Saturday’s rain and thunderstorms finally put paid to the scheduled running of the Western Springs International Sprint car Classic at the Auckland track on the scheduled 9th December race date. Rain showers had delayed the start of the meeting and after only two races were completed the rain started falling in earnest. Officials were forced to postpone the event until Sunday evening, the following night.

Two World of Outlaws drivers made the trip down from the for the $20,000 Classic race, Joey Saldana and Craig Dollansky both driving for Ron Salter here in . Dollansky won last Saturday’s feature race at the Springs with a dominant show of driving force. Saldana, however, stepped straight off the plane and into his Kriner powered race car for his first look at the historic Auckland track.

Another American entrant and regular visitor to , Ricky Logan, had won the feature race in Palmerston North the previous Saturday completely controlling the race and breaking the Manawatu track’s lap record in the process.

A last minute car change saw car owner Brett Sanford offer his car to the other International star, Australian legend Robbie Farr, for the 30 lap Classic.

Windy dry weather was a welcome change from yesterday’s rain squalls but also meant that the track surface would be hard and slick for the night’s main race. Both Farr and Logan, racing cars with slightly less horsepower welcomed the opportunity to run on a dryer track.

“It’ll even things up a little for us said Logan, but racing here at the Springs with this many good drivers and cars will be real busy, it’s not a big track and there’s some real fast guys including the top Kiwis who know this track real well.”

Logan managed a 12.8 sec quick lap during the visiting drivers hot lap session which put him on the top of the table before the heat races started. Dollansky was second quickest followed by Saldana, Steve Duff from Christchurch and Robbie Farr.

A misfiring engine created problems for Saldana during the hotlaps session and he pulled onto the infield before the session was over. The Salter crew worked to fix the problem but after firing the car up in the first heat found the engine had damaged a piston.

Saldana’s team mate Dean Brindle offered to step out of his 22 car to allow the “Brownsburg Bullet” to try and qualify after traveling so far to compete in the Classic. A hurried effort to swap seats and get the car setup for the much smaller Saldana meant that the driver had to run the last two heat races almost back to back to qualify with enough points to start the feature.

24 year old Auckland driver Jamie McDonald won the first heat with NZ number 1 Kerry Jones second followed by Logan, Dollansky and midget ace Michael Pickens driving the Gerard Ness owned Accessman car finished fifth.

Robbie Farr started off the back of heat two to finish second behind Tauranga’s Rodney Wood. Hamilton driver Greg Pickerill finished third ahead of Allan Wakeling, Havard Daniels and Steve Duff.

Carl Wilson started the third heat off pole and managed to hold off a hard charging Dollansky until the US driver got by on lap 8 for the win. Saldana raced through the field from grid 7 to finish 3rd ahead of Daniels, Tommy Rusher, Ossie Sokol and Pickerill in 7th.

Saldana won the last heat from Farr who held out Wakeling for second. Pickens finished 4th placing him just out of the top six feature starters for the pole shuffle

The pole shuffle for the top six feature qualifiers saw Logan and McDonald face off to start, Logan won and then beat Wakeling, the only other local driver in the top six. Dollansky rolled out and trounced Logan and second quickest qualifier Farr in quick succession. The two Outlaws faced off for the pole decider and an in form Dollansky moved Saldana to the two spot on the start grid.

The two US stars set a fierce pace off the green light and Dollansky led for the first 20 laps before Saldana worked his way by. Logan moved by Farr on lap 7 to take the third spot as the Australian worked hard to keep his older car up with the newer equipment of the Americans.

The New Zealanders Wakeling and McDonald were left to fight it out for fifth place early in the race with McDonald passing Wakeling on the 8th lap. McDonald caught and passed a determined Farr on lap 22 but the Australian fought back and held McDonald off for 3 more laps until being passed again by the Kiwi who finished in fourth place. A hard Charging Wakeling passed Farr, who had lost his power steering, on the last lap of the race, relegating the Aussie to 6th place.

A spin by Duff on lap 23 saw him clip Sokol’s car finishing the Aucklander’s race who pulled off with a punctured rear tyre.

On lap 25 Logan slid up the inside into second as Dollansky got caught up, outside, against the wall as he lapped Kiwi midget driver Michael Pickens. Logan held the Outlaw off for the remaining 5 laps to secure a second place finish.

A fast and fiercely fought Classic finished after 30 laps with only one yellow caution light. A victorious Saldana lapped the field up to 7th place in a dominant display of driving prowess.

The International Sprint Car Series battle continues this coming weekend at Powerbuilt Speedway on the 16th December.

WESTERN SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL SPRINT CAR CLASSIC

Position        Name                         Country                      

1                      Joey Saldana            USA

2                      Ricky Logan              USA

3                      Craig Dollansky        USA

4                      Jamie McDonald       NZL

5                      Allan Wakeling          NZL

6                      Robbie Farr               AUS

7                      Carl Wilson                NZL

8                      Kerry Jones              NZL

9                      Rodney Wood          NZL

10                    Michael Pickens       NZL

Back to News