Motorsport: Houdini like Pickens wins sprint race

Michael Pickens opened up a good lead early on at Western Springs and kept mistakes to a minimum. Photo / James Selwyn

Lapped cars were the biggest barrier to clinching victory.

Near misses and Houdini acts were the theme as sprint car ace Michael Pickens escaped the field to win round three at WxC Speedway Western Springs on Saturday night.

Having opened up a sizeable lead early on, Pickens managed to avoid trouble as he picked off lapped cars on almost every corner.

"It went pretty well for us out there; we started off the front row and got a good start to hold the lead, but I came up on a lot of lapped traffic who were taking up both lanes which was a bit tricky," said the former New Zealand midget champion.

"I had to bide my time a bit among the lapped cars and I made a few mistakes but we managed to stay out front."

The battle for second position was a highlight of the race as American Jonathan Allard and Kiwi Dean Brindle fought for an advantage. Allard eventually got the better of Brindle.

"Unfortunately these cars don't have mirrors so you've just got to go as hard as you can without making mistakes," said Pickens.

"We were good until we got to lapped traffic then we probably slowed up a bit but we held it together and it's awesome to get the win."

Auckland's Brock Maskovich got his season under way in emphatic fashion, winning one of the most exciting midget feature races in recent history. Maskovich grabbed the lead half way through before coming out on top of an intense four-way battle between Shayne Alach, Hayden Williams, Brad Mosen and himself.

"The car was fast on the bottom and the track was working down there. I knew if the other guys were going to go around the outside of me I was going to make it hard for them and we pulled it off so I'm really happy," said the 22-year-old.

Meanwhile, TQ driver Ryan Baker won the Shane Turner Memorial over Nathan Howard and Hayden Guptill, while Neville McNabb won his second consecutive F2 feature race at Western Springs.

This weekend will see international sprint car action as teams from Australia and the United States visit for the first of three rounds in the Porter Hire International Sprint Car Series. Brindle, alongside North Shore driver Jamie MacDonald, will compete on behalf of New Zealand.

For more information, visit www.springsspeedway.com.