Warren Motorsport

The 10th of April saw the final round of the National Midget Car Series and the Barry Butterworth Midget car classic held at Waikaraka Park. The  heat groups were spilt with the NMCS runners in one group who were already able to start the 40lap feature. The group was non NMCS participants who had to qualify for the final. With only the top 8 going through to the final 40 lap final. Darrens first heat saw him finish in 8th and the second heat was another good finish of 6th this giving him enough points to qualify 5th and into the main event. The grid draw was in reverse with Darren managing to start from pole for the final. The finalists were then taken around on 22 Harleys as a pre race parade. The cars were then fired up and the four wide salute took place. Then it was down to the 40lap final final. With the race taking two attempts to get started it was going to be a long race, however after a few cautions the race seemed to flow freely. Howver a red light stoppage with 14 laps reamaining slowed proceedings. Darren slowly moved backwards as the more experienced seasoned campaigners moved thru to the front. However just by being consistant Darren was able to acheive a 10th place in the 40lapper. The Team now look to the off season with both Darreans midget and Amandas T.Q neing pulled down for a rebuild ready for next season, Darrens T.Q is also now up for sale.

Easter Sunday saw the Warren Motorsports Midget race at Harrisville Speedway. After some light drizzle greeting the team on arrival it turned into a good day with around 20 midgets on hand. The format was two 10 lap heats and a 15 lap final with the heats deciding the grid positons for the feature. With two good heats having finished 3rd froma grid 9 start and a 5th postion finish from grid 15. This gave a final start place of grid 4. However a first corner incident meant the result couldnt be capitalisied. With a car climbing over the left side of the car at high speed it caused major damage and Darren was unable to continue, the car will now be repaired in preparation for the final round of the NMCS at waikaraka park this weekend.

The Sunday after Meeanee saw the running of the NZ GP at Kihikihi on a hot dry track. The heats proved busy with many spins and cautions and some un- organisation with the restarts it made for long heat races. Darren managed to avoid most of the spins to finish the 1st heat in a good postion, the second heat was much the same with many spins and restarts, however after slowly moving up thru the feild with 3 laps to go the powersteering pump failed and caused Darren to retire to the infeild for the remainder of the meeting, missing out on starting the feature.

The 27th of March saw the National Midget Car Series arrive in Napier. It was Darrens third time in the car and as it was a eent close to home it was a good chance to get some laps in and learn more about the car. With two 12 lap features and a 30lap final it was a good amount of racing. The heats were reasonably trouble free with Darren finishing them in 6th and 7th. The Feature was pretty uneventfull with only one Caution on the opening lap which caused a full restart. The remainder of the feature running under green conditions, Darren managed to finish in 9th after struggling with not quite the right setup for the conditions and getting used to the lines to drive the midget, it was a valuable learning experience in preparation for running the car full time.

The North Island champs at Meeanee speedway were full of challenges for the Warren Motorsport Team with rollovers happening before the 1st heat had even started. The format was set down, 3x 15lap heats would decide the winner. The first heat was rather busy with a caution filled start. Amanda started from grid 3 and kept out of most of the choas that followed to finish 8th. Darren Started from grid 11 and worked thru traffic to be 4th but with a few laps to go the brakes failed and Darren had to run the last few laps without in order to gain points for the night so a position of 7th was all that could be managed. The second heat saw Amanda start from further down the grid and managed to keep out of trouble and finish 9th while Darren started from grid 1 and managed to hold off the challenge of 2nz Craig Todd to take the win after a run of cautions up untill the last lap. The third heat saw Darren Start off grid 21 and Amanda from the middle with a uneventfull race and no cautions the race to the front was hard to make places thru the feild. The Final Result was good for the night with both cars coming away with no damage and Darren Finishing 4th overall and Amanda 13th.