Hickman wins Midget Classic
Duane Hickman was the fastest of the 12-car midget field and won the City of New Plymouth Classic at Stratford Speedway on Saturday night seemingly with ease.
Racing a brand new car for the first time at his home track, Hickman dominated the competition and set a new lap record in the process, recording a 14-second lap in the first race.
Starting form grid five in race one, he hit the front of the field on lap six and stayed there to score maximum points before running a brilliant race in race two and coming home in second place form a grid 11 start.
After a bad start in race three, he made a better go of the restart and ran away from the field for another convincing win. Hickman’s results ensured he was at the top of the leaderboard, nine points clear of Chris Bagrie in second, with Brent Huijs of Whanganui in third.
‘‘It was awesome to have a new chassis that is different to what we have always had, a good track and to get lap times like we did I was pretty happy. All we did all night was change stagger and with more things to play with yet I think there is still more speed to come out of the car’’ Hickman said.
Mitch Vickery was the standout driver in the superstock class, but not for his exceptional speed or race wins. Vickery won the Gary Adamson Memorial trophy for the class, which is awarded to the best stirrer on the night.
He clearly had his sights set on retaining possession of the trophy he won last season and started taking shots at the other competitors in the first race. Throughout the three races he hit nearly every other car on the track to deservedly win the title.
On the racing side of things, it all came down to a three-way run-off between Gary Johnson, Logan Sharpe and Andrew Lewis for the John Adamson Memorial after the three were tied on points.
Johnson went on to claim to title, with Sharpe in second and Lewis third.
Craig Korff won the Plews Memorial for the saloon class after he and Mark Hinton dominated the night’s racing.
The pair were tied on points after three races and after a close four-lap run-off, Korff was the victor. Jarrod MacBeth finished one point behind the pair in third.
Steve Reed won the streetstock Olsen Memorial, while Kyle Wilson took out the adult ministocks City of New plymouth Classic and Alana Buckthought, Matthew Picard and Will Hart claiming wins in the youth ministocks.