McDonald’s lovin’ it heading into Springs finale

Auckland’s Jamie McDonald heads into Saturday night’s Springs Speedway finale, hoping to hold on to a slender lead in the national sprintcar series and cap an incredible season.

McDonald holds a six-point lead over James Dahm in what is essentially a two-horse race for the crown.

If he was to hold on to that lead on Saturday night, McDonald will complete a dominant season.

“It would just be a reflection of the good season we have had,” McDonald said yesterday. “It would be a nice way to finish it up.

“We’ve won King of the Springs, the Auckland champs, we’ve got five feature wins, ran third in the New Zealand title and we have a pretty good shot at winning the champion of champions and the national series.

“It would be a nice way to finish off.”

While the lead is hardly big enough to drive to avoid trouble McDonald is adamant that going all-out is the only option.

“The best way to approach it is to attack every race and then the result will take care of itself,” he said. “The plan is to go out there and win the last feature and then everything falls into place.”

Having already been in this position twice before in his career, McDonald thinks any pressure is on Dahm rather than himself.

“I would say the pressure is on him. He hasn’t won one before — we have won two national series already. It would be nice to make it three but I would say the pressure would be a lot more on him than on me.”

It will also be a battle between Springs Speedway and Baypark in a way as Dahm travels up from his home track in the Bay of Plenty.

McDonald doesn’t think the crowd support will have much impact, however, and is pleased to have had the extra competition from a number of drivers who have made the trek north regularly this season.

“It will be every man for himself. Everyone wants to win it and feature in any given night.

“I think a lot of credit has got to go to those Baypark guys. They have come up here a lot more regularly last year and this season. Credit has to go to them for supporting the series and racing with us.

“The new track surface has been challenging so we have been getting to grips with that but it has been a good season.”

The TQs battle it out for the TQ Grand Prix, while the midgets will also crown a season champions. Some beautifully restored midgets of yesteryear will be on display over the course of the meeting and will make an appearance on track during the night.

The first race is scheduled for 6.15pm.