A good crowd turned up for the annual John Webster Memorial at Auckland's Waikaraka Park. The lineup prior to the meeting had this punter a little concerned about the meetings ability to do justice to John. But do justice it did. The feature of the night was the Midget class and the 40 lap Barry Butterworth Memorial feature. The success of the evening was due to the continuity of the entertainment, as a spectator I wanted to watch every race and more often than not the racing produced the goods.

A typically smooth Waikaraka surface greeted the competitors. The top peeled off and exposed a lack of depth in moisture. Once the moist pole line was packed it created a line around the pole line which ended up being the preferred line. The high line never really developed at either end of the track, a contributing factor to the feature races not having the same entertainment as some of the heat racing. 7/10

Nine solo's put on some quickfire racing before the sun went down. It did add some variety to the programme and ensured the meeting covered the full range of open-wheel, stockcar, saloon and bike. After two rounds without passing handicapping was introduced which increased the entertainment ten-fold. A 6-man final was the last race and proved beyond all doubt that the #6 entry was unbeatable tonight. I think I heard the commentators mention his name was Andrew Bargh.
Winner - 6b Andrew Bargh

Tonight featured the Auckland Super Saloon Champs which was news to me. 8 Supers fronted along with three Saloons. Race one saw 96a Lance Jennings take an early lead. The action back in the pack saw 38h Peter Hemi on a mission. High, wide and handsome was the Hemi style. His battle with 51h Darren Pennington was fire and brimstone. Substantial contact was made on two seperate occasions coming out of turn four as neither driver was prepared to give way. Hemi would eventually prevail.

Race two saw the roles reversed with Jennings coming through the field, albeit in slightly less spectacular fashion. With a first and a third each, Hemi and Jennings would occupy the front row for the winner take all Auckland Super Saloon Title. Pennington was in the wars again, this time with 42h Chris Tombleson in an absorbing back of the field battle. The green dropped for the main event and it was Jennings who got the jump on Hemi. But Hemi was never far behind, stalking Jennings relentlessly. On about lap 8 Jennings went slightly wide out of turn four and Hemi was up the inside.

Jennings tried to squeeze Hemi entering turn one but Hemi was door to door and made the move. The following lap Jennings overdid it and Hemi was released. Hemi would take the win from Jennings and 55a Geoff Gentry. 61a Roy Walker was the first Saloon home in a credible fifth place.
Winners - 96a Lance Jennings, 38h Peter Hemi (2 incl title)

22 Stockcars fronted including two Kihikihi visitors, 31h Rodney Smythe and 33h Russell Michie. Race 1 set the tone for the night with 168a Billy Neill and 27a Scott Phipps on the pace. 117a Rose Halfpenny seemed to attract plenty of attention from a variety of drivers. Race two saw the hit of the night as 23a Tony Baldwin launched Halfpenny up the wall in Cemetary Bend. Halfpenny ended up on top of the wall and into the fence! Once back on the ground Halfpenny fired it up and carried on like nothing had happened!

Indeed Baldwin was in fine form all night and was easily the stirrer on the night. 137a Jamie Fergusson was a latecomer, making race two and copping a good shot from Neill. Baldwin was at it again in race three, making a good last corner hit on 33h Russell Michie. By the end of race four just eight of the 22 starters were circulating, including Halfpenny whose car was obviously less than 100%.
Winners - 168a Billy Neill, 27a Scott Phipps, 31h Rodney Smythe, 14a Mark McNabb

A big field of 21 cars fronted including 11g Michael Aulding, 8b Craig Todd, 6b Duane Todd and 9b Mark Alexander. Craig Todd took an early lead in race one from 1nz Shane O'Conner. They established a gap as 16a Shaun Cooke battled for third with 33a Amanda Warren. As the laps wound down lapped traffic became a factor and things closed up. Cooke came from nowhere to enter the equation. On the last lap Cooke snuck up the inside of O'Conner to grab second. But Todd held the lead and looked odds on to win until Cooke somehow found a small passage on the last straight to snatch the win from Todd.

Race two saw Cooke spin early, negating his efforts in heat one. 8b Craig Todd was the man to watch from dead last on the grid. Todd was using the high line to good effect and made pass after pass, finishing the race in third. The feature was fastest to the front with Craig Todd on pole and 1nz Shane O'Conner on two, the same grid as race one. Like race one Todd established the early lead with O'Conner in tow. A little further back 56a Ross Linklater was battling with 41a Jared Taylor and 14a Paul Le Cren. Back up front and O'Conner began making in-roads on the leader but was ultimately unable to put substantial pressure on Todd. 6b Duane Todd finished third.
Winners - 16a Shaun Cooke, 56a Ross Linklater, 8b Craig Todd

Once again the Midget class produced the goods as the superstars of New Zealand Speedway came out to play. Race 1 saw an aggressive 54a Michael Pickens take an early lead only to have to restart the race as 19a Mark Mullins spun and was clipped by 96a Chris McCutcheon who ended up upside down. Take two and the same result, Pickens in front. However mechanical drama's would sideline Pickens from the lead. This left 77a Shaun Insley to take the win from 87a Lance Beale. Race two featured the current 1,2 and 3nz with Angus Macleod driving the Bryce Townsend #91a car.

2nz Brad Mosen took and early lead but it was all happening in the mid-pack. 21a Carl Worboys in particular looked racey. 66a Steve Shanley was in the thick of it but would ultimately end in disaster. Shanley got wide coming out of turn four, going up the wall before rolling. The top two in each heat ended up all being in heat three. 1nz Shayne Alach was the early leader but ended up being run down by Beale. Coming out of the last corner Beale made a physical pass on Alach to take the win.

The fourth and final race was a case of redemption for many of the drivers. 33a Graham Standring had DNF'd first up but had the setup working well in this one. Pickens was also back in form, as was McCutcheon. With a first and a second Beale was top qualifier and opted to start from the rear for an extra $5,000 should he take the win. It would be a hard task for Beale, giving some very talented drivers a big head start. Alach was the polesitter with mid-field charges likely to come from Pickens on grid 13 and Standring from grid 12.

After a 4-wide salute the green flag dropped and it was all go. 77a Shaun Insley spun in the opening couple of laps and plenty of others were involved. Under National Midget Car Series rules they all had to restart from the rear. Pickens and Beale were the main benefactors. From the restart Pickens was on a one-way mission to the front, using the pole line to good effect. Soon enough he was on the tail of race leader 1nz Shayne Alach. At one stage he got alongside Alach, wheelstanding much of the back straight as Pickens kept the foot down!

That attempt would prove futile but a yellow on lap 16 brought the field close together. The following lap Alach went wide coming out of turn four and Pickens took his chance up the inside to take the lead. Pickens extended his lead and Alach went searching up high in Cemetary Bend and appeared to find conditions in his favour, closing the gap to Pickens. Meanwhile Standring and Insley were coming back through the field, Standring in particular was making impressive progress. Beale was still going but was not a factor, struggling to maintain a spot in the top 10.

96a Chris McCutcheon had a massive tyre blow. A piece of something went flying over the fence, way above the main grandstand before coming down in front of the stand. I would hate to think how high it went! Late in the race Alach had a new lease on life and was putting pressure on Pickens to take the lead. With two to go 2nz Brad Mosen ground to a halt after holding third all race. With two to go the greens were activated with Pickens holding on. The white flag came out for the final lap with Alach cutting up the inside coming down the back straight. Both cars fired into the final corner and it was Pickens who would emerge first and take the win in the Barry Butterworth Memorial Feature.
Winners - 77a Shaun Insley, 2nz Brad Mosen, 87a Lance Beale, 21a Carl Worboys, 54a Michael Pickens (feature)

A strange night of officiating has this punter wondering if the officials had borrowed their Springs counterparts for the evening! It seems open-wheelers are giving officials all sorts of problems. 211a Ryan O'Conner stops near the pole line in the TQ's and no yellow? The crash crew having to drag Ryan to safety. There was also debris left on the track after a yellow in the first Super Saloon race. The officials managed to cause mass confusion with the four wide salute, some competitors thought the race was about to start which would have been fun at 4-wide! Re-ordering of the field proved problematic all night, twice in TQ action they didn't even bother settling a dispute back in the field.

The officials seemed unwilling to make any calls. Beale should have copped a relegation for his effort in passing Alach in heat three. Beale came flying out of the corner and made contact with Alach, punting him off a line he was totally entitled to take. There were also a number of instances of competitors having to make abrupt steering adjustments to avoid contact. Pickens was fortunate in the feature to avoid a relegation. In lapping 19a Mark Mullins Pickens chose the wrong line and put two tyres on the infield in passing. In Pickens defence the infield was the same colour as the track at that point. Two laps later Standring cut the pole line to pass 91a Angus MacLeod in Cemetary Bend. Yet the officials seemed oblivious to it all. 3/10

I'm not Ian Abrahams biggest fan by any stretch of the imagination but tonight saw some good promoting. Handicapping of solo's and fastest to the front Auckland Super Saloon Champs are two such examples. Fireworks as the cars won the respective feature races were also a nice touch. It was also good to see two clowns in attendance to keep everyone entertained. The "on the night" promoting contrasts heavily with the lack of anything in the week prior to the event. Mind you, if the accuracy of the Super Saloon field printed in the programme is anything to go by it might be better to not say anything.

Tonight is one of those nights when you look at Waikaraka Park and see the potential. If only every week could be like this.

Memo to Lewis Dawson - let this be the last year the Barry Butterworth Memorial is raced outside of Western Springs. I would like to see the second night of next season be a memorial night for all classes with fastest to the back racing. Shane Turner memorial for TQ's, Butterworth for Midgets and Noel Goodwin Memorial for Sprintcars. Now that would be some night of speedway.