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National Midget Car Series + NZ Grand Prix Weekend |
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 Mosen takes another Track Record at Napier
This was always going to be a big weekend for all the teams with racing at Napier and then Kihikihi on Sunday. Most of the teams headed to either Taupo or Napier on the Friday night in an effort to break the travelling up a bit. The weather was great all weekend, which was good given a year ago when we attempted this we got rained out of Napier after a couple of heats.
Brad had done a bit of racing at Napier in the TQ, and it was good to be back there.
Napier:
This track is very similar in surface to Ruapuna, has plenty of lime in it which holds the moisture, in fact as the sun drops the moisture comes back up through the surface. It was interesting to see how many Midgets were too tight in their first heats. They struggled to get the cars around the tight turns and plenty of wheel stands down the straights.
Brad won both is heats from mid field. He managed to get close to the lap record in his first heat and then broke it in his second. This was the second 4 year old record he had broken in a row. The feature looked like it was going to be all on. Unfortunately a couple of the cars got together in Turn One and this had Pickens out with front end damage. Brad went on to win the Feature with a green to chequer 30 lap run.
Kihikihi:
The NZ Grand Prix was the next stop on Sunday. With 24 Midgets entered we had heat races to determine the starting positions in the Feature, without the need to qualify. The track looked great to begin with, however the mid afternoon sun and breeze soon put pay to that. The track was becoming very slick after the first Midget Heat. Brad ran in the second and third heat. He won the first heat and then looked like he would be at the sharp end in his second which was going to have both Brad and Pickens start on the front row of the Feature. That was until there was a pile up in Turn 3, Brad had a car crash into the left hand side of the car which bent the Nerf Bar and Headers. The steering arm was jammed as a result, the car restarted, however he couldn't turn the car so he limped home to qualify 5th.
The Feature race was on a dry slick track and no one really made any ground for the entire race. Brad finished 4th.
So not a bad weekend when we take the points from both Rounds at both Napier and Kihikihi. We have one round left now at Waikaraka Park on the 10th April.
I have attached this link to the Commentaors Review of the Napier Meeting.
http://www.hbspeedway.co.nz/gob
Updated NMCS Points Table which is below:
| Place |
Driver |
Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
Round 4 |
Round 5 |
Round 6 |
Total |
| 1 |
M Pickens |
37 |
37 |
31 |
10 |
37 |
|
152 |
| 2 |
B Mosen |
31 |
19 |
17 |
37 |
22 |
|
126 |
| 3 |
B Clarkson |
16 |
31 |
16 |
19 |
16 |
|
98 |
| 4 |
S Insley |
17 |
26 |
19 |
9 |
26 |
|
97 |
| 5 |
M Kendall |
26 |
22 |
15 |
22 |
5 |
|
90 |
| 6 |
L Beale |
19 |
5 |
14 |
31 |
19 |
|
88 |
| 7 |
D Gick |
15 |
11 |
22 |
15 |
17 |
|
80 |
| 8 |
C McCutcheon |
22 |
17 |
13 |
12 |
9 |
|
73 |
| 9 |
H Williams |
8 |
3 |
12 |
17 |
8 |
|
48 |
| 10 |
C Worboys |
9 |
16 |
DNS |
16 |
4 |
|
45 |
| 11 |
D Hickman |
10 |
1 |
DNS |
26 |
6 |
|
43 |
| 12 |
J Vincent |
14 |
10 |
11 |
DNS |
DNS |
|
35 |
| 13 |
M Thompson |
13 |
DNS |
DNS |
11 |
7 |
|
31 |
| 14 |
C Steinbring |
12 |
8 |
DNS |
DNS |
DNS |
|
20 |
| 15 |
B Edwards |
DNS |
7 |
DNS |
DNS |
12 |
|
19 |
| 16 |
G Quinn |
11 |
2 |
DNS |
DNS |
DNS |
|
13 |
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Mosen Smashed Lap Record : Huntly Speedway |
 We headed down to Huntly Speedway this weekend. My plan was to get the whole racing program back on track. We have had an intermittent fuel/spark problem since early January and then after the weekend at the NZ Champs we needed to get a run on the board without incident. The next two rounds of the National Midget Car Series are next weekend at both Napier and Kihikihi and having found the problem with the car not wanting to run, this was an opportunity to put it through it's paces before we head away. The Guys at Huntly were great and were pleased to have both Shaun Insley and Brad come down to run. We arrived and the track looked fantastic. They have put a lot of effort into making this place first class, the newly painted wall, new pole line and the balcony on the front of the starters tower looks great.
Racing started and Brad didn't finish this one as we had a wire come loose on the on/off switch. I guess when your tearing around the car trying to find the gremlin in our car, these things get knocked about. Not to worry it was a different issue to the one we had found.
The second heat had Brad start off Grid 8. Brad settled into his rhythm and in lap 2 he took the lead. He seemed to have the car on a string as he pulled away from the field. Sometimes it doesn't look spectacular, it is just fast. Brad broke the lap record which was previously set by Graham Standring 4 years ago. The record was 14.080 seconds, Brads new time is 13.737 seconds.
The Feature had Brad back on Grid 7 and he eventually finished third behind both Insley and Brunt. The track had held up good all night, however it was a bit slick toward the end and there wasn't much happening.
This was the final night at Huntly for the Midget class, which is a shame as it would be great to go back.
Now we focus on next weekend with these two National Series rounds, Brad sits in second place behind Pickens, so we are looking forward to focusing on this series.
Thanks for the emails after our horror meeting at the NZ Champs, really appreciate your support.
I have been watching how many of you visit this site and it seems we average around 9,800 visits per month. This peaked in January when we headed off to the The Chili Bowl with 21,932 visitors.
Greg |
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NZ Championships - Stratford |
 NZ Championships : Stratford.
This weekend turned out to be weekend to remember, all for the wrong reasons.
We arrived Friday as did most heading down from Auckland. The plan was that the three groups would run three heats to determine who the top 20 cars were to run the Main Event on Saturday night. Brad had drawn marble 7 so he was in the middle of the group.
On 'Turn 1' the cars were all over the place and we had another car run up the back of our car. No damage to the car apart from the left rear had been punctured and we were out of our first heat. This is not a good thing as you need to accumulate points from all three heats to ensure you make it through. Then the heavens opened up in the middle of the next heat and the racing was called off.
Saturday started early as they had all the heats to run and then get onto the Main Event. Brad finished 2nd in his second heat so he had 11 points to his name. Knowing he needed at least 20 or so points in total he had to finish in the top 3 in his next heat. He started from grid 9 and having passed a number of cars he headed into Turn 3 on the first lap. One of the other competitors came down on him and Brad rode the left front of this car. He broke the right rear arm when the car hit the ground. This arm holds the right hand side of the car off the ground so not good. They black flagged him a couple of laps later and we were left with 11 points total from the heats.
There were two more cars to go through and they would come from the Repocharges. Two races with 9 cars in each and they only took the winner from each. The officials then decided to change their minds and run one race with everyone in it. All the drivers were not happy with this and they finally changed it back to the original plan.
Brad was to start 5th and he managed to get through to second and that was that for us, we had not made it through to the Main Event. The crew decided to pack up the trailer and have a beer or two and watch the racing, sometimes its best to stop and move on. Just as we finished packing up they told us that one of the qualifiers had an engine let go and we were into the finals. Brad had the fastest lap time of the non qualifiers. After waiting for 15 minutes for them to confirm this, and they did, we unpacked the trailer ready to continue. Brad headed off to the driver's briefing and when he got there the officials had changed there mind and told him he was now out. We found out later that Sean Wade had protested this decision, Just more of the same from our perspective so we repacked the trailer and opened the "Garden Bar". Sometimes you accept your fate and a cold beer seems to help deal with it.
Stratford itself really did themselves proud, gift packs for the drivers and the ceremony in terms of the Main Event, well done.
Next time it will be someone else that suffers this fate, pleased to say we have had our turn.
Greg |
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Final Night - Western Springs |
 With the apparent threat of the odd thunderstorm it appeared there had been a couple go through over the afternoon. On arriving at the track it was good to see the crash crew sweeping water into the gutters. It has been years since we have seen this happen.
The track was pretty slippery to begin with and the cars that draw those early heats always pay a partial price. We had, or at least we thought we had a slight advantage as Brad wasn't out until event 7. Brad was to start on Row 2 and all was good until he started to pick up the throttle. He did half a lap and parked it on the infield. Same issues we have had now for a couple of weeks. Sometimes I wish we had a piston sticking out the side of the block, at least we would know what the issue was and we could fix it. Chasing either an electrical or fueling problem is anyone's guess. Big thanks to Tim, Stevo, and our crew as we decided to replace everything other than the driver. This meant we missed our second heat and back into the B Main we go.
The car responded well to all the new bits and Brad won the B main from the rear.
We had the time to set the car for a fast track, which had both a fast line on the bottom if you wanted to play it safe, and a cushion on the top if you wanted to have a go. Well from Grid 17 we had no option and Brad passed all bar three of them around the outside. We began to hope for a yellow so we could narrow the gap out to the leaders, however this wasn't the case.
The nights racing was great, enjoyed the teams racing at the conclusion of the show. MP showed all the others that he is the guy to beat with three wins from three. I think the Aussie's will go home with a clear picture as to how fast you need to be to race here. Lets hope they come back for next seasons International Series along with a quality field of Americans.
We now move to the races around the country, this weekend being the NZ Title held at Stratford. Friday night qualifying and then Saturday being the three race Championship races will be good to be part of. With 38 entries Midget racing is in a strong place right now. Brad has not got a weekend off through to the middle of May as we race every weekend. With the late inclusion of Ferndene, The National Midget Car Series, and the three ventures to both Parramatta and Brisbane she's all go.
I have added the Groups for the NZ Title this weekend at Stratford as a link: 20 qualify to run the three race format on the Saturday Night. I will update this site after Friday Nights racing for those who are interested.
http://www.stratford-speedway.co.nz/NZ%20Midget%20Champs%20Page.html
The National Midget Car Series Points table is also attached post Round Three which doubled as the North Island Champs.
| Place |
Driver |
Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
Round 4 |
Round 5 |
Round 6 |
Total |
| 1 |
M Pickens |
37 |
37 |
31 |
|
|
|
105 |
| 2 |
B Mosen |
31 |
19 |
17 |
|
|
|
67 |
| 3= |
M Kendall |
26 |
22 |
15 |
|
|
|
63 |
| 3= |
B Clarkson |
16 |
31 |
16 |
|
|
|
63 |
| 5 |
S Insley |
17 |
26 |
19 |
|
|
|
62 |
| 6 |
C McCutcheon |
22 |
17 |
13 |
|
|
|
52 |
| 7 |
D Gick |
15 |
11 |
22 |
|
|
|
48 |
| 8 |
L Beale |
19 |
5 |
14 |
|
|
|
38 |
| 9 |
J Vincent |
14 |
10 |
11 |
|
|
|
35 |
| 10 |
C Worboys |
9 |
16 |
DNS |
|
|
|
25 |
| 11 |
H Williams |
8 |
3 |
12 |
|
|
|
23 |
| 12 |
C Steinbring |
12 |
8 |
DNS |
|
|
|
20 |
| 13= |
M Thompson |
13 |
DNS |
DNS |
|
|
|
13 |
| 13= |
G Quinn |
11 |
2 |
DNS |
|
|
|
13 |
| 15 |
D Hickman |
10 |
1 |
DNS |
|
|
|
11 |
| 16 |
B Edwards |
DNS |
7 |
DNS |
|
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|
7 |
| |
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North Island Championships - Western Springs |
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 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
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