Whangarei's Thomas McLean showed why he is enjoying the transition from track to dirt with a creditable fourth placing overall in TQ Midget racing at the Whangarei Speedway.
The 16-year-old former national kart champion finished fourth overall in the eight-car field, managing to hold on to his grid positions and notch up a couple of third places - not bad in his first season out of karts.
With plenty of friends of family on the terraces on Saturday, McLean showed why he is enjoying his first season in midgets. "In karts you're always going sideways but you're supposed to go straight, now you're supposed to go sideways so it's been a lot of fun really, TQs are kind of like overgrown go-karts," he said.
McLean has another meeting this weekend at Western Springs before attending the TQ Nationals in Christchurch in two weeks' time.
Racing in the class at the Port Road track was tight in the TQs with all three races won by different drivers. When the points were tallied there was a dead heat for first place. Auckland's Lawrence Baker and Rachel Melrose were declared joint winners with another Aucklander Shane Phillips in third place.
