Speedway: Big guns fire before title races

An exciting Super Saloon Car feature race came down to a three-way fight between Dean Waddell (81), Ben Harding (24) and New Zealand champ Mark Osborne (1NZ). Photo/Colin Smith

With three major titles looming in the coming month, Saturday's meeting at Baypark Speedway was an important shakedown for the top guns of super saloons.

National champion Mark Osborne (Christchurch) made his debut as a Baypark registered racer and the first wave of visitors for the season included Napier's Grant and Steve Flynn and Auckland's Ben Harding and Lance Jennings as the racing stepped up another level from the promise it had shown in earlier meetings.

Super saloon honours up for grabs in the coming weeks include the North Island title at Napier next weekend, the NZ Grand Prix at Baypark on December 27 and the NZ Championship at Auckland's Waikaraka Park on January 10-11.

It was Tauranga's Dean Waddell who claimed the feature win, holding off late race challenges from Harding and Osborne in a race shortened to only eight laps as the busy programme ran into time pressures.

Harding and Waddell won the heat races and started from the front row with Waddell launching into an early lead. Harding showed hard charging pace as he tried both inside and outside lines and Osborne made it a three-way battle at the front.

It took Osborne one heat race to get to grips with the Baypark track and after set-up changes he completed the night with a second behind Waddell in the heat and third in the feature race.

In the annual appearance of the Modifieds the story was the commitment shown by Christchurch racer Luke Keegan.

Leaving home on Friday lunchtime his team made an evening ferry crossing and stayed the night in Wellington before heading to Baypark.

He was scheduled to arrive home again late on Sunday night and the inter-island road trip was rewarded with three wins from three starts in the Boulton Racing Team Lovelady machine and a new lap record each time he hit the track.

After early battles with Auckland's Jamie Fox - the joint New Zealand title-holder with Keegan - in the heat races, he cleared out to win the 20-lap feature, equalling the lap record at 15.33secs on the final lap.

Aucklander Daniel Eggleton won the sprint car feature.