American Dave Darland won his third consecutive 30-Lap Midget World Derby on Saturday night (Jan. 31) at Auckland’s Western Springs Speedway. The USAC open wheel legend won a spectacular race filled with drama and controversy, followed by top performing Kiwi Shaun Insley, and defending International Midget World Series Champion Brad Kuhn. With his second consecutive IMWS second place finish, Insley, the current NZ Midget Champion, now leads the points chase (62 points) after the first two rounds of the 2009 International Series, from Kuhn (45 points), with Darland and Brad Mosen tied for third (37 points).

Sadly missing from the Profreight International US Midget line-up was California’s Henry Clarke. The 19-year-old was knocked out in a heat race crash on Wednesday night, and with a SNZ enforced 21-day stand down, the first time NZ tourist returned home back to the US on Saturday afternoon.

American Davey Ray won the first qualifying heat from grid 3, driving the Wood Duck Racing # 1USA Hawk Aggressor. The car was hurriedly put together the previous night, as Ray’s #88USA Synergy V8 had suffered engine damage on the first night of the series. Shayne Alach finished second, ahead of Lance Beale, Michael Kendall, and Brad Kuhn. Ray set the fastest lap of the night of 14.1 seconds.

Night one winner Brad Mosen easily won heat two from pole, with a 14.2 second fastest lap, followed by Shaun Insley, Carl Worboys, Graham Standring, Cory Kruseman, and Dave Darland.

Jerry Coons Jnr. held off Michael Pickens to win the third heat, with Pickens lapping in the 14.2 second range as well on a fast and drivey racetrack. Kendall was third, followed by Ray, Tony Fabish, and Beale.

Heat four was won by Dave Darland, but only after a reprieve, Darland having initially being DQ’ed for exceeding the 95 dBa noise limit during the heat. Brad Kuhn was second, followed by a very fast Alach, Angus McLeod, Scott Buckley, Insley, and Mosen. Ray at this stage was the top point’s scorer heading into the final heat.

Michael Pickens knocked Ray off the top spot by winning the final heat, to go with his second place finish in his first heat. Chris McCutcheon was second, followed by Wayne Green, Standring, Coons Jnr., and Kruseman. Pickens would start off the pole for the Profreight International Test race, and the 30-Lap World Derby, alongside Davey Ray. The top six grids were completed by Alach, Coons, Kuhn, and Darland.

The NZ Test Team won the second test against the Americans 34-21, Pickens leading the charge with the win off the pole. Brad Mosen made it a Kiwi 1-2 finish, followed by the best of the Americans, Kuhn, and Coons. Davey Ray retired with problems after a torrid race, hurting the US teams points haul.

Pickens and Ray went at it from the drop of the green flag for the 30-Lap World Derby, chased by Alach, Coons, Kuhn, and defending race winner Dave Darland. Coons made a forceful move on Ray for second, having already gone by a rejuvenated Alach, and set out after the race leader Pickens. On lap 20, Coons made the pass, only for it to be negated by a yellow for the spun Brad Kuhn. Coons was visibly unhappy with the call, with the American convinced he had completed more than one lap in the lead before the caution.

Pickens led the restart away from Coons, Ray, and Alach, only to get out of shape through turn one, nearly spinning up in front of the chasing cars. Coons and Ray slammed into and over the Kiwi, ending all of their races! This handed the lead to Alach, followed by Dave Darland, Shaun Insley, Standring, and Kruseman, who had stormed all the way from grid 16. Wednesday night’s first round winner Brad Mosen also retired from the race with a flat right rear tyre.

The top three all battled for the lead, entertaining another large Western Springs crowd, with Darland finally prevailing after a great fight from Insley and Alach. Brad Kuhn had charged back through the field into third after his spin, while Kruseman retired due to a broken exhaust.

After a fantastic and nail biting race, Darland won his third consecutive 30-Lap World Derby, from Insley, Kuhn, Alach, Michael Kendall, and Wayne Green.

Brock Maskovich won yet another exciting TQ feature at Western Springs this season, with the TQ class racing for the inaugural Shane Turner Memorial Shield. Former national Champion Paul Le Cren finished second, ahead of Hayden Williams. A triple car flip in the feature kept the Western Springs Safety crew on their toes, highlighted by John Hopewell barrel rolling at least ten times. He was thankfully OK.

Eight-time NZ Sprintcar Champion Alan Wakeling won the Sprintcar feature in his new XXX chassis, ahead of another former National Champ, Jamie McDonald, and Ryan O’Connor, who finished on the podium for the second week in a row.

The third round of the International Midget World Series is on Thursday night (Feb. 5) at Western Springs Speedway, and features the 40-Lap ‘King of the Springs’ International Midget World Series feature.

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