Former New Zealand champion Brad Mosen (Auckland) delivered an impressive return to winning form as the 20-lap Bill Buckley Midget Car Classic entertained a very large Fireworks night crowd at Baypark Speedway on Saturday.
Mosen won the inaugural Classic last season and started his title defence from the front row of the grid to chase young Auckland racer Ben Morrison in the opening laps.
A textbook open wheel duel thrilled the packed stadium with Morrison exploring the high line and Mosen steadily making ground on the lower groove.
Just before half distance, the lead pair swapped the lead twice in a lap before Mosen gained the upper hand and clinched the win in a fast-paced race that ran from green light to chequered flag without interruption.
“My crew worked really hard on the car all night, and it was perfect for the feature,” says Mosen.
“He [Morrison] was searching around the top, which was good as we’d planned to run the bottom. The second heat race showed us the bottom was fast.”
It was a timely win for Mosen as Baypark Speedway will host the NZ Midget Car Championship in mid-January.
“We haven’t had a lot of form since about this time last year, so it’s great to feel confident and fast in the car,” Mosen says.
The fast-starting Morrison lost his grip on second place with Trent Way (Auckland) claiming the runner-up honours ahead of Morrison, Alec Insley (Auckland) and opening night winner Mitch Fabish (Te Awamutu) completing the top-five.
Hamilton’s Daniel Thomas continues to set the early-season benchmark for the Sprint Car division. He drove from a rear starting spot to second place in his first heat race for a big points haul and powered clear to win his next outing to secure a front row alongside Michael Pickens.
The 20-lapper ran with just one restart, with Thomas leading from start to finish and clocking a fastest lap 0.2 seconds quicker than any rival.
“The first heat race set us up for the night. I started from the back, and the gateways kept opening, and I drove through them,” says Thomas.
Tauranga’s Rodney Wood raced past Pickens on the opening lap and held onto second spot while Tokoroa’s Keaton Dahm had a strong run to third.
Californian Jonathan Allard was the big mover in the pack, starting from grid 14 after a fuel injection nozzle was knocked off his car in the opening heat, and he advanced to a fourth-place finish.
New Zealand champion Todd Hemingway continued his winning start to the season with another Super Stock points success. A third, a win, and a second put him one point clear of Dan Pollock, who won the third race, while second race winner Ross Ashby secured third overall.
A capacity Youth Mini Stock grid produced three different race winners and needed a fastest lap tie-breaker to decide the overall winner.
Rotorua’s Reeve Transom was a clear winner in the first race, while Hawke’s Bay visitor Troy Peach won the second, and Aucklander Steven Skelton was the third winner of the night. Skelton tied on 71 points with Auckland’s Korbin Sales (who notched up two seconds and a sixth), with Skelton recording the faster lap of the pair to decide the tie.
The next meeting at Baypark Speedway is the Bays of Thunder event on Saturday, November 22.
