Shane van Gisbergen’s night at Baypark Speedway came to an early end when he rolled the #97 Sprintcar early in the second heat.
Having finished 12th in the opener, van Gisbergen started third in the second heat, but came to a halt early, which sent him to the rear of the field for the restart.
He was beginning to work his way forward from the back of the pack when the incident happened, the #97 riding over the rear wheel of another car, sending it into a roll.
SVG was able to walk away from the multiple flip and the United Truck Parts team is hoping to have a new chassis ready in time for Monday night.
The Sprintcar feature race was dominated by California’s Jonathan Allard who looked set for his third Baypark win of the summer until he tangled with a lapped car and suffered a puncture.
In a three-lap sprint to the finish Tokoroa’s James Dahm was able to hold off Kapiti’s Jamie Larsen and Taupo’s Dean Cooper for his first win of the season.
Young California racer Michael `Buddy’ Kofoid clinched back-to-back wins in the annual 30-lap international Midget Car feature, round 2 of the Midget World Series.
The 23-year-old, who was recently named Rookie of the Year in the World of Outlaws Sprintcar Series, won a 30-lapper that ran uninterrupted from the green light to the chequered flag to lead home fellow Californian Logan Seavey and Round 1 winner Michael Pickens.
The pace-setter in the first half of the race was reigning NZ champ Brad Mosen who duelled with Kofoid for the lead.
Kofoid got his nose in front on a couple of occasions during their battle which was settled when Mosen’s car bounced out of a turn four rut, landed awkwardly, and broke a rod end in the left rear suspension.
The American thanked his 2-Way Industries team for the set-up on the winning car.
“I felt we got better each time we were out on track. The direction we found with the car meant I could run top, middle or bottom,” said Kofoid.
“When the track has a lot of character like that you need to have that kind of manoeuvrability.”
With a Western Springs win on Boxing Night and his third placing at Baypark, Pickens holds a narrow lead over Seavey in the five round Midget Car World Series which continues at Baypark on Monday (Dec 30) with the Bay 51.
The field for the $5000 to win 51-lapper gets another topline contender with the return of young Kiwi Travis Buckley from an Australian campaign which includes a recent win in the South Australian title.
A 24-strong Super Stock field for the second annual Hokey Ashby Memorial saw the MD Motorsport team from Tauranga setting the pace with drivers Todd Hemingway and Luke Alderdice sharing the heat race wins. Hemingway raced away with the final to win by 2.6secs from Alderdice with Ryan Hunt completing the podium.
Monday night’s Bay 51 meeting will again feature Midget Car and Sprint Car action with Super Saloons joining the programme in place of Super Stocks. The 16-car grid includes Baypark’s national champ Chris Cowling and North Island champ Sam Waddell, along with Auckland crowd pleaser Ben Harding and a new car for Rotorua’s Damian Orr.
Racing starts at 6.30pm.
