It was great to be back at Western Springs having missed a couple of events with our trips to Australia. With the recent rain out for us we hadn't really had an opportunity to get back into the swing of thing here so we were looking forward to a fast track and plenty of competition.
The track had plenty of water when we arrived, problem was it was all sitting on top of the surface, none of us knew this early on, however it became clear to us all when the Feature Events started. The frustration is that due to the effort not going into preparing the track properly neither the crowd or the drivers enjoy the nights racing.
The night started with Brad off Grid 11 in his first heat. He managed to push through to 2nd place, a great start. Then the fueling issue that we have not found arrived back and the engine wouldn't take throttle in Brad's second heat. He sat on the infield and watched that one. This put us into the B main which was a place we haven't been for sometime. Brad had an engine that was running again, however when you spend all your time finding the problem, you don't have enough time to set the car for a track that was drying out very quickly. He won the B Main from the front and we were given Grid 17 for the Feature.
We set the car for the dry track and Brad found a bit of drive in Pine Tree which elevated him up to 10th early on. He got passed a couple of extra cars and finished 7th.
Great for Shayne Allach to win, he has now won 4 in a row and is on top of his game.
We will resolve the fueling issue we have ready for the final night at Western Springs this weekend. Then the National Midget Car Series hits the road with a number of tracks to be raced at. Looking forward to Ferndene on the 20th March, and of course one of the biggest races of the year....The Barry Butterworth Classic at Waikaraka Park on the 10th April. We have had a couple of Australians confirm they will be at this event and I expect there will be a record number of entries for this meeting.
Greg

After running Round 7 of the Australian Speedcar Series at Adelaide, Brad was elligible to compete in the Australian Title, held at Avalon Speedway in Geelong. Brad and I headed over on Wednesday morning to meet up with the Jack and the team to prepare the car for the week ahead. Wednesday Night was Practice and most of the cars arrived to get their heads around this track. It looked similar to Huntly both in size and surface material. It did have a fair bit of banking in it so should be fast. They didn't get enough water into it early on and then mid way through practice they watered it again and then it was really slippery.
After cleaning up the gear on Thursday we went to the Calcutta Night which was hosted at the Ford Museum in town. This was a great place to have this function and it was well attended by all of the teams. The night comprised of the drivers drawing their marbles, auctioning off the drivers, band, bar and great food. The drivers and the teams all got together and it was something we could do in New Zealand, as it was great fun.
Friday was the first of two nights racing. They had seeded the drivers into groups and the first two heats were front/back grids as per the draw at the Calcutta Night. They would then take the highest point scorers and set them all into new groups and the first of these two additional heats was run Friday night, the second was the first race Saturday night.
Brad started on grid 5 in the first heat and grid 7 in his second heat. He finished 2nd in both. His third heat had him start out of grid 5 again, and he won that one. So after three heats on Friday Night he was second overall, not a bad start. The track was very drivey and fast, really good racing.
Saturday arrived and it was just as hot as Friday, late 30's. Problem was the wind was warm and it was blowing a bit. It dried the track out and they needed to re prepare the track. They wanted to turn the track over and pump some water into it, however they are on water restrictions and the Dam they get it from was too low so we had to deal with what we had.
As far as getting the crowd in the mood for the Main event, we could learn a few things. They had aircraft do two separate flyby's, MX bikes doing jumps on the infield, and then the drivers came out onto the track on the back of Harley's as each driver was introduced to the crowd. Fireworks and National Anthems and we were set to go. The race was not a good thing, of the 20 plus starters 4 finished. The track tore up the rubber on all the cars and we had right rears going flat from lap 12. The race was a 40 Lapper. Anyway, Nathan Smee won it and he is the second Australian to win the Title in the past 10 or more years, so well done to him.
Everyone on our Kiwi team had gone to watch and it was great to see both the JBR team and ours get along so well, we all had a great week. Big thanks to Debbie and Pete for their help, especially those late night suppers. I am sure Brett is happy to be back at work, as he didn't stop all week. The owner of the team, Jack Berry has asked Brad to run for him in the three 50 lap races later this year and Brad is really excited of the prospect of getting back in the 29 car. Really appreciate all these guys have done for us, and can't wait to get back there to race.
This week we return to Western Springs to run the North Island Championship and the next round of the National Midget Car Series.

With the weather forecast suggesting it was going to rain all week we woke to a fine day on Saturday. The team headed down to the race shop to complete the final preparations to the car and it almost felt like the season was starting again. We had obviously had a bit of racing with both Chili Bowl and more recently Adelaide, however our car here hadn't been out since the first week in January. This weekend had all classes back at Western Springs for the Auckland Champs.
On arriving at the track we saw that the Promotion had invited the Solo Bikes along. They don't normally like running at Western Springs as the clay surface has a lot of grip in it and that doesn't suit them. When I looked at the track there wasn't any water on it and I anticipated the worst.
When the heats started, the track seemed to be drying off quickly at Town bend and Pine Tree looked pretty heavy. Needless to say most of the cars were too tight and were a real handful for the drivers. The exception was Shayne Alach who clearly stood out.
We struggled through both heats missing the set up both times which had Brad back in 5th spot for the Feature. Another great job by Michael Kendall who had qualified first and was to start on Pole.
Then the skies opened up and we had this heavy drizzle arrive and as much as the Promoters tried to save the track it just kept raining and she was all over.
I hear that they intend running both Features next week, so should be great value for money if you were to go along this Saturday, should be great racing, or at least lots of it.
Brad and I head to Melbourne tomorrow to compete in the Australian Midget Title. Brad is one of three International entered along with Kevin Swindell and Davey Ray. To date there are 48 entries which include the top drivers from across the ditch.
Wednesday is Scrutineering and Practice Day. Then the racing starts Friday and Saturday with a Round each night. Not sure of the format completely, so here hoping we have a good run.
I will post any news on this site as it happens.

Greg

Both Brad and I headed off last weekend to compete in the Australian Super Series at Speedway City in Adelaide. It was our first event driving the Polar Ice Spike/Hawk and an ideal opportunity to get our heads around the car in preparation for the Australian Title in a couple of weeks.

Jack Berry and his crew got the car down to Adelaide which was a two day haul. We had arrived to a warm couple of days with a slight sea breeze which made it very similar to the climate we left here in NZ, without the humidity. We spent Friday working on the car to ensure Brad had a comfortable driving position and a couple of changes here and there to ready it for the night ahead.

Speedway City is a track which is larger than Western Springs with a similar surface. It would be quite a bit wider in the turns and it has good banking which made it fast. The Super Series has the cars go out together for the wheel pack and then you don't get back to the pit. We all assembled on the infield and you run the one lap qualifying time. This is the beginning of how you collect points to determine where you start in the Feature. I had missed the gear set and the car was on the rev limiter half way down the straight. Brad qualified 10th of 20 cars. Next up was our heat and Brad started out of Grid 4. The track was very wet and Brad drove away to win that heat by nearly 3/4 of a lap. The second heat had Brad out of Grid 3 and he won that also. Next step was to run a top 8 car Pole Shuffle. We sat in second to Mark Brown and Brad managed to hold a couple challengers off to secure Pole in the Feature.

The Feature started and we had prepared the cars for what seemed to be a mid track surface, neither drivey or slick. When we got up to the track they had turned it over and pumped water into it and we all took a bit of a gulp. Too late, we had to deal with it. I made a few changes to the shock sets and out they went. Brad followed Mark Brown for about 8 of the 30 laps and then put the pass on. He eventually lapped up to about 6th. Mark stuck with Brad to the end and it was a great race to watch, interesting to see the Adelaide crowd cheering for the Kiwi.

Needless to say we were the last trailer to leave the pits, and that was only due to the lights being turned off. Jack and the team really enjoyed having their car on the Podium and it was great to be part of this whole deal.

Whilst looking ahead to Melbourne on the 19th and 20th Feb, we have our attention on this weekends racing at Western Springs.

Greg

Special thanks to Steve who supplied the photos for this story, click on the photo below to go to his site to see a number of action photos taken at Speedway City.