Tactics needed in heats

BY RICHARD WOODD

Taranaki's top drivers have a chance of a podium finish in the JD Hickman NZ Midget Racing Championships this weekend, but they will be up against the best from Auckland, the heartland of dirt-track midget racing.

Sixteen Auckland cars are entered and they include the defending champion Shayne Alach. He has also just won the North Island title at Western Springs, beating his arch-rival and arguably the fastest man in the country, Michael Pickens.

Equally hungry for the national honours is five-time winner Michael Kendall. He's in the opening heat with Pickens.

On current form, the top local drivers are Duane Hickman, Ricky Paul, Daniel Jensen, Greg Jones, Adam Prestney, Lydia Dickinson and James Greenhough.

There are 38 entries for Friday night's three 12-lap qualifying heats.

Only the top 20 will make it through for Saturday night's finals, to be decided on aggregate points over three 20-lap races. Grid draws will be done in front of the crowd.

Non-qualifiers will battle out the A1 Homes King of the Mountain title.

Entries are also in from Huntly, Kihikihi, Nelson and Christchurch. They include Dave Kerr, the current and three times consecutive South Island champion, and colleague Phillipa Melrose.

Phillipa started racing at 15 in modified sprints, moved to midgets two years ago and immediately scored third in the Barry Butterworth southern series and second in the Nelson championship.

New Plymouth's Lydia Dickinson has graduated from 14 years in kart racing to midgets and was Taranaki champion in 2009. She's had little racing since a massive multiple rollover at Huntly in late December, but was back to her earlier form on Saturday.

Huntly's Alvin Cobb hasn't recovered from a recent crash that totalled his car but he'll be watching and he's backing Pickens for the title.

"Pickens is on fire, but Hickman is very good if he can get out front and Ricky Paul if he can stay on four wheels. Equally you cannot disregard Michael Kendall and Brad Mosen." Auckland class organiser Bryce Townshend (who will be on the roving microphone) says the key ingredient will be luck, but he notes ominously that nobody registered outside of the Springs has won this title since 1968.

Michael Kendall has won the title five times, Pickens twice and Alach once.

"It won't be enough to be fast all night because of the 20-lap final heats," Townshend says. "Drivers will be working out how many cars they need to pass to make the top points.

"The three heats can have its own drama because of the uncertainty but if you're unlucky enough crash out in race one, you have no further chance." He picks Alach to win and Michael Brunt (Kihikihi) as a dark horse in great form, "but watch out for Hickman and Paul, either of them are capable of stepping up over three races."

Alach himself says the Stratford crowd can expect plenty of excitement.

"Will I beat Michael Pickens? I'd like to say yes, but there's 37 others to worry about as well.

"The home towners have track knowledge, but there'll also be slow traffic to contend with. Anything can happen in a three-race format. There's no team strategy, it's everyone for themselves.

"You have to run with controlled aggression, because they are all very fast and you have to take chances sometimes. It's a bit of a tightrope. You can be flipped very easily."

One handicap for the locals is their average lap speed - 91 kmh usually.

At Western Springs they're averaging 120 on a good lap, but it's a bigger track with a fast surface. All the cars have either Esslinger or Chev Hawk 2.7 litre four-cylinder engines.

Pickens doesn't like the three-heat format, preferring titles to be decided by finishing order in a 30-lap feature.

"If you crash out in the first heat it's all over and that's what happened to me at Nelson last year," he says.

"So Friday night, it's stay out of trouble and just do enough to qualify and keep the car straight.

"On Saturday you have to pass as many cars as possible and try to keep your nose clean."

It's not all midgets on the programme. Support races are streetstocks and youth ministocks on Friday, with stock cars, saloons and adult minis on Saturday.

Groups for the qualifying heats Friday night are:

Red group

54a Michael Pickens, 81a Michael Kendall 81a, 10a Wayne Green, 17k Michael Brunt, 95s Duane Hickman, 57a Hayden Williams, 32a Craig Aitcheson, 6s Neville Thompson, 7h Jason Bunney, 97c Phillipa Melrose, 78a Mark Williams, 27s James Greenhough, 4s Matty Hareb.

Blue group

13a Brad Mosen,77a Shaun Insley, 3NZa Angus McLeod, 44a Dave Gick, 96k Tony Fabish, 15a Jody Vincent, 11s Ricky Paul, 26s Anthony Batley, 75s Lydia Dickinson, 31s Adam Prestney, 51s Daniel Jensen, 41h Ricky McGough, 21s Carl Mehring.

Green group

71a Shayne Alach, 8h Carl Worboys, 87a Lance Beale, 25a Scott Buckley, 9s Dave Kerr, 42s Greg Jones, 85h Shaun Wade, 24n Nick Marquet, 58h Joe Malone, 12h Tm de Graaf, 89a Rob Aitcheson, 14s Steve Paul.

- © Fairfax NZ News