For the first time in history, the New Zealand Midget Championship has been won by an overseas competitor, with American Jerry Coons Jr. taking away the silverware at the end of a dramatic 30-lap feature race, with Australian Nathan Smee taking second place. Shaun Insley was the first Kiwi home in third place.
Each driver accumulated points across two heat races to qualify for the winner-take-all 30-lap feature race. Coons, along with Auckland's Michael Pickens, were equal top qualifiers and consequently started off the front of the grid, with Pickens credited with pole due to a faster lap time in the heat races.
Coons made an early jump, while Pickens had a slow start, but a yellow flag after six laps closed the gap between the pair. After the restart, the pair traded the lead on more than half a dozen occasions as two of the best midget drivers in the world gave the 10,000 plus fans in attendance their moneys worth and more.
This all came to a halt after 17 laps when Pickens got wide and suffered a spectacular rollover which stopped only when the car hit the catch fencing. Although he was ok, his dreams of a fourth national midget title would have to wait for another year.
This left Coons, from Tuscon, Arizona, to become the first overseas driver to win the national title, following on from fellow Western Springs regular, Jonathan Allard, of Chico, California, who became the first overseas driver to win the Sprint Car title only a month ago.
Results:
NZ Midget Championships: 1 Jerry Coons Jr (USA), 2 Nathan Smee (AUS), 3 Shaun Insley (NZ).
Sprint Cars: 1 Jonathan Allard (USA), 2 Ricky Logan (USA), 3 Ryan O'Connor (NZ)
TQ Midgets: 1 Ryan Baker, 2 Paul Le Cren, 3 Jared Taylor.
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