American star Michael ‘Buddy’ Kofoid capped off the Midget World Series with his third win in four feature races, taking honours in the 50-Lap Midget Classic feature, which stayed green for the entire 50 laps for the first time since 1978.
Kofoid lapped all but four cars on his way to the victory, with ten-time New Zealand Midget Champion Michael Pickens finishing second, eight seconds in arrears.
Australian star Kaidon Brown was third, with Chili Bowl Champion Logan Seavey and Christchurch-registered Ben Morgan the only other cars finishing on the lead lap.
The feature win was Kofoid’s third in New Zealand in the past week, following successes in both features at Baypark.
Round 4, The Fast 40 at Waikaraka Park, was rained off before the feature was run. Kofoid had finished first and second in his two heats – behind Pickens in the latter – before the meeting was called.
Pickens won the opening round at Western Springs on Boxing Day, and Kofoid was tenth.
New Zealand champion Brad Mosen was a non-starter following a rollover in qualifying.
The Sprintcar feature was marred by a massive Lap 1 crash, where four cars flipped and several others, including Shane van Gisbergen, were forced from the race.
The crash came when Pickens and Jonathan Allard came together approaching Turn 1 off the start, the resulting contact sending the #4USA entry into a series of flips.
The 78C entry of Matthew Leversedge was unable to respond as a slow Pickens tried to recover, his contact on the #54A sending it over. A fast-approaching 2NZ of Dean Cooper then made contact with Leversedge, sending both cars into slow rolls.
Van Gisbergen, who had finished fifth and fourth in his two heats, had started eighth, and the outside lane left him nowhere to go as the wreck unfolded ahead. The resulting damage forced him out.
No drivers were hurt in the incident.
Jamie Duff powered down to win the 20-lap feature by 5.7 seconds, ahead of Baypark’s Keaton Dahm and Auckland’s Luke Brown.
Kihikihi-registered Regan Tyler won the 15-lap TQ Midget feature from Peter Hunnibell and 2NZ Aaron Humble.
The action continues at Western Springs on January 4, with several international stars staying on to compete in the New Zealand Midget Championship.
Header Image: Jessica Barnes
