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A cold and uncomfortable night greeted fans for the opening night of Western Springs Speedway. For the first time in a long time Fireworks were on the menu! It was an addition which failed to bring the fans through the turnstiles as it was a mediocre crowd in attendance. Percy noticed there were plenty of familiar faces in his area. This was a hardcore Western Springs crowd. The action on track took a long time to heat up but it did finish with a bang, metaphorically and literally speaking.

The track has been the cause of much discussion at Western Springs Speedway over the last couple of seasons. A shower just prior to kick-off saw the top layer a bit greasier than what the track staff would have liked. As a result the track took awhile to develop but once it did it was a good one. Nice and smooth with two lines on both corners. The track did appear from the stands to have slightly inconsistent grip levels on the high line which saw only the elite Midget drivers able to utilise the high line. Or perhaps some of the teams missed their setups. The Sprintcar drivers had better luck. Hopefully this track sets the standard for the rest of the season.

Midget Feature
7a Michael Pickens was the polesitter but it would be 81a Michael Kendall who would get the jump from grid 2. Kendall immediately went to the high line and would succumb to Pickens, who was using the low line, after about 3 laps. 4a Dave Gick would also use the low line to good effect a couple of laps later to move into second place. In a flash he was on Pickens tail. Pickens had started using the high line and was looking vulnerable. Just as things were getting interesting we had our first stoppage. The big movers in the opening stages were 27a Hayden Williams from mid-pack and 88a Brad Mosen from the rear. Both were using the high line.

From the restart Pickens went to the low line to defend his lead. Those behind him were applying the same strategy with 77a Shaun Insley the only driver able to make headway in the top half-dozen. Further back Williams had gone to the low line which left Mosen the only driver of note up high. Through the middle stages of the race, which was punctuated by stoppages, Mosen picked off the top 10 one by one. He seemed to get better and better as he went forward, eventually passing Pickens for the lead much to the delight of the crowd. Once passed Pickens immediately followed Mosen to the high line. But unfortunately for Mosen his run would come unstuck as the car made a sick noise entering Pine Tree Bend and burst into flames.

From the restart Pickens resumed on the high line and whilst being comfortable was unable to establish much of a gap to Gick. Insley had taken third by this point and in the latter stages the best battle was for fourth between Williams and Kendall. Williams got the spot with a couple to go to finish fourth behind Pickens, Gick and Insley. I must also mention the effort of 5a Brock Mascovich who came a credible 7th from grid 20.

Sprintcar Feature
Top qualifier 1nz Jonathan Allard picked a four out of the hat and inverted the top 4 grids for the feature. This saw 22a Dean Brindle and 19a Jamie Duff off the front. Fans may recall those two had a series of clashes last season! There was to be no such clash this time as Brindle took an early lead. 56a Carl Wilson had a great first corner and was promptly into 4th from grid 6. That was as high as Wilson would get. 10usa Ricky Logan got by Wilson and began to put pressure on 1nz Jonathan Allard for third. Allard was a bit wild over the first few laps but after diving under 19a Jamie Duff for second settled into a routine.

Logan also got under Duff to take third place and the pattern for the race was set. The leading trio got into the lapped traffic with Allard right behind Brindle. Getting through the traffic wasn't easy for anyone but those issues were solved courtesy of the caution flag. From the restart Brindle was able to establish a bit of a lead with Allard in tow. There was a gap back to Logan who was thereabouts without threatening the top two. As the laps wound down Allard ate into Brindles lead until there was one to go.

Allard threw the kitchen sink into Pine Tree Bend and it came off as he slid underneath and up ahead of Brindle to take the lead. For some reason Allard chose the high line for the final corner which left the door open for Brindle. Sure enough he took the chance and threw his kitchen sink into Town Bend. Up he slid to take the line away from Allard but Allard was able to hang tough and power around the outside to take the win.

Fireworks
The fireworks returned for the first time in a long time and they were magnificient. Even by the high standard of speedway displays this was a beauty. The display was well received by the fans and was well worth hanging around for. Hopefully the Giraffes emerged unscathed at the nearby Auckland Zoo.

Ingenious Kids
Much of the entertainment prior to the aforementioned two feature races could be found high up in turn one. No, I'm not talking about the high line folks, I'm talking high up in the embankment. A squadron of four children had taken command of a large sheet of something and were using it to sled down the hill. This was a great learning experience for the kids who should have no problem passing their Physics exams in years to come. The weight of the four children created a large level of momentum which became an issue when their path was intercepted by a pathway. Some of the more intellectual members of the squadron bailed just prior to intercepting the pathway but some didn't. One time the front of the sheet curled up, like a bonnet coming loose and obscuring the drivers view. The children crashed and burned much to the entertainment of the fans.

Numbers
Heat races consisted of 10 car race after 10 car race after 10 car race. At least that's how it worked in the programme. The no restart rule combined with early season mechanical gremlins and the odd incident meant that we were often left watching 6-8 cars. When you are charging top dollar as Western Springs does, such numbers are simply not good enough to put on a value for money show. More on this in the Sunday Roast.

Officialdom
I'm really trying this season not to talk about my favourite topic, the SNZ officials, but I have my limits. It started before the meeting even began with Graham Standring yet again allowed to run the #3 despite not being the current 3nz. Standring was listed as 3u in the programme, presumably a reference to 3usa. This was all rather ironic given we had genuine Americans Jonathan Allard and Ricky Logan listed as 1nz and 10a respectively. I wonder if overseas driver requirements will apply to Standring should he wish to run the New Zealand title in a few weeks time? On a more serious note I've heard Michael Kendall is now residing in Brisbane, he will be struggling to do his 5 meetings before December 2nd if there is truth to that information.

That aside the TQ feature was won courtesy of one of the biggest grass cuts of the last ten years. Coming off turn 4 41a Jared Taylor was well on the infield when executing the pass on 15a Ryan Baker. Yet the offence seemed to go unpunished and Taylor went on to win the race. Hopefully that's the end of talking about Springs Officials this season.

Speedway is a numbers game. The more cars on track the better the action, the more fans turn up providing better value for sponsors which provides more sponsorship money to get more drivers on track. The Speedway New Zealand stats sheet released earlier this year made for some interesting reading in this area. At Western Springs from 1995 to around 2004 the track averaged around 150 registered competitors, peaking at 163 in the 2002/03 season. Since that season we have seen a decline of epic proportions and from 2006 to 2010 the average has gone down to 120 competitors. Some may attribute this to the demise of the Modified Sprint class but they have been replaced by the F2 Midgets.

Looking through the fields for tonights show a little deeper gives even greater cause for concern. A quick look through the programme reveals just 21 proper Midgets with a "A" on the side. We now seem to be reliant on "S", "C" and when they aren't racing at Huntly "H" cars to produce a full Midget field. Another case in point is the Sprintcar field. Of the 15 cars on track for opening night there were 2 drivers from the USA and 3 (Duff, Forsey and Scott) from the South Island. That leaves just 10 local drivers which includes the likes of 18a Greg Pickerill and 22a Dean Brindle whom I understand are not from Auckland.

Some may point to the modern economy as the issue but the stats don't lie. The decline starts almost exactly at the point in time Springs Promotions Ltd took over the joint. It would be a fascinating exercise to do a survey of the drivers who have come and gone to canvas the reasons why. Because if we don't understand the reasons why we can't expect to arrest this worrying trend. Relying on drivers from other tracks to put on a show is exposing yourself to a lot of risk. What if these other tracks raise their game and lure their drivers back? Then what for Western Springs?