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Midgets: SPEEDWAY - Western Springs New Zealand

30 December 1998

Courtesy of SportsWeb

1998-99 season (Meeting number 8, December 29)

THE visiting United States midget car drivers have rapidly learnt the art of teams racing and powered back into contention during the second round of the Tip-Top Ice-cream Tri-nation test series at Aucklands Western Springs Speedway last night (Dec 29).

The young Californian trio of Ricky Shelton, Clay Klepper and Steve Paden have developed a tight team spirit, swapping set-up ideas, discussing team tactics and even going to the extreme of getting their hair dyed patriotically; Paden in red, Klepper bleached white and Shelton in blue.

While the New Zealand team of Graham Standring, Michael Kendall and Justin Insley had raced clear to a 22 point advantage after the opening round on Boxing night, that margin is now a faded memory.

Teenager Paden got the Team USA fightback away to a good start last night by winning the first 8-lapper with Shelton third behind Aussie Craig Brady and Kendall the best Kiwi in fourth spot. The lead was trimmed to 16 points.

Race two went to Kendall, but Kiwi hopes were dented when Standring clipped the right rear wheel of Kleppers car and flipped. Paden was second in his Stealth/Esslinger ahead of Brady, Shelton and Klepper and the Kiwis lead was sliced to 10 points.

Kendalls race winning form continued in the third heat with Aussie Jason Gates second ahead of Paden and Klepper. Shelton was relegated a spot to sixth after a clash with Standring that cost the Kiwi a full lap and dropped him to seventh, and last finisher after Brady and Kiwi Justin Insley collided.

With six of the nine races now completed New Zealand leads with 103 points from Team USA with 98 and Australia on 64. Kendall, who has now won three races leads the individual standings with 43 points from Paden on 37, Standring and Shelton 31, Klepper 30 and Insley 29.

The Barry Butterworth Memorial 25-lap feature race was a crash-marred affair which required three restarts just to complete the third lap. The casualties included Standring, Kendall, Paden, Klepper, Brady and Bonnell and when the race eventually began to settle into a pattern Carl Worboys took the lead.

Shelton however had avoided the chaos and began a charge to the front in his Stealth/Pontiac. He made his move around the outside of Worboys in Town Bend on the 15th lap and edged clear in the remaining laps. Worboys was runnerup while second year racer Andrew Grant won a battle with national champ Kevin Hyde for third spot.

Brett Hickford took out the feature race for the Modified Sprint division while Steven Currie won his first TQ midget feature of the season. The delays in the midget feature pushed the programme to its 10.30pm curfew and the sprint car feature was canceled.

Racing continues at Western Springs on Saturday January 2 with the final three races of the Tip-Top International series and the 30-lap Midget World Derby.

Results - CRC Speedway Western Springs, Tuesday December 29.

Kiwi Kidz Quarter midgets:
Race 1 (4 laps) Shane van Gisbergen 1; Brad Mason 2; Aaron Drever 3; Time 1m 33.3s.

Modified Sprints: Race 1 (8 laps) Jarrod Ford 1; Craig Browne 2; Brett Hickford 3; no time.
Race 2 (8 laps) Wayne Loane 1; Jason Way 2; Grant Hodgson 3; 1m 54.7s.
Feature (8 laps) Hickford 1; Way 2; Ford 3; no time.

Three-quarter midgets:
Race 1 (10 laps) Paul LeCren 1; Ron Smith 2; Shane Snookes 3; no time.
Race 2 (10 laps) Steven Currie 1; Shane Turner 2; LeCren 3; 2m 44.3s.
Feature (10 laps) Currie 1; Steve Dennis 2; Bruce McDonald 3; no time.

International Midgets:
Tip-Top Tri-nation Series, round 2:
Race 4 (8 laps) Steve Paden (USA) 1; Craig Brady (Aust) 2; Ricky Shelton (USA) 3; Michael Kendall (NZ) 4; Graham Standring (NZ) 5; Darryl Bonnell (Aust) 6; Jason Gates (Aust) 7; Clay Klepper (USA) 8; Justin Insley (NZ) 9; 1m 55.1s.
Race 5 (8 laps) Kendall 1; Paden 2; Brady 3; Shelton 4; Klepper 5; Insley 6; Gates 7; Bonnell 8; Standring DNF; No time.
Race 6 (8 laps) Kendall 1; Gates 2; Paden 3; Klepper 4; Bonnell 5; Shelton 6; Standring 7; Insley and Brady DNF; no time.
Overall (after two rounds)
New Zealand 103 points (Kendall 43, Standring 31, Insley 29);
USA 98 (Paden 37, Shelton 31, Klepper 30);
Australia 64 (Gates 24, Brady 23, Bonnell 17).
Barry Butterworth Memorial Feature (25 laps)
Shelton 1; Carl Worboys 2; Andrew Grant 3; Kevin Hyde 4; Bonnell 5; Bryce Mckenzie 6.

Midgets:
Heat 1 (10 laps) Eddie Patrick 1; Richard OReilly 2; Des White 3; 2m 52.1s.
Heat 2 (10 laps) Andrew Hawkswood 1; Grant 2; Wayne Scott 3; no time.
Consolation (10 laps) Jerry Lawrence 1; Patrick 2; White 3; no time.
Semi-main (10 laps) Worboys 1; Scott 2; Grant 3; no time.

Sprint cars:
Race 1 (10 laps) Allan Wakeling 1; Lyndon Kendall 2; Graeme Addis 3; 2m 28.4s.
Race 2 (10 laps) Keith Simpson 1; Ian Foster 2; Kevin Hinchcliffe 3; 2m 18.9s.
Invitation (10 laps) Colin Entwisle 1; Ossie Sokol 2; Foster 3; no time.
Feature (20 laps) not run.