A dual attraction featuring lightweight open-wheel racers and the heavy metal crowd pleasers of dirt track racing is lined up for the International Superstars night at Baypark Speedway on Thursday, December 28.
Two visiting US racers will contest the international 30-lap Midget Car feature while tribute will be paid to a local speedway stalwart with more than 50 Super Stocks entered for the inaugural Hokey Ashby Memorial.
First-time New Zealand visitor Thomas Meseraull will bring the winning form to the Midget Car competition.
Indiana-based Meseraull joins California’s Michael `Buddy’ Kofoid to provide the international flavour for a 30-lap feature race attraction during the Christmas-New Year holiday break at Mt Maunganui.
Meseraull wrapped up his 2023 US campaign with a December 16 victory at the Junior Knepper 55-lap feature race, a POWRi Midget Nationals event held indoors in Duquoin, Illinois.
He will race for Palmerston North’s Dewtec Motorsport team.
Kofoid returns for his fourth racing tour of New Zealand. His first two efforts `down under’ were for South Island Sprint Car racing, and he won the NZ Sprint Car title in 2019.
Last summer Kofoid switched his attention to Midget Car racing and finished third in the Baypark international behind Kiwi star Michael Pickens and US racer Justin Grant.
The round is the second of the International Midget Series, which begins at Waikaraka Park on Boxing Day.
Thursday night’s 34-strong Midget Car field includes 10-time New Zealand champion Pickens along with early season Baypark feature race winners Brad Mosen and Aaron Hodgson.
Baypark racer Max Guilford makes his first home track Midget Car appearance of the summer after a string of strong results in the Sprint Car division and Christchurch racer Jeremy Webb switches his focus to the Midget Car class after winning the NZ TQ Midget Car title in Nelson earlier this month.
It’s also a chance for the young rising stars of the Midget Car division, including Shayden Auston, Luke McClymont, Ben Morrison and Mitch Fabish, to race against topline internationals.
The 54-car entry for the Hokey Ashby Memorial promises the biggest line-up of Super Stocks at Baypark for many years. The field is headed by current NZ champ Asher Rees (Kihikihi) and includes visitors from nine North Island tracks to race against the 15 Baypark registered Super Stock drivers.
The field includes current NZ number two Josh Prentice (Gisborne), former NZ champ Peter Rees (Gisborne) and leading Baypark drivers Ryan Hunt, Todd Hemingway and Kerry Remnant along with Ross Ashby in the event being staged as a tribute to his father who raced at the original Baypark venue.
Sprint Car racing completes the Thursday evening programme with the opening race at 6.30pm.
