A new season of dirt oval racing at Baypark Speedway begins this holiday weekend with four high-horsepower classes hitting the track at the Mount Maunganui venue.
Saturday night’s Back to the Bay opening meeting is the first of 13 race nights scheduled on Baypark’s 2025-26 racing calendar.
Among the headline events for the upcoming summer is the New Zealand Midget Car Championship on January 16-17.
It’s the first time the current Baypark track has been awarded the honour of hosting this national title, and it’s been 32 years since the original Baypark track staged the 1994 championship.
The leading Midget Car teams get an early chance to prepare for the national title with a quality line-up entered for the opening night action.
The field includes former NZ champ Brad Mosen (Auckland) and Baypark front runner Brock Maskovich up against young guns Ben Morrison (Auckland), Mitch Fabish (Te Awamutu), Luke McClymont (Tauranga), Trent Way (Auckland) and Travis Buckley (Auckland). And Australian teenager Zoe Pearce begins her second Kiwi racing campaign.
An impressive 22-car field of Super Stocks has been assembled for an opening night hit-out.
Baypark’s reigning New Zealand champion, Todd Hemingway, has a new Rees chassis racer fielded by the MD Motorsport team for the coming season, while the 3-car Ashton family team – Brendon, Flynn and Kyle – make their debut as Baypark-registered drivers.
A strong turnout of Baypark Sprint Car teams at practice day last weekend is supplemented by entries from former NZ champions Jonathan Allard, Daniel Thomas and Michael Pickens – joining the Baypark regulars for a 16-car opening night grid.
The Super Saloon Car field has a mix of familiar names and new additions to the class.
New to the Super Saloon ranks this season is Tauranga’s Trent Amrein with a new CB2 chassis for his move up from a successful Saloon Car campaign. Teenager George Crawford steps up from his role as a pace-setter in the Youth Ministocks to join the Super Saloons.
The field includes former NZ champ Chris Cowling (Tauranga), along with Auckland racers Craig Cardwell and Bodie Abrahamson, Kihikihi’s Shaun Wade, plus Baypark front runners Damian Orr and Scott Hayward.
Racing starts at 6.30pm.
Header Image: Supplied
