It was a night to remember for Kiwi Speedway star Michael Pickens, who won the World 30-Lap Midget Derby at Western Springs before immediately switching into his Sprintcar and winning the 20-Lap feature.
The driver of the 54A Midget began the night on the back foot, caught in an incident in his opening heat that saw him take a mid-race restart from the rear of the grid and climb back to seventh.
From there, however, he was on form across both grades and won his second Midget car heat ahead of NZ Champion Brad Mosen, 2NZ Brock Maskovich, and 3NZ Mitch Fabish.
A runner-up result in the A Dash put Pickens on the front row for the feature, alongside former Australian champion Kaidon Brown and ahead of Mosen, two-time Chili Bowl Champion Logan Seavey, and American star Michael ‘Buddy’ Kofoid.
The front five dominated early proceedings in the feature, putting a gap over the field, with Pickens and Brown battling for the lead and teammates Seavey and Mosen fighting amongst themselves for third, under increasing pressure from Kofoid.
Pickens was leading when a mid-race yellow for a rare spin for Ben Morrison brought the field back together, but the 10-time New Zealand champion controlled the restart to retain the lead from Brown.
Morgan McHugh was left upside down in the 24A Midget with 10 laps remaining, bringing the field back together, and Pickens once again controlled the restart and pulled clear of Brown.
The Australian brought the gap back over the final laps, crossing the line just half a second behind the Kiwi star, who takes the early advantage in the five-round Midget World Series held in the North Island over the coming week.
Mosen triumphed over American superstar Seavey to claim third, while a strong drive from Luke McClymont saw him take fifth off Kofoid on the final restart. Kofoid was unable to replicate his strong early pace and tumbled to tenth on the run to the chequered flag, losing further places to Ryan Baker, Alec Insley, Maskovich, and Corbin Anderson.
While Pickens faced issues in his opening Midget heat, there was no such drama in the Sprintcar, with the 54A comfortably winning both heats by over six seconds.
Shane van Gisbergen battled in the mid-field in his opening heat, crossing the line in sixth, before dominating his second outing to win by 2.5 seconds from 67A Nico Pinkerton.
The results from the heats saw Pickens and Jonathan Allard share the front row for the 20-lap feature, with van Gisbergen lining up third alongside Keaton Dahm.
Allard raced off to an early lead from Pickens, while van Gisbergen was caught out amongst a fast-starting midfield and dropped down the order.
Dahm spun on Lap 10, which brought the field back together.
On the restart, it was Pickens who got the better launch, and he remained at the front until a final lap incident brought the field back together for a one-lap dash to the flag.
Once again, he held firm at the front, going on to win his second feature in as many races, with Allard crossing the line seven-tenths behind. Chris Kernohan drove to an impressive third ahead of Zakary Sokol and Ryan O’Connor.
Van Gisbergen, meanwhile, was ninth home, just two-hundredths behind former Modified star Luke Brown, who has moved into Sprintcars this season.
Corbin Anderson won the F2 Midgets feature from James Earl and Joshua Mathews, while future star Lukas Smith won in Kiwi Kidz from Deegan Thompson and Hunter Morgan.
The Midget World Series now heads south to Baypark Speedway for the Bay Superstars event on December 28 and The Bay 51 on the 30th. They will return to Auckland for the Fast 40 at Waikaraka Park on New Year’s Day and the 50-Lap Midget Classic at Western Springs a day later.
Van Gisbergen will be in action in the 97A Sprintcar at each of the events.
Header Image: The Pits Media
Good racing at the springs