CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand – Nine heat races kicked off the action for the 78th annual Accessman NZ Midget Car Championship on Friday at Ruapuna Speedway.
With the field of 45 entries split into six groups, the unique format pits each of the six groups against every other group, with the top 16 combined points scorers after all heats have been completed locking into Saturday’s NZ Midget Car Championship feature.
Michael Pickens led the way by topping two of the three 12-lap heats he competed in on Friday, while Logan Seavey, Dave Kerr, Brock Maskovich, Tyler Courtney, Zeb Wise, Brad Mosen and Tom Lumsden also took heat victories during the program.
However, due to a mechanical issue in one of his heat races, Pickens didn’t end up as the high-points scorer through the opening stint of competition.
That honor went to Australia’s Kaidon Brown, much like Pickens fresh off an appearance at the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals.
Brown ran second in all three of the heat races he contested Friday to secure top point honors with 56 points, one more than the trio of Courtney, Mosen and Maskovich, who each had 55 tallies at the end of the opening night.
American Zach Daum was fifth in points, followed by Lumsden, Wise, Kerr, Ryan O’Connor, Duane Hickman, Hayden Guptill, Pickens, Aaron Hodgson, Glen Durie, Jeremy Webb and Brett Morris Jr.
Just outside the provisional top 16 in points with six heats to run Saturday include Logan Seavey (17th), Michael Kendall (20th) and former NZ champion Peter Hunnibell (23rd).
Heat results:
Heat 1 (12 laps): 1. Michael Pickens, 2. Brock Maskovich, 3. Brad Mosen, 4. Zach Daum, 5. Ryan O’Connor, 6. Duane Hickman, 7. Brett Morris Jr., 8. Peter Hunnibell, 9. Brian Barclay, 10. Brent Huijs, 11. Brad Hollier, 12. Jay Chadwick, 13. Glenn Huijs, 14. James Halliburton, 15. Breyton Davison (DNS).
Heat 2 (12 laps): 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Jeremy Webb, 3. Hayden Williams, 4. Tyler Courtney, 5. Glen Durie, 6. Max Guilford, 7. Travis Buckley, 8. Ben Huijs, 9. Hamish Dobbyn, 10. Jayden Worthington, 11. Nathan Wilkie, 12. Chris Bagrie, 13. Michael Kendall, 14. Jeremy Scarlett.
Heat 3 (12 laps): 1. Dave Kerr, 2. Tom Lumsden, 3. Kaidon Brown, 4. Kayne Buck, 5. Aaron Hodgson, 6. Reon Taylor, 7. David Pellow, 8. Mitchell Hill, 9. Zeb Wise, 10. Mark Willans, 11. Jayden Dodge, 12. Jack Low, 13. Glenn Milroy, 14. Hayden Guptill, 15. James Cossey (DNS).
Heat 4 (12 laps): 1. Brock Maskovich, 2. Brett Morris Jr., 3. Jeremy Webb, 4. Glen Durie, 5. Ryan O’Connor, 6. Michael Kendall, 7. Brent Huijs, 8. Chris Bagrie, 9. Brian Barclay, 10. Glenn Huijs, 11. Logan Seavey, 12. Hamish Dobbyn, 13. Michael Pickens, 14. Breyton Davison (DNS).
Heat 5 (12 laps): 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Kaidon Brown, 3. James Cossey, 4. Reon Taylor, 5. Dave Kerr, 6. Travis Buckley, 7. Max Guilford, 8. Mark Willans, 9. Kayne Buck, 10. David Pellow, 11. Ben Huijs, 12. Jayden Worthington, 13. Nathan Wilkie, 14. Jeremy Scarlett (DNS).
Heat 6 (12 laps): 1. Zeb Wise, 2. Zach Daum, 3. Hayden Guptill, 4. Brad Mosen, 5. Duane Hickman, 6. Jay Chadwick, 7. Aaron Hodgson, 8. Tom Lumsden, 9. Peter Hunnibell, 10. Mitchell Hill, 11. James Halliburton, 12. Jack Low, 13. Glenn Milroy, 14. Brad Hollier.
Heat 7 (12 laps): 1. Michael Pickens, 2. Hayden Williams, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Ryan O’Connor, 5. Brock Maskovich, 6. Jayden Worthington, 7. Brett Morris Jr., 8. Nathan Wilkie, 9. Brent Huijs, 10. Max Guilford, 11. Brian Barclay, 12. Glenn Huijs, 13. Ben Huijs. 14. Travis Buckley, 15. Breyton Davison (DNS).
Heat 8 (12 laps): 1. Brad Mosen, 2. Kaidon Brown, 3. Zach Daum, 4. Duane Hickman, 5. James Cossey, 6. Dave Kerr, 7. Mark Willans, 8. Peter Hunnibell, 9. James Halliburton, 10. David Pellow, 11. Reon Taylor, 12. Brad Hollier, 13. Kayne Buck, 14. Jay Chadwick.
Heat 9 (12 laps): 1. Tom Lumsden, 2. Zeb Wise, 3. Michael Kendall, 4. Aaron Hodgson, 5. Hayden Guptill, 6. Hamish Dobbyn, 7. Logan Seavey, 8. Glen Durie, 9. Jack Low, 10. Chris Bagrie, 11. Mitchell Hill, 12. Jeremy Webb (DNS).