KEY POINTS:
Speedway promoter Lewis Dawson is taking over as general manager at Western Springs from the departing Dave Stewart. Dawson comes to the Springs after a period promoting the Woodford Glen speedway track in Christchurch. The speedway season continues this weekend with round three of the Western Springs Championship series tonight and the North Island Sprint Car Championship on December 6.
Tasman Cup series on
New Zealand's MSC F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series cars are back in action at Sydney's Eastern Creek circuit this weekend. Like the first round of the 2008/09 season's meeting at Melbourne's Sandown Park, a bumper field of around 20 is expected for the Formula 5000 race. There have been three winners from three starts so far and Stan Redmond leads by one point over last season's series winner Chris Hyde and two points over third-placed former series champion Ian Clements.
Rookie off to V8 test
Young NZV8 rookie Michael Bristow is heading to Australia for a V8 Supercar test early in 2009. Bristow (21) will test with Ford Performance Racing (FPR) Team Blue, one of three teams that FPR will field in next year's championship. This season he's shown good consistency, finishing sixth in both rounds of the BNT V8s championship and is currently seventh overall.
Malley to gauge stamina
New Zealand Fiesta Sporting Trophy series winner, Patrick Malley, will get the opportunity to see how he fares on the world stage at the 2008 Fiesta Sporting Trophy international shootout in England. The opening day will see the drivers tested physically and mentally, as well as media-handling skills. Day two is all about driving skills. The five who have impressed M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson the most will then get a second interview before the announcement of who will get the works PWRC drive.
Hanninen leads Wales rally
PWRC driver Juho Hanninen, part of the New Zealand RallyArt team, is six points ahead of Andreas Aigner with just one round to go in the series, the Wales Rally GB. Both drivers have won three times but Hanninen has the upper hand. The best chance Aigner has of winning the title is for Hanninen to finish out of the points and him to either win or finish second. The prize for the winner is a year's contract with M-Sport, the company who run the BP Abu Dhabi Ford World Rally Team.
