With Saturday Night a rain out it was a Sunday afternoon meeting to decide the North Island Superstock Champion. Another terrible crowd turned up to a meeting that was at times cringe worthy. At least Friday Night had eight good races, today there were three as poor field after poor field was presented to the fans. But the promotion had a plan to keep the fans in their seats - the main Hot Dog vendor was closed!! I did see some fans with food so there must have been one open somewhere. I'd say a fair few fans would have made the effort to find the place.

A good example of why speedway is not a daytime sport. The track held early moisture. Both the inside and outside of both corners were as much bog as speedway track. The complexion of the track changed from the first Minisprint race, thank goodness we weren't running Super Saloons or Modifieds. With the sum beeming down, the track was as dead as the proverbial Dodo. It would be rather unfair to rate the track in this instance.

Five Saloons and a couple of Super Saloons came out to play. Handicapping was employed. Race one saw 7a Mike Slater spear off into the wall mid way through pit bend. The other car in the field that appeared to be a Super was 55a and I think the commentators mentioned that was Geoff Gentry. He looked good at times and with more seat time we might see a bit more consistentcy in lap times. A feature of the racing was the spinning, in fact they managed to out do the Streetstocks in one race.

Six Streetstocks took to the track and did their best to entertain. Often racing took second place and it wasn't unusual to see the race leader slow. Race three saw 13a Dax Hotene on the charge. The bonnet came flying off and Hotene was sent infield by the officials.

If you're getting the idea I'm running through these classes quickly because not much happened you would be right. 23 Ministocks were in attendance and upstaged a few of the other classes. At least they put on some competitive racing. The highlight saw a tight contest between 9a and 75a Scott Tennant. Going into the last corner the 9a made a big lunge up the inside but got tight mid-turn and ended up punting Tennant out of the way to take the win. The 9a didn't return for the final race.

Commentator John Duffy thought he was at the NZ Minisprint Championship but Percy was definitely at the Auckland Champs. The championship was run under the three heat format. Here we go again. The main event is under the three heat format so why oh why would you make life difficult by running another three-heat format championship? The event got lost in the context of the day which was a surprise given the day didn't have much context. Race one saw 72k Brian Edwards lead off into the distance from 2nz Shaun Cooke.

A yellow brought the field together and from the restart Cooke launched and made a move into the lead. But Edwards came back and in typically aggressive style made a pass up the inside through Pit Bend in the most exciting moment of the day. Those two were easily the best all day long. Going into the final race Edwards was two ahead of Cooke and 9h Zac Kennedy. Edwards raced around the field from the start and quickly put himself into second place to win the championship from Cooke and Kennedy. A point of interest on the day saw 38h Donald Kuriger make a return to the track.

26 Superstocks decided to stick around for the title so no further qualifying was required. Auckland dominated the field with 8 cars but would have been at long odds to produce a winner. Race 1 saw chaos erupt in the opening laps as the track was still settling down. The biggest incident saw 1nz Malcolm Ngatai, 31p Andy McCabe and a few others come together in Pit Bend. 6v Reversed out from the mess just as race leader 351a Paul Vazey came around the corner. It was a hit similar to the Hemi roll at the Teams Champs a few years back, albeit totally unintentional this time. Vazey rolled, ending his day.

McCabe was also out for the day. Back racing and it didn't take long for roll over number two. A few cars got out of shape coming out of Pit Bend and the innocent victim this time was 16a Aaron Headington. When was the last time there were two rollovers in an opening Superstock title heat? Things did calm down as some semblance of order descended upon the field. The big movers were 515r Stan Hickey and 72p Simon Joblin but neither were able to haul in race winner 5g Joe Faram or 135r Scott Hewson. Race two didn't quite have the same spectacular element about it but was very good nevertheless. 515r Stan Hickey was off grid three and "Got Outta Dodge" real quick, taking the lead and never looking back.

Behind him 82s John Booker was putting in a credible performance but he was unable to keep pace with 8p Scott Miers. Miers had retired in the opening heat after not being able to restart on a red light. With Faram, Hewson and Joblin all having another good race the scene was set for the finale. Hickey on 50 points, Hewson and Faram on 48 and Joblin needing a miracle on 42 points. The only others in the field who could match them for pace were 66r Steve Hampton and 1nz Malcolm Ngatai. Both these guys had been spun at every opportunity. Ngatai in particular wasn't having much luck.

With the track a bit greasy the field set off for the finale. Both Joblin and Faram were on the outside and found themselves caught up in the first corner melee. Meanwhile Hickey had made a sensational move up the inside. From grid 21 he emerged fourth with clubmates Hewson and Hampton in front and behind him respectively. Finally it seemed a championship would be his. But this is speedway and it can be a very cruel sport. Smoke billowed from the 515r machine and Hickey pulled off. As a result of Hickey's misfortune, Hewson was in the drivers seat (proverbially).

With Faram and Joblin recovering, the top three was pretty much set in stone. Joblin mysteriously passed Faram with little contact. Perhaps it wasn't the best option given the six-point deficit. Faram didn't stop trying and was rewarded by grabbing the spot back via slower traffic. That's the way it finished with Hewson winning the North Island Champonship from Faram and Joblin.

A mixed day for the officials. I'm still not in agreement with the deployment of the red lights. With the Ministocks they take no chances and fair enough too. But when you seen Scott Miers parked in the middle of the track coming out of turn four for the best part of two laps one has to wonder. Yes you need to give him some time to get started, but that is way too long. The chance for a big crash was high and the reds should have been on a lot sooner. There was debris that was missed in the opening Saloon race which was also close to the racing line.

The Ministock incident as described in heat two should have seen a relegation but to not see 9a in the third heat has me worried the officials went further. The Minisprint restart in the opening heat that saw Shaun Cooke take the lead may have also been a bit questionnable. I will give the officials the benefit of the doubt and say that the greens were activated and Edwards missed the start. The removal of Hotene for no bonnet was unfortunate but fair enough, you need a bonnet to race. Communication is also an important part of officiating and the officials need to ensure the commentators are informed so they can pass on information to the fans. That didn't happen today. 6/10

For much of the meeting it was like being at a club day. Commentator John Duffy was certainly somewhere else, suggesting the NZ Minisprint Title and the Auckland Superstock Champs were on. Changes to results went MIA, wrong race winners were called out and I don't think the winner of the championship was even announced to the fans. The crash crew lacked co-ordination to the extent that Stan Hickey pushed a car off the track mid-race. The field sizes were terrible. One can only hope the Teams Nationals are a 100% improvement on this event. It wont surprise me if there is a bit of extra room on the terraces compared with the last couple of years.