Baypark Speedway: Rain washes out International Sprint Car Series races at Mount

Christchurch's Matthew Leversedge (78) gets the jump at the start on his way to a heat race victory at Baypark's rain-shortened sprint car event. Photo / Stuart Whitaker

The big question that loomed ahead of the Thursday night sprint car international at Baypark Speedway was left unanswered.

Oklahoma racer Shane Stewart was aiming to extend his impressive New Zealand winning streak with a 28-strong line-up of US, Australian and Kiwi challengers hopeful of breaking the string.

The Mount Maunganui event was the middle stop for the week-long, three-race Porter Hire International Sprint Car Series that began at Auckland's Western Springs last Saturday.

Rain that arrived in the last hour of the meeting initially dampened down the very dusty track but ultimately made the surface too greasy for racing to continue safely and the 30-lap feature race was cancelled.

Stewart's winning run in the series remains intact at five-straight running back to a clean sweep of the 2018 series.

Stewart did taste success early in the evening, winning the third of the four 12-lap sprint car heats while the other heat winners were North Island champ Stephen Taylor (Wellington), Australian visitor Jamie Veal and Christchurch's Matthew Leversedge.

The B-Main was completed with the first drops of rain beginning to fall and saw the wide geographic spread of the night's winners continue with Palmerston North's Dean Cooper taking a commanding win.

The rain denied Taylor and Tokoroa's Keaton Dahm — the leading Kiwi point scorers — the honour of being the New Zealand pair to take on the US and Australian drivers in a six-car, 3x4 test match that didn't get started.

Thursday's other international winner was Illinois racer Zach Daum who won the opening midget car heat.

The Sprint Car series concludes at Auckland's Western Springs tonight.

The next Baypark Speedway fixture is the United Truck Parts International Midget Car 40-lapper on December 28.