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National Midget Car Series - Palmerston North

National Midget Car Series - Round 1 - Palmerston North

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Most of the crews and competitors headed down to Palmy on Friday, we were all hopeful of the weather as the forecast wasn't that good. It is great to do these road trips, you get to know everyone that little bit better and it's great for the class.

We woke Saturday to high winds and clouds that looked like rain any minute. With reports coming in from the Met Service we all headed off to the track. Great to see a full field of Midgets along with the other sections. The track was pretty wet in the early part of the night, then it started to slick off. The heats all went well apart from Brian Edwards collecting the wall on the stat finish straight. He had a really nasty crash. The car end over ended the length of the straight and ended up on the grass infield. Probably the most amount of damage to a Midget I have ever seen, he is OK so that was the main thing.

Pickens and Hickman had tied 1st equal in qualifying. MP got to draw the marble and out came the fastest off the back draw. He chose Brad to start beside him and the drivers then picked their grids. Kendall, Hickman and McClucheon were fast and they all ended up toward the back.

Now, this race was the reason why these guys should always be started as fastest to the rear. The crowd got their monies worth as the fast guys weaved their way through the pack. MP got a break and took the lead, Brad fought it out with Kendall and McClucheon for a number of laps, great to watch.

With the first round of 6 done, I will update the Points Table as we go. I will have the full field finishing order soon and will add the the one below. Placing I can remember were Pickens 1st Mosen 2nd (Both from the back row) Kendall 3rd McClutcheon 4th.

 Huge effort from everyone in this Series, the crews were hard at it chasing the track and setting the cars up, drivers for putting on the show and a special thanks to Bryce Townsend for working behind the scenes making this the success it is.

Till next weekend,

Greg

New Photos on the Media Page

Updated 21st November 2009 

Place Driver Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Total
1 M Pickens 37 37
2 B Mosen 31 31
3 M Kendall 26 26
4 C McCutcheon 22 22
5 L Beale 19 19
6 S Insley 17 17
7 B Clarkson 16 16
8 D Gick 15 15
9 G Elbers 14 14
10 C Steinbring 13 13
11 J Vincent 12 12
12 C Worboys DNF 0
13 H Williams DNF 0
14 Quinn DNF 0
15 D Hickman DNF 0
16 B Edwards DNS 0
 
Radio Hauraki Night of Legends

_MG_9328x_copyRound Two - Western Springs Midget Series

 There will be a number of people wondering if we have made the right decision exchanging the Mopar for this new Chevy Hawk. The engine lacked power on the Opening Night so there has been a number of phone calls back to Sydney to explore the options. Simply put, there is a limit as to how much fuel and air you can jam in an engine at any one time. We needed to modify the flows and as a result, this engine would begin to perform. Bit like taking off from the lights in 5th gear, doesn't work.

We started the night off the back of Heat One. The track was already showing signs of being very fast, problem is there was one lane and we got caught at the back. Shayne Allach pushed through and finished well. Our second heat had us start off the front row and with 2 laps to go both Shayne and Michael Pickens had caught Brad. The engine was better, however not at the level required to compete with these two. Shayne got past Brad and then Brad threw it in in Turn One up infront of Shayne to re take the lead. Winning this race was due to Brad's ability to compete, rather than the gear helping him.

The Feature started at 9:30pm and the track was fast. In addition to the Water Truck being out earlier and then a shower of rain, the surface provided at least two lanes. Problem here is given the track is banked from the pole line, all the cars can run anywhere. Ideally the track would be flat on the bottom and banked from about half way up. So off we went, all the fast guys stacked in the front and we were back on Grid 9. After 5 laps, Brad passed Michael Kendall for 6th spot. The car was finally performing like we wanted it to. Problem was we got caught up in an incident in Turn 4 and that was it for us.

Not the best start so far, we do however now have the belief we have found the problem and it's fixed. This website will never be a place for excuses, we will just have to get the job done on the track like everyone else. We head off to Palmerston North this weekend to compete in the 1st Round of the National Midget Car Series. We are looking forward to this.

I will have both the Western Springs Series and National Midget Car Series Points table on this site.

Greg

Updated 16th November 2009.

Place Driver Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Round 7   Total
1 M Pickens 37 37   74
2 S Insley 26 26 52
3 C Worboys 31 19 50
4 M Brunt 17 15 32
5 S Buckley 19 12 31
6 S Allach 0 31 31
7 B Clarkson 15 14 29
8 Dave Gick 16 11 27
9 B Mosen 22 0 22
10 Chris McCutcheon 0 22 22
11 M Kendall 0 17 17
12 W Green 0 16 16
13 Jody Vincent 14 0 14
14 Craig Aitcheson 13 0 13
15 L Beale 0 13 13
16 Dylon Wade 0 10 10
17 H Williams 0 0 0
18 M Thompson 0 0 0
19 Mark Mullins 0 0 0
20 Simon Wi 0 0 0

 
 
TV One Powerbuilt Sports

tvonelogoBrad appeared on TV One Sunday on the Sports Show.

Click on the "ONE" logo to watch the interview.

 

 

See Opening Night Story below................................ 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Opening Night

Nov_8_3Opening Night 8th November 2009 - Western Springs Speedway

After much anticipation we arrive at the Opening Night, the weather had threatened late in the week, however it all seemed to come right for the first meeting held last Saturday night.

Brad ran in the first heat of the night starting at the rear alongside Shayne Allach. The track did what it had been doing for months..."kept everyone guessing". It looked greasy and we expected it to become very tacky, quickly. Not the case, the cars were either too tight or they were slipping all over the place. Unlike previous years, there wasn't any passing by any of them. Our second heat was Event 16 so we had plenty of time to watch the track. In nearly all the classes the lap records were either being broken or threatened. It was very fast, however it seemed that you either ran on the cushion or sat tight on the bottom. With both Shayne and Brad on the front row we saw on three seperate occassions we could not get off the turn at the same pace. Brad held onto 2nd place just ahead of a charging Michael Pickens.

The 25 lap feature Event arrived and we had qualified on Grid 4, this was as good as it got. The car was not set up correctly and the engine continued to challenge Brad in getting off the turns. Anyone could see both Michael and Carl pull away and dissappear. Brad missed all the carnage which took out both Shayne and Kendall. Finishing fourth behind Shaun was the way it was to be.

The good news was there are a lot of fast cars there this season, the bad news is there are not enough of them. The heat races have 8 cars starting in them and when you loose 3 or 4 fast cars out of a feature race it lacks. Congratulations to the podium finishes.

We have plenty to do this week to get this car on the pace.

Greg

Updated 9th November 2009

Western Springs Midget Series

Driver Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Round 7   Total
   
M Pickens 37 37
C Worboys 31 31
S Insley 26 26
B Mosen 22 22
S Buckley 19 19
M Brunt 17 17
Dave Gick 16 16
B Clarkson 15 15
Jody Vincent 14 14
Craig Aitcheson 13 13
H Williams 0 0
L Beale 0 0
S Allach 0 0
M Kendall 0 0
W Green 0 0
M Thompson 0 0
Dylon Wade 0 0
Chris McCutcheon 0 0
Mark Mullins 0 0
Simon Wi 0 0
                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
The Stig

2009-10-31_17-27-30_31102009035The "STIG"

As it has been for a number of generations, we start them young. This could well be the fourth generation race car driver in the making. His Mum and Dad have told us that he is available as a 'back up driver' for the Opening Night.

 
 
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