With the national championship to be staged in Rotorua in less than two months, 35 cars (all locals) fronted for opening night. That forced a shuffle in the format so four heats were held throughout the night with each driver racing three times.
Dale Stewart won the opening heat after early leader Shane Newlands pulled infield during a stoppage.
Mark Costello won the second heat and Matt Nillson started showing signs of aggression, taking several cars out of contention including Damien Orr, who then went on to win the third heat.
Douglas Stanaway, racing in a new black body kit, romped home in the last heat in which Mark Willis took a wild wall ride courtesy of Greg Viles.
At the end of the night it was Stanaway with a first and two seconds leading the club points.
The production saloons looked to continue where they left off last season, with wins shared between David Campbell and Malcolm Smith.
Gareth Layne and John Whyte were the best of the rest but as they both suffered a DNF during the night, they dropped back from the club championship chase early on.
With 10 minisprints on track, it was Jason Bryant who took the opening win, after the pressure on him was eased by the mid-race withdrawal of 3NZ Daniel Hartigan, and 1NZ Dayne Maxwell came home second.
Donald Kuriger led most of race two before Maxwell caught and passed him with a couple of laps to go. And with a grid one start in the last race, Maxwell was never going to be beaten.
Of the locals, Ben Vaughan led the club points ahead of Zara Clifton.
A reasonable field of superstocks were on show (13) for an opening night void of any visitors. Ross Ashby was eliminated in the opening lap of the season after tangling with Kyle Fraser.
Ken Hunter was the early leader before a flying David Elsworth chased him down from grid seven for a comprehensive win ahead of Mark Osborne.
Elsworth was on pole for the second race and took another impressive win as well as a fastest lap of 16.72 seconds - the fastest superstock lap in the past couple of years. Bryce Steiner was coming to grips with his chassis and placed second.
In the final heat, Elsworth again came to the fore - from grid 13 to second in two laps - but Pat Westbury (back racing as #97) ensured Elsworth wouldn't get a hat-trick, spinning him soon after. Westbury didn't lose much time but was unable to catch Steiner, who went on to win his first race in his new car.
The youth ministocks welcomed five debutants on opening night, among the 25-car field.
Shaun McHardy won the opening heat for orange group and Tyson Wright took the flag in the next two. Joel Hickey had the opening win in yellow group and in heat two, Minette Wright and Cody Taylor had the crowd in raptures during their battle for the lead, which lasted most of the race. Position changes, and spectacular side by side racing eventually saw Wright prevail.
The speedway season continues with a club night on Friday night at SG Equipment Paradise Valley Raceway.