SPEEDWAY 2012...THATS A WRAP FOLKS!

SPEEDWAY... THEY SAY ITS LIKE RIDING A BIKE. ONCE YOUVE DONE IT YOUVE SOWN THE SEED AND YOU WILL NEVER LOOSE THE FEEL FOR THE DIRT UNDER YOUR RIGHT FOOT. WELL 10 YEARS LATER... HERES THE STORY.
In April 2011 I was fortunate enough to have dinner with some great people after a tough day at the Taupo Motorsport Park after racing in the Taupo 6 Hour race and with not much in the way of a result. Sitting in a booth at Dixie Browns restaurant with my Harold my Dad along with HLR Racings Geoff Harper and Greg Williams in was welcome respite from the super human effort we had all contributed to in coaxing the Ford Focus V8 to the nish. Weve been involved with these guys as competitors for many years, especially with Dad having raced against Geoff through the 90s and Gregs son Hayden was a erce competitor of mine in the Kiwi Kidz 1/4 Midgets. At the time of having dinner with these guys I hadnt really thought too much about racing a midget at speedway, but it didnt take too long for a plan to materialize. After a few meetings with Geoff through the early winter months I could see a relationship starting to build. This was a big step, gambling my entire reputation as a driver, but Geoff was so enthusiastic and willing to take up the challenge and because he was willing to coach and mentor me it seemed like a great opportunity. In less than 6 months I had gone from being your typical single seater dream chaser to a dirt ravaged speedway bandit taking on New Zealand Speedways best drivers. It was a choice that got me feeling excited and amped for my racing. I felt like I had something to prove and the challenge was laid down in front of me. I took it! World 30 Lapper Derby, Western Springs Driving in the HLR Racing / Ed Pink Ford powered Aggressor this year has been awesome! After having nding my feet at the Western Springs Speedway practices I was comfortable with my speed yet still driving the car by the seat of my pants. Knowing it would come to me eventually I was more eager to learn about the car working with Geoff and Harold with Dave effecting the changes and managing the crew of Scot and Ben. I made a great start to the season and qualied for every A-Main Feature, prior to the International Series. Qualifying for the 30, 40 and 50 Lapper events was going to need a big step up and Im happy to say that I was able to make it into the eld on all three occasions.

50 Lapper Qualifying Shootout

Top 25 Midgets from NZ, AUS and USA

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I couldnt have asked for a better transition onto the dirt. After the busy International Series Geoff then gave me the opportunity to race one of the HLR Racing / Synergy V8 powered machine at a one off appearance at Baypark Speedway, Mt Maunganui. I couldnt wait! Heading into the event with no expectations we ended up coming away with a Running 2nd at Baypark, Heat Two 2nd and 6th in my heats we were in good shape for the main event. Coming from grid 19 I had made my way up to 6th place in the rst 4 laps. Needless to say I was ying! Then taking the start after the races rst yellow it all went wrong when the car in front of me faltered when coming down to take the green causing a pile up that eliminated several cars including me. This was my rst ever speedway crash, leading to a concussion and a nights accommodation in Tauranga Hospital.

PARTNERS

My rst tumble in a midget car at Baypark in January

Its good to be back!

A fortnight later, after a two week compulsory stand down I was back! This time it was at Western Springs Speedway for the North Island Championship. I was back in my familiar #17 HLR Racing / Ed Pink Ford and we were on re! Coming home 5th in race one and winning my rst ever race in race two from former USAC Midget Champion Jerry Coons Jnr. With the feature event still to run I started out of grid 10 and made my way forward to 3rd. With one lap remaining we were taken out and launched into the unforgiving Pine Tree bend wall, leaving me thinking here we go again! Angry, upset and cheated was exactly how I was feeling after getting this close. The nal event for us was to be the annual Huntly Speedfest which is a by invitation only event, run as the Thursday night curtain raiser to the ITM 400 V8 Supercar event in nearby Hamilton. The eld was effectively made up of the NZ Championship eld from earlier in the season. That was us! We were in! Run over three heats with each driver being allocated a front, middle, rear grid over the three races we gured we could have a good shot at this. The rst heat saw us start out of grid 3. Finishing second got me off to great start and the car was fast, suiting the tight Huntly track. Heat two and three saw us starting further down in 13th and 16th position and coming forward to 6th and 5th respectively. When the points were tallied I was on the podium at a major event for the rst time, nishing in 2nd place, only two points behind the winner. A fantastic nish to my rookie season and a great event for my team, crew, our sponsors and all my supporters. Until next time. Your Driver,

Thats how we do it! Coming home with my rst ever race win.

Passing Ricky Logan for 3rd place.

My team! L-R: Dave Potter, Ben Marshall, Al, Harold Wootten, Scot Pearce.

Al #17
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