Results 2008/09

7th March - Springs Speedway NZ Midget Grand Prix

Heat 1	Grid 8	3rd
Heat 2	Grid 4	4th
NZ Midget Grand Prix	Grid 4	1st

Two relatively normal heat races saw us qualify 4th for the feature line up. To win a feature at Western Springs you have to drive fast, you have to drive smart and you have to be lucky. Tonight we achieved all three. Check out www.midgetracingnews.com for the audio and photos.

21st February - Nelson Speedway NZ Midget Championship

Race 1	Grid 2	DNF
Race 2	Grid 10	DNF
Race 3	Grid 14	Finished 8th
Repechage	Grid 11	DNF

The format for qualifying was 2 groups of 16 cars, with each group racing three 15 lap races, with grids at the front, middle and back. The top 8 from each group qualified with the remaining cars in a Repechage seeded on points from the qualifying races, with the top 4 also qualifying.

In Race 1 we were running 2nd or 3rd for most of the race but got a puncture in the right rear while lapping a troubled Lance Beale, about 3 laps from the end of the race. The flat tire threw us into the wall, so out of the race with no points... not a good start!

Race 2 we slid on a wet patch right on turn one. Contact with the wall sent us cart wheeling out the race and wrecked the front beam, but Scott OK.

Race 3 - managed to gain 6 places but mainly drove conservatively in order to finish with no damage, as next race in only 20 minutes.

Repechage - Was always going to be tough getting to the top 4 from grid 11. Got up to 8th very quickly but then got caught up in someone else's crash and bent the front axel. Steering was damaged so had to pull out of the race. It just wasn't our day!

Had to watch the Championship races from the stands. Three very good races saw Shane Alach win from Brad Mosen from Angus McCloud. Congratulations to the winners... it was great to see Aggressor finish 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

7th February - Western Springs International Midget Series Round 4

B-Dash 10 laps	Grid 1	Finished 1st
A-Dash 10 laps	Grid 9	Finished 10th
Feature - 50 laps	Grid 10	Finished 5th

The format for this meeting was hot lap qualifying then a semi-main for qualifiers 17-30, B-Dash for qualifiers 9-16 and 1st and 2nd from the semi-main, then A-Dash for qualifiers 1-8 plus 2 transfers from the B-Dash.

Scott qualified 10th in the hot laps but as one car did not start the B Dash he got grid 1 and led all the way to finish first.

He cruised in the A-dash trying to preserve the car for the 50 lap feature.

Made good progress in the feature but realised by lap 10 had no brakes! Had to drive very carefully for the remaining 40 laps and did well to finish 5th with no incidents.

Over all we finished 9th in Midget world series.

5th February - Western Springs International Midget Series Round 3

Heat 1 - 10 laps	Grid 3	Finished 3rd
Heat 2 - 10 laps	Grid 7	Finished 5th
Feature - 40 lap King of Springs	Grid 10	Finished 8th

The feature race saw Scott move up to 5th position by lap 13. He stay in 5th and 4th and at one point 3rd until lap 37 when he made a mistake and rode over the wheel of Chris McCutcheon. This veered him into the infield but he made a lucky recovery to finish 8th. See full results of feature on My Laps

31st January - Western Springs International Midget Series Round 2

Heat 1 - 10 laps	Grid 7	Finished 7th
Heat 2 - 10 laps	Grid 6	Finished 5th
B Main	Grid 1	Finished 1st
Feature - 30 lap Derby	Grid 17	Finished DNF

The feature race saw Scott move up to 5th position by about lap 26. During a bold overtaking move to get to 3rd he was drilled into the wall by Graham Standring. This wrecked the front end of the midget and that was the finish for us. See full write up of meeting here.

28th January - Western Springs International Midget Series Round 1

Heat 1 - 10 laps	Grid 11	Finished 8th
Heat 2 - 10 laps	Grid 2	Finished 1st
Feature - 25 laps	Grid 9	Finished 6th

Won heat 2 by 1/2 a lap! See full write up of meeting here.

23rd January - Kihi Kihi Speedway National Series Round 9

Heat 1 - 12 laps	Grid 5	Finished 6th
Heat 2 - 12 laps	Grid 8	Finished 5th
Feature - 30 laps	Grid 8	DNF

A brand new banked track for Kihi Kihi started off very rough before parts of it slicked off, the rest remaining rutted.

Managed to get to 6th position in the feature by lap about 10 when a hit to the font of the car broke the tie rod and we hit the wall! Game over and on the infield with 20 laps to go.

17th January - Stratford Speedway National Series Round 8

Heat 1 - 12 laps	Grid 9	DNF
Heat 2 - 12 laps	Grid 7	Finished 6th
Semi Main	Grid 4	Finished 3rd
Feature - 30 laps	Grid 19	DNF

In heat 1 there was a tangle of midgets in the second lap resulting in half of the cars out of the race. Only gained 1 position in heat 2 so had to run the semi main for a chance to run the feature (first 4 cars from semi main can run at the back of the feature). Pushed through the traffic in the feature to get to 6th position, then got caught in a restart tangle and spun out. Front axel got bent by another midget hit, causing steering problems that affected the remainder of the race. Got 2 restarts but spun out twice more ending upside down on lap 25.

4th January - Western Springs Championship & National Series Round 7

Heat 1 - 12 laps	Grid 10	Finished 7th
Heat 2 - 12 laps	Grid 1	Finished 1st
Feature - 20 laps	Grid 7	DNF

Was doing well in feature race until about 3 laps from the end the throttle broke. Scott tried to get the infield ASAP but on the way another midget drove into our exhaust pipes!

26th December - Western Springs Championship & National Series Round 6

Heat 1 - 12 laps	Grid 2	Finished 3rd
Heat 2 - 12 laps	Grid 9	Finished 6th
Feature - 30 laps	Grid 9	Finished 9th

Tonight's track was prepared to suit the international sprint cars and consequently ended up being a rough track for the midgets. Scott managed to stay out of trouble on the track and avoided car damage. He gained a couple of places in Heat 2 but no spectacular results for this meeting.

6th December - Western Springs Championship & National Series Round 5

Heat 1 - 10 laps	Grid 2	Finished 1st
Heat 2 - 10 laps	Grid 9	DNF
B Main - 9 laps	Grid 3	Finished 1st
Feature - 25 laps	Grid 17	Finished 9th

Heat 1 Scott took the lead on the first corner and managed to stay ahead on the greasy track. Bad luck in heat 2 - was drilled into the wall on the 3rd lap. B Main saw Scott take the lead on lap 1 and stayed ahead for the whole race. Unfortunately a win of the B Main only gets you on grid 17 of the feature. Gained 8 places to finish 9th.

29th November - Western Springs Championship & National Series Round 4

Heat 1 - 12 laps	Grid 5	Finished 3rd
Heat 2 - 12 laps	Grid 4	Finished 1st
Feature - 25 laps	Grid 3	DNF

Spent most of Heat 1 in 4th position until lap 11 and just gained 3rd place in the nick of time on lap 12. Steady progress in heat 2 saw a win from grid 4.

The feature race was all bad luck. We started with a promising grid but hit a large rut on the first lap, ending upside down. The track scrutineers thought the midget was damaged so refused a restart. As soon as Scott got out of the car on the infield, he could see there was no damage to the midget, but by then it was too late. Unfortunately this error from the officials cost us valuable points for the series.

22nd November - Palmerston North Speedway, National Series Round 3

Heat 1 - 12 laps	Grid 7	DNF
Heat 2 - 12 laps	Grid 6	Finished 8th
Feature - 30 laps	Grid 19	Finished 10th

We didn't get far in Heat 1 with Scott spinning out at the beginning of lap 2. Luckily there was no contact with other cars and he ended up on the infield just out of harm's way. There are no restarts in the heat races and so the race continued without the need for caution lights.

No incidents in the 2nd heat but Scott still getting used to the track hence the drop to 8th position.

22 cars started in the 30 lap feature. Because of the poor heat race results, we started near the rear on grid 19. The first half of the race saw no decent action from us. (Scott thinks the set up was not quite right for the state of the track at the beginning). However, by the second half, the midget and the track were at one with each other. Several passing manoeuvres were successfully made but alas too late in the race.

Now placed 5th in the NMCS.

A full write up of the night racing can be found on midgetracingnews.com

8th November - Western Springs Championship & National Series Round 2

Heat 1 - 12 laps	Grid 2	Finished 2nd
Heat 2 - 12 laps	Grid 9	Finished 5th
Feature - 25 laps	Grid 8	Finished 16th

Heat 1 was the first midget race of the night and the track was still very wet and slippery. Got to the front early on from grid 2 but made a mistake on the wet surface and slipped back to 2nd for the remainder of the race. Heat 2 started from Grid 9 and quickly got to 5th where we remained to the finish. Seemed to be running short on horsepower. Back in the pits checked over most of the car from fuel settings to making sure the throttle opened all the way. Started on Grid 8 for the feature and tried a pass on the outside on turn 1 and 2 but hit a rut and almost went upside down. Managed to keep car running and rejoined the back of the pack in 16th place for the first lap. Battled on and made up ground back up to 10th when a yellow flag flew on lap 13. Our car had missed a lap counter and was sent back to the rear of the field in 18th place. Scott not happy about that but nothing to do except keep racing hard. Got back up to 12th position before suffering a left rear puncture with 4-6 laps to go. Cruised around the pole line to pick up finishing points. Finished 16th according to Springs Speedway and 13th according to My Laps. Not quite sure which result is correct but a disappointing and frustrating nights racing. Have dropped back to 3rd in the NMCS.

Check My Laps for full results of the meeting and lap charts and midgetracingnews.com for full write up of meeting.

1st November - Western Springs Championship & National Series Round 1

Heat 1 - 12 laps	Grid 3	Finished 1st
Heat 2 - 12 laps	Grid 8	Finished 3rd
Feature - 25 laps	Grid 4	Finished 2nd

A great start to the season with a win in our first heat race. During the meeting we identified and fixed a long standing fuel problem. This made the car a lot more throttle responsive and should help with restarts during the races. The 2nd heat we started on grid 8 and got through to second position, but bounced out of a rut and got passed by Carl Worboys. Finished 3rd. Although light rain persisted throughout the night, luckily the real heavy stuff held off till after the feature races. We qualified 4th for the feature but quickly moved up to 3rd. For most of the race Carl Worboys was on our tail and by the 9th lap we were also contending with lapped traffic. At the front of the race Brad Mosen and Shane Alach were having their own battle for 1st and 2nd, until Shane crashed into Bill Clarkson on the 24th lap. As Brad had already crossed the finish line before the yellows lights were on the raced was called and final positions were Brad 1st, Scott 2nd and Carl 3rd.