. The resulting roll saw plenty of damage for both drivers and tempers were starting to flare. We weren't seeing much racing but you couldn't look away, it was all action.

I thought the officials got on top on most of the issues that presented themselves. 35a Hans Boere couldn't trial in his spot and copped a penalty of only being able to do one lap. 8a Ryan O'Conner tried to restart after unbuckling and was denied. There was also a relegation for grass usage if my memory serves me correctly. There probably should have been a couple more but at least they were looking at it. It's nice not to be talking about officialdom after the past month or so.

That's the question being asked and I would err to the "No" side of the debate. Track conditions aside it's clear the class hasn't had much of an impact on the locals judging by crowd size. Apparently the crowd for the internationals was equally as poor. The promotion failed to rise to the occasion and the whole thing felt more like a pre-season practice than an NZ Title.

In my mind there are three tracks and three tracks only that should be hosting the NZ Sprintcar Title.

1. Ruapuna
2. Baypark
3. Western Springs

Cromwell, hosting the title next year, is still some way off in my opinion. What should be happening is Ruapuna hosts the NZ's and Cromwell the Grand Prix. If Cromwell does a good job with a Grand Prix, then you can look at them hosting the NZ Championship but not before. The same applies to Palmy which should have held a Grand Prix prior to the NZ's. I believe a North Island Championship was held there previously but hosting the NZ's is the equivalent of jumping three rungs on a ladder. When you do that, sometimes you fall off.

Halfway through this meeting it was the worst of the season by quite some distance. It was heading for a 2/10 if it was lucky. Enter some pyrotechnics and all of a sudden things came to life. But ultimately you can judge a meeting by the crowd - the crowd was dead. Reports from night 2 also suggest the crowd was dead.

It is of great concern that one of the premier promotions in NZ Speedway can run one of the premier titles in NZ Speedway and pull a crowd like this.

Lessons need to be learnt because I'm seeing title after title being run in sub-standard fashion. Aside from Night two of the World 240's, Night 1 of the NZ Superstocks and the World Midget 30 Lapper it's been a season of mediocrity. I've been to almost 30 meetings, so that's one in every 10 that I would say was really good. Given the amount of travelling I've done I will suggest that there is a long way for speedway to go to reach it's potential.

It's meetings like this that just leave you shaking your head in disbelief.

Adult Ministocks on both nights?
Time trialling 40 cars one at a time?
Running the fastest class in the country on one of the skinniest tracks?

I'm going to make the effort to go to Waikaraka Park this Friday for the North Island Superstocks to get my sanity back!