To quote cricket commentator Bill Lawry "It was all happening". A night of drama, suspense and at times some quality racing kept fans and drivers guessing what was going to happen next. Commentator Jamie McCarthy was joined by the Paris Hilton of the commentary box, Barry Brown. It seems that it's not a big speedway meeting unless Barry Brown is in commentary!

Much of the excitement during the night was generated by the track. Given the earlier 6:00pm start I was anticipating a moist surface to deal with the extra daylight exposure. What we got was just the opposite. Even in the first Quarter Midget race dust was being exposed! But there was moisture there somewhere as the middle and exit of both corners rutted up. The exit to Town Bend resembled a Motocross track. By race 7 the roller was called into action. The driver completed more laps of the track than many of the competitors during the evening. It did help but not even a roller could ultimately save the track. A very high line did develop and passing was possible so it wasn't all bad. But when the premier event is the NZ TQ Title a track like this is not ideal. 3/10

But I have a conspiracy theory!! During the International Series fans may remember we had noise problems running 18 TQ's. It was why we ran a different format over the last two nights of the International Series. Yet tonight we somehow managed to run two groups of 19 cars with no noise issues whatsoever. Could it be that the track was prepared to keep the noise situation under control??

Two races for the Quarters with an improved field of about 10 cars. There was little between the top contenders all night although the racing was largely void of passing.
Winners - 16a Ryan Barry, 6a Connor Clarke

A few local Sprintcars were missing after the carnage at Palmerston North. Making the trek up from Palmy were 6p Nelson Hartley and 28p Chris Uhlenberg. Both made a spectacular entrance in the opening heat. Hartley spun in the first corner, leaving 8a Ryan O'Conner nowhere to go. O'Conner was out, Hartley got a restart. The race saw forward progress for 27a Alan Wakeling and 71a Jamie McDonald. On the last lap Uhlenberg rolled coming out of Pine Tree Bend but would return later in the evening.

The action was mid-pack in heat two. 1nz Dean Brindle and 3nz Greg Pickerill were having a whale of a time trying to tame the track whilst passing and avoiding each other. Heat three saw 96a Jeremy Halpin on the move. The unheralded driver was in top form, highlighted by an outstanding pass on 56a Carl Wilson in Town Bend. Halpin finished fourth from grid eight and in doing so secured grid two for the feature.

Alongside Halpin was Wakeling and it was the more experienced Wakeling who got the jump at the start. Halpin held his own with McDonald in third. The big mover was O'Conner, from grid 12 he came charging through the field. McDonald eventually got by Halpin. A yellow was activated late in the race. Pickerill was battling with 63a Raymond Griffin when Pickerill ended up climbing the Pine Tree Bend concrete like a Stockcar normally does! It was a bizarre incident. Griffin was ordered infield with a battered front wing and we were back racing.

Wakeling led away but McDonald was his tail. Going into Pine Tree Bend Wakeling went high and McDonald low. J-Mac couldn't make the move stick but into Town Bend he lunged up the inside to take the lead. From there the win was never in doubt as J-Mac stormed to victory from Wakeling, Halpin and O'Conner.
Winners - 96a Jeremy Halpin, 27a Alan Wakeling, 1nz Dean Brindle, 71a Jamie McDonald (feature)

At the podium following the event Commentator Jamie McCarthy was asking some of the drivers if they were coming back next season. Don't encourage them Jamie!! I'm certainly hoping the class has died a death tonight. A season high of seven cars fronted and ran what appeared to be two fastest to the front races. As if the class wasn't boring enough already!
Winners - 12h McGough (2)

Tonight was the NZ Midget Grand Prix. SPL showed their formatting prowess by splitting the field into two for heats and running a fastest to the front winner takes all feature. Good stuff. Group 1 heat 1 saw 77a Shaun Insley and 81a Michael Kendall lead early. They were joined by 54a Michael Pickens who benefitted from 13a Brad Mosen running into the back of 8a Pam Shanley in the first corner. Pickens good fortune was not to last as Mosen made a physical pass in Pine Tree Bend. Pickens pulled to the infield and was out for the night with issues unrelated to the pass.

The favourites were having a tough time as evidenced by 1nz Shayne Alach in group two. The track had just been watered and Alach got caught up high, drifting to the rear. He did make progress through the field, as did 33a Graham Standring. 21a Carl Worboys failed to last the distance. 4a Dave Gick was an unlikely race winner. Group 1 heat two saw plenty of non-starters. Pickens, Shanley, Harding and Mosen all failed to make the grid. 75a Bill Clarkson Jr was the early leader but flipped out of contention after contact with 87a Lance Beale who was disputing the lead. (More on this later)

Beale would record the win from Insley with those two topping the group. 81a Michael Kendall was a DNF. Worboys was the only non-starter in group two. 33a Graham Standring was in fine early form before encountering mechanical problems. Also in fine form was 1nz Shayne Alach. Alach was flying around the high line, capturing the lead from grid 8. Unbelievably he too would succumb to the curse of the favourites, pulling infield on the back straight. That left young star 96a Chris McCutcheon to take the win. The group winner was Gick (in what must rate as a career highlight for him) from 25a Scott Buckley with McCutcheon and 3nz Angus McLeod tying for third.

No repechage was required and only 18 starters managed to make the Grand Prix. The grid resembled an old school fastest to the back race with the likes of Standring, Worboys, Kendall and Alach having plenty of work to do. Insley was on pole with Beale on two and it would be Beale who would dominate the early proceedings. The gang from the back were struggling with only Standring really showing forward momentum. Insley would fall back from second into the clutches of Buckley and McCutcheon, with the three of them putting on an entertaining battle which was defined by a three wide pass by McCutcheon to claim second. He would hit a rut a couple of laps later to go back to fourth before being bizarrely re-instated to third under a yellow.

From memory the yellow was for a Worboys roll. From the restart it wasn't long until Beale suffered mechanical gremlins This propelled Buckley into the lead from McCutcheon and the consistent 17h Michael Brunt. Alach was starting to become a factor but got hooked up with another car and spun to the infield and out of the race. Standring was unstoppable coming forward. Back up front and McCutcheon got by Buckley and set about building an unassailable lead. That was until the SNZ officials produced a noise blackboard for McCutcheon (you know there's going to be more on this later!). This put Buckley (promoter's son) into the lead and he would win the NZ Midget Grand Prix from Standring and Brunt.
Winners - 77a Shaun Insley, 87a Lance Beale, 4a Dave Gick, 96a Chris McCutcheon, 25a Scott Buckley (Grand Prix)

A good field of 38 cars converged for one of the widest open New Zealand Championships of the season. Group 1 Race 1 was dominated by the consecutively numbered 14a Paul Le Cren, 15a Lawrence Baker and 16a Shaun Cooke. 2nz Craig Todd made initial progress but as the race went on he was unable to match the frontrunners. The big mover was 35c Ryan Stone who slowly but surely made his way through from grid 19 to finish fourth without looking spectacular at any time. DNF's included 12a Anton Johnson with a flat tyre, 19a Brock Maskovich who lost a muffler/exhaust and 66a Sean Rose who had a huge engine blow near the end of the race.

Group 2 Heat 1 turned into a Demolition Derby through some over-zealous driving and poor officiating. No fewer than four starts were required. Victims included 64a Gina Harris who took a big tumble down the back straight, 6b Duane Todd, 23a Aymon Bridger, 71a Gavin Hamlin who cut a tyre, 8c Jeremy Webb, 24b James Tollison who flipped spectacularly coming out of Pine Tree Bend, 56a Ross Linklater and finally 82b Colin Matthews. We eventually got some racing and the big mover was 39c Ricky Brett from grid 12 to third. Polesitter 3nz Shane O'Conner couldn't hold off 27a Hayden Williams who was looking in ominous form.

Group 1 Heat 2 was a good one. 14a Paul Le Cren was on the charge early, putting the pressure on Stone for top group finisher. 19a Brock Mascovich was desperate for points after his DNF in the opening race, moving forward quickly. This set the scene for the race with final group positions changing by the lap. Mascovich got by Stone for the lead. On the last lap it was all over for Stone as he pulled infield, out of what would have been a top 4 starting spot for the NZ Championship race. Baker and Cooke made up spots through the middle of the race to tie for second equal with Craig Todd in the group. Overall though it was Le Cren who topped the group with 36 points. 78c Lindsay Bailey flipped during the race to add to the list of casualties.

The Demolition Derby group (Group 2) came back for their second heat. It was a more sedate affair although only 10 cars saw the chequered flag. Much of the race focussed on the battle for group win between Brett and Williams. It was neck and neck and the unpredictable track saw cars going back and forwards up the order. A late yellow brought the field close together. 56a Ross Linklater was in fourth and like Maskovich in group 1 was desperate for points. He launched a fearless move around the outside and it came off, moving from fourth to first. This should have helped Williams but he lost a couple more spots. A last lap pass by O'Conner saw him top the group, equal with Brett with Williams one point back.

The repechage could have had as many as 18 starters. Such was the carnage just 5 made the grid! But there was more to come. As the race drew to a close 28b Christine Bargh rolled herself down the front-straight. With our final four qualifiers set the officials bizarrely opted to not declare the race despite there being just one lap remaining. The final lap saw 12a Anton Johnson go up in a big cloud of smoke. So from a total of 38 starters, the remaining 23 would contest the New Zealand TQ Midget Championship.
Winners - 14a Paul Le Cren, 19a Brock Mascovich, 27a Hayden Williams, 56a Ross Linklater, 11g Michael Aulding (repechage)

The first start was a disaster. 5g Dylan McGregor made one of the bigger jump starts of the season and made contact with Cooke. Cooke rolled. 15a Lawrence Baker retired infield while McGregor could restart. Take two and McGregor made and even bigger jump start - How were the officials missing this?? Thankfully he was a non-factor in the final results. O'Conner led away while fellow front-row partner Paul Le Cren began his drift backwards. Brett and Williams went by with Williams assuming the second position. The excitement during the race was provided by Mascovich who was making a big run from grid 14. His early progress steadied once he reached fifth.

With the track still providing excitement, the result was not exactly assured at any stage. Brett almost got up the inside of Williams on a couple of occasions. As the laps wound down, Mascovich got up to launch a challenge on Brett. He was successful, ensuring an unlikely Auckland trifecta as O'Conner took the win from Williams and Mascovich.
New Zealand Champion - Shane O'Conner

Officiating standards reached new low's during the International Midget Series. Tonights effort was just as bad. Starts were ordinary all night. The four attempts at starting TQ Group 2 heat 1 were mainly due to problems arising from jump starts. 27a Hayden Williams clearly jumped the first start yet nothing was done. On the next restart at least three drivers back in the pack tried to do the same thing. This continued on to the next restart as the gutless officials watched while car after car DNF'd. It was to continue. Even Jamie McCarthy was calling jump starts on the sound system by the time Dylan McGregor got to work in the feature. The start to the Sprintcar feature was so messy that starter Brian Thompson refused to wave the green. But alas the green lights were on and it wasn't called back!!

The officials also managed to endanger the lives of the crash crew twice during the evening. On one TQ roll the yellows failed to be activated which saw the crash crew scatter in all directions whilst trying to assist the upside down driver. In another race a Sprintcar spun precariously close to the pole line. Starter Brian Thompson waved the yellow but had to wait for a lap until the lights were activated. Thompson threw his yellow flag over his shoulder as the crowd applauded! Thank goodness we have one of the most on the ball starters in speedway.

The Lance Beale/Clarkson Jr carsh was a bit questionnable, from my angle it looked like Beale may have moved over but the officials would have a better view. What isn't questionnable was the left front of Beale well over the pole line on the preceeding corner when he passed Clarkson Jr. No relegation ensued. Then there is the sensational exclusion of McCutcheon for noise when he was about to win the NZ Midget Grand Prix. So lets get this straight, he was fine all night and for the first 15 or so laps of the feature. Then through divine intervention he is suddenly over noise and the officials can register this despite the fact he was in lapped traffic for the 2 or so laps before getting the board?

We also had an illegal number appear. 3nz Greg Pickerill's number is exactly the same colour as the rest of his car and is only distinguishable by a white outline. You can't see it at speed and I fail to see how any manual lap-scorer could lap score him. This was especially comical given every double up in the TQ division was forced to change! On the positive the SNZ officials re-ordered the field much better than the normal Springs guys and Griffin being ordered to the infield for a mangled front wing looked fair enough although the driver appeared to be in disagreement. Overall though the officiating tonight was more of what we saw in the International Series. 1/10

An application has been made to council for another meeting as we lost last weekend. March 28th is the date and if it gets the go ahead I would like to see a "Fan Appreciation Night". Formats fastest to the back and effort going into the track prep to ensure a quality nights racing. No F2 Midgets and Minisprints brought in as an Invitation class. OK yes I am dreaming.

Perhaps the most pleasing thing this year is that there have been no shockers. In past years SPL has served up one or two meetings per season just left you shaking your head. In saying that we haven't exactly had many meetings in the upper echelon either. Both International Series failed to match the entertainment of previous years. Off the track things are heading in the right direction. Tonight saw the introduction of a Lego tent for the kids to play. What a fantastic idea. Slowly but surely SPL are improving.