Speedway: Midgets to break new ground at Oceanview in Whanganui

Two-time NZ Midget champion Brad Mosen tops the field for the North Island Midgets.

Fast Lane Spares Oceanview Family Speedway is in its 52nd season, but something new is happening on Saturday night.

For the first time, the Wanganui Stockcar and Speedway Club is hosting a Speedway New Zealand championship meeting in the highly competitive midget class.

Midgets are one of the glamour classes of New Zealand speedway, with a long history at the storied Auckland circuit at Western Springs.

Every summer United States and Australian drivers flock to Auckland to compete at “the Springs”, the spiritual home of open-wheeler racing in this country.

Western Springs will host its final New Zealand Midget Championship on January 4 but this season Speedway NZ allocated two championships to tracks where midget numbers are growing.

The NZ Midget Grand Prix was due to be held last weekend at Kihikihi Speedway but had to be postponed due to the weather.

The outlook is much brighter for the Dewtec North Island Midgets at Oceanview Family Speedway on Saturday, where fans will see the best midget car action ever at the Oval by the Ocean.

The cars are small, nimble and powerful and the drivers have little margin for error.

The cars feature a four-cylinder engine with a maximum capacity of 200 cubic inches (3278cc) and weigh between a minimum of 465kg and a maximum of 530kg, driver included.

With a wheelbase of just under two metres, midgets are exhilarating to drive and spectacular to watch.

And when they start banging wheels through the turns, everyone holds their breath.

Topping the entry list is the current New Zealand champion Brad Mosen from Auckland.

The 37-year-old won his second championship at Ruapuna Speedway in Christchurch last season, nine years after his first title, also at Ruapuna.

Another driver to watch is 3NZ Mitch Fabish from Kihikihi, a competitor who knows the Oceanview circuit well after his career in youth ministocks.

His father Tony Fabish is a two-time New Zealand champion in the midgets, and the apple has not fallen far from the tree.

Another Kihikihi driver who has made the step up to midgets is Terrence Dorrell who placed third in the New Zealand TQ Midget championship two years ago and is another youth ministocks graduate.

Auckland driver Ben Morrison is another to have come up through the TQ ranks and has been in good early-season form. Corban Anderson is another big improver and Baypark’s Luke McClymont is also a young man in a hurry.

Title sponsor Shane Dewar, of Palmerston North, is a former New Zealand Minisprint champion and is very quick on his day, as is his Palmerston North clubmate Karl McGill.

There’s a good contingent of local cars with Brent and Ben Huijs, Brad McDonald, Hayden Sherman and ex-Stratford competitor Mark Willans all looking to make a strong showing.

Drivers have been drawn into four groups and will race a round-robin heat format which will decide qualifying grid positions for the 25-lap championship race.

Stockcars, production saloons and youth and adult ministocks make up the support classes.

A bumper field of 28 adult ministocks will contest the West Coast Adult Ministocks.

The public gates open at 4.30pm and racing will get under way at 6pm.

Patrons are welcome to bring their own food and enjoy a picnic tea before racing while the usual speedway fare will be available from food caravans around the oval.

With many of the country’s best open-wheeler pilots going full-on for a Speedway NZ championship, the sizzle of these high-octane beasts is going to be a great spectacle.