Mosen started the championship race from pole position, but it was Huijs who got the initial jump, leading the first seven laps before his brakes began to fade.
Mosen took the lead but, after a restart, Palmerston North’s Karl McGill gunned the 93P car past Mosen and into the lead.
As the laps counted down, and through several more restarts, McGill held his nerve and resisted everything Mosen threw at him. Then, towards the end of lap 23 and with the white flag beckoning for the final lap, McGill ran fractionally wide through turns three and four.
Champions need only one opportunity and Mosen took his to perfection, making the pass on the pole line and holding on for the final lap to win by 0.79s.
Fabish came home in third place ahead of Aucklander Ben Morrison, Dorrell, Alex Insley and Huijs who can take great confidence from his run early in the race.
It was a race worthy of championship status and a fitting end to a well-run meeting.
But the action did not stop there.
Kaelin Mooney added the West Coast adult ministocks to his resume, holding out Palmerston North’s Caleb Keane in the final heat to win by two points.
Mooney’s night was almost derailed by younger brother Ashton going end for end in their shared car in the youth ministocks when he and Seth Salton came together along the back straight.
The youngest Mooney got impressive airtime before crashing down on to his wheels, leaving the crew with a very fast repair job.
Neither Mooney nor Salton was injured and both continued racing.
Production saloon driver Brent Hackett was another to benefit from the excellent track conditions, becoming the first driver in his class to go under 17s for a lap, recording a time of 16.909s in the final heat.
There was plenty of action in the stockcars with Rick Paul and Codey Wilton (both of Stratford) and Josh Matthews sharing the wins, while in the youth ministocks Harry Jurgens and Kobe Dorn each took two wins.
The Wanganui Stockcar and Speedway Club (WSSC) can take plenty of positives from hosting its first Speedway NZ Midget Championship.
With Auckland’s iconic Western Springs closing at the end of the season, there is one fewer track to host titles and, after the success of Saturday’s meeting, there is no reason WSSC could not bid for further midget championships, including the prestigious New Zealand title.
WSSC life member Mike Johnston described Oceanview as “the little track that could” as they pulled out all the stops to run an outstanding championship event.
More to the point, Oceanview was “the little track that did” this weekend, thanks to an outstanding team effort for which the WSSC can be proud.
