NZ Midget Grand Prix
PlaceMakers Huntly Speedway
After several attempts at watching some speedway action including a trip to Baypark which with hindsight now, was correctly postponed on Thursday much to my dismay, then the third go at running the NZ Modified title at Waikaraka Park was completely washed out, I had less than high hopes for the Saturday night meeting scheduled for Huntly Speedway. The NZ Grand Prix for Midgets was on the programme and it seems that any meeting with the letters 'NZ' in them basically means it will be rained out. Well praise the Lord, we actually got a meeting in! Driving to the track you could see whole paddocks under a sheet of water so I really don't know how Red and the team managed to present such a good looking track on first arrival.
I caught up with a friend I used to work with years ago, Bruce, who is a big Western Springs fan which was a huge bonus for me as I have hardly visited the Springs in recent years. He had a massive amount of knowledge and was able to give me the ins-and-outs on who was who, and who was most likely to perform. In fact we had one of those awesome nights when you cover so many speedway topics that the night is just a blur and probably half the reason I enjoyed this meeting so much. The other reason was the racing and full fields in most classes, one of the few BIG meetings that hasn't been let down by poor support this season. Hell, even the productions were entertaining and they aren't exactly my favourite class but credit where credit is due.
For a full review of the Midget racing you cant get better than Percy's very extensive posting on his website HERE, so all I will add is that I felt gutted for the fulla with the flat tyre who got black flagged, felt odd watching the Wades in Midgets and not Superstocks, enjoyed the commentary and could hear it even during the racing which is a massive improvement on the problems they had on my last visit and thought its about time I paid Western Springs another visit. The Stockcars at Huntly never let you down, and with a bunch of Wellington and Rotorua cars in attendance the local bullies (most notably, 4h, 88h and 83h Steve Gray) were at their best although two of them were rolled on the night so the honours were split on who won the battle. 7w Shane Davis of Wellington was one of the major highlights dishing out a bit of biff. One final thought, why is it every time the Midgets travel away from the Springs to either WP or Huntly, they put on some incredible racing and every time I go to WS I always seem to encounter an appalling track surface and a dud night!
NZ Midget Grand Prix
Final Placings
77a Shaun Insley
9a Michael Brunt
91a Shane O'Connor
9h Angus McLeod
73k Brian Edwards
2 comments:
Whats up with the BSL stockcar? (2nd photo)
Carl Campbell's car, first night out with the new body on it. Still 15a, was the only Auckland car that managed to get in to race, was a full field.
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