Saturday 19th June

Well here I am outside McDonalds in Rockford IL in the wrong end of the country for midget week. It was not Team Fattfros week at all. we were gonna run macon before Indiana Midget Week started but that was rained out. First event on Wednesday at gas City was a bad dream as everything that could of happened to prevent us racing happened. we worked our butts off and did'nt even turn a lap with 2 cars giving us grief. Next night at Putnaville we qualified after grabbing a spot through the B main. we finished 16th on a slick track after starting at the back. On to Bloomington we were feeling good and ready to kick some ass. Davey Qualified 8th. ran 2nd in his heat from grid 6 which was enogh for grid 2 in the A Main. By this time there was a cushion the size of a right rear high. Davey was working the top in third place and slid up into the cushion which was enough to turn him over and do some decent damage to the chassis so thats us for the week. we'll be busy getting the car in shape for some eventscoming up in the next week or so.

Mean time I will be heading back to watch the last Midget Week round at Kokomo Speedway. 

Monday 14th June 

Well seen as I have let this get behind a little bit since the last update I must have heaps of news. After the Barry Butterworth 40 lapper at Waikaraka I was a bit down after doing so much damage to the car. I think I had a lot more to give but thats the way it went that night so I hope we can make it back again to prove ourselves again one day. 

Since then the chassis has been repaired. We still like our chassis and its really the only one I fit in comfortably. Weve made a few minor changes to it but it will be the same to look at. The Fontana power that weve had for the last 6 or so years has been sold to Tim Degraff. In the mean time we have to work out what were going to use to power us next. 

In other news I have been up in America for around 3 weeks now. Im living in Seneca IL. Ive been hanging out and lending a hand with the BALDWIN BROS team. Justin Grant drives the Sprintcar and Shane Cottle drove the Silver Crown car at Indianapolis fairgrounds. Justin flipped it out the track onto a car at Terre Haute on may 27 but scored a 4th in the A main at Tri City on Friday after bending the right rear after 8 laps of 30. Hes a kid to watch I reckon.

I went up to Beaver Dam WI on Saturday as a lot of racing has been washed out in Illinois and Indiana. I watched davey Ray win the feature from Scott Hatton. It was hard to pass as there was only one lane on the cushion. Davey did a great job. Starting tomorrow I will be crewing for him on the Fattfro Team  #14 for the entire Midget Week.

I also am working at a race workshop in Joliet IL. MWR Technologies builds all sorts and works on all race cars but they build there own pavement chassis named LIGHTNING CHASSIS. Founder Mike Wallace races his midget along side Patrick Wilder and Terry Ahearn in a 3 car team in the National Series. Our home track is Grundy County Speedway. 

Monday 29th March

The last few weeks have gone by so fast. We missed the last midget round at Huntly because there was too much to get done in one week after the Nationals. Angus again rebuilt our motor and it is spot on. I went to pick it up on Friday night after work after putting the motor back in on Thursday so I could spend all Saturday getting it all prepared for Kihikihi on Sunday. I should have stayed home. On my way back from 2NZs a mad Waiukien took me and the trailer out head on. She was a bit pissed to say the least. The trailer is pretty munted and my old hack is a right off but it could have been much worse I guess. Anyway thanks to a few people we got the car back to MRT HQ on Saturday around lunchtime so I could get it all ready for Sunday. Thanks to Angus and Flossy for working overtime and Bryce T for lending us a trailer.
2Ks Report
24 cars turned up. We were split into 2 groups. Points from 2 heats determined our grid for the 30 lap GP.
Heat 1: G 10. We did’nt set the car up for this at all due to time. We managed to change the gear, fuel it up, check the engine was running ok after its rebuild and that was about it. We still did ok and brought it home 8th on a track that was going slick really fast.
Heat 2: G 3. We had time to watch the other midget race which was a bit push and shove compared to ours. The track was slick as by now but we had heaps of time to make the changes we needed. We fell back to 4th but found the high line worked better for us and got it back and came home 3rd behind Brunt and Pickens.
Grand Prix 30 lapper
The track was gone by now. We were already tight as but we tightened it up a bit more. I really wanted to run high but the track was gone. We could get in hard up high but there was nothing coming off and we fell back to 12th at one stage. When I went back to the pole we were fast but there was no way round. There were a few yellows during the race and I don’t get some of the calls that were made. I hadn’t seen Bill Clarkson for the entire race but on a yellow the officials decided to put him in front of me. We finished 8th passing Fabish on the last lap. It was ok on a tough track but it is frustrates me that a stupid call can change things so much as we were both held up from that point on.
Carl our Harvey is off Rallying for the rest of the season so the crew is working overtime with out him. My Dad really busted his arse on Sunday so thanks mate. And thanks to Denise, Daniel and Grant from Dave Gicks Team for helping out when ever they could.
Were having Easter off and will be at Waikaraka Park for the Barry Butterworth 10k to win 40 lapper. I’m sure we all can’t wait for that one.  See you there.

 Tuesday 16th March

Well the New Zealand National Midget Champs have been and gone for 2010. First of all I want to say Congrates to the top 3. Michael Pickens 1NZ was on fire once again, as to be expected. Angus McLeod 2NZ stepped it from last year to go from 3 to 2NZ. An Awsome effort on only his third meeting of the year. And Michael Brunt 3NZ, as I said a few weeks ago turned it up and is now 3NZ for his second time. All these guys obviously did a great job during the weekend in Stratford. Much better than we did. But as we know Speedway, and racing has its ups and downs. Unfortunately we had a down.

We actually had some luck on our side though. Qualifying started Friday night. We were the third group out of three. I had drew grid 11 from 12 so starting at the back I thought I would cruise for the first lap and wait for things to settle down but when the lights went green all I could see was cars I could pass so I went for it. Unfortunately everyone in front of me was being held up by slower cars and as I was trying to sneak up the inside they came down on me and we got tangled up ripping my right side knerf bar off. I was black flagged but a few laps later the rains started coming which had been a threat all day. They postponed the meeting to the next day and our heat was to be a complete re-run. We had a second chance.

The next day we woke to sun shine and we all felt like we had a real chance of getting in the top 6 of our group which would mean an automatic entry to the Champs.

In the re-run we were running well and only 3 laps in were running 8^th. I could sense we were fast off the corners again. In the end I was shooting around turn 3 up high looking for a pass but again cars were much slower than I had anticipated. I rode a right rear and came down aiming up the wall. We damaged the Jacobs and torsion arm so I was out again. I couldn’t believe it but we fixed it up for the next qualifying round.

Round 2 we started off 5. The last 2 races had worried me a bit and we fell back to 7^th being a bit too careful. In our final round I started on 3 and wasn’t able to progress from there. WE had missed out by a few points and had to go into the repacharge which you needed to win to transfer. We started on grid 3. Off the start we got straight into 2^nd and nearly got into 1^st but as the race went on we started to loose power and the motor got slower and slower. We finished third but the damage was done and we were out for the night. We still had a great time though. Racing and traveling is always a cool buzz.

We’ve been busy all week working on the car and aim to be at Huntly Speedway for the Midgets final round of the year there this Saturday night.

Tuesday 2^nd March

 After driving to Stratford a few weeks ago just to get rained out we were totally ready to have another skid. We had all been anticipating the North Island Midget Champs at Western Springs for sometime as it is our local track. Watching there is frustrating for me. I just wanna race.

We arrived to a much drier track than what we were expecting. I knew it was going to be a really tough night for us as we have very little experience at Springs and being a real horse power track we knew we would have trouble keeping up with the Springs regulars has our motor is about 20 years older than most of them.

I drew grid 7 for our first heat which was Heat 3 so the track had actually already dried out in town bend for my first heat. I don’t know where we finished up but we did fall back. We had no grip off the turns. Something we normally have a lot of but we were learning the track as we went. Second heat I started off 6. We fell back again but the car was better. We still had work to do though. We had Qualified 18 so we were off grid 2 for the B Main. We tightened the car up a bit more but couldn’t get down to the stagger we needed. We were still chasing the track. I finished 5^th. We had to be 4^th to make the main so we were all gutted.

Luckily for us Dave Hardings car wasn’t running 100% and after doing a great job to qualify 9^th for the final he opted out so we could start off grid 20. What a fricken legend. He even lent us a bigger left rear so we could get the car closer to what we needed.

In the Feature we were much better but if we had another race we could have hooked it up more. Having not raced at Springs all year we chased the track all night. We must have finished around 15^th or 16^th making a few passes in pine tree where there was still a bit of drive. Overall the track was pretty bad all night.

Shayne put on another awsome drive to win and Michael Brunt has turned it up latly too which is cool to see.

Our next race meeting is the New Zealand Midget National Champs at Stratford Speedway in 2 weeks. We hope to do much better there but it will once again be a tough fight to qualify. I expect around 35 or more midgets will be entered.

Sunday 24^th January

 A dodgy forecast of rain had us wondering whether we would get to run the Elf Lubricants Huntly Midget Championship but the rain amazingly stayed away for the entire meeting.
Cars from Auckland, Stratford, Kihikihi and Hunly made the 23 car field. We were split into two groups. Two 12 lap heats and a 20 lap final would determine the Champ.

Heat 2. Off the back this time. The car was better but not spot on. We got up to 7^th on a really slick track.

That was enough to qualify 6^th. We’ve been battling with starting strong so we were pretty happy with that. I don’t totally understand it but there were 5 drivers on equal top points so they somehow inverted the top 4 rows. We ended up starting on grid 3 for the final. Ricky Paul from Stratford started on 1 with Shaun Wade next to him. Hayden Williams was beside me on 4. There were about 3 first lap incidents before we started getting into a groove. We fell back into 5^th at one stage but Paul and Williams got together leaving Ricky upside down. We were basically following Wade, Williams and Gick around for most of the race. The car was so quick on exit that these guys were holding us up but there was’nt much grip up high. Towards the end I thought I’ d try the high line at 3 and 4. We went right round Gick into 3^rd. A lap later I thought that was pretty sweet so I’ll do it again but we got a bit of a push and lost a spot. A lap later we tried again but got a push again so I thought I better just sit tight on the poll before I go further back. Old Nev Bowmen had lent us a bleeder which worked great but as result our left rear grew and we lost almost an inch of stagger which made the car too tight towards the end. A cool night though and no damage for a change.

Thanks to Elf Lubricants and Huntly Speedway for another great night of midget racing and well done to Hayden Williams for winning his first midget feature.

Monday 11th January 2011 

Having not raced since the Huntly Placemakers 40 lapper we were all really keen to get some more laps under our belt.

It was the final night of the NZ Super Saloon Champs so we were expecting a really dry slick track like the day before . But Red had been busy and the track was soaked for the first 4 or 5 races of the night. Not to worry we gambled on the first race thinking the Saloons would dry it out in their first race but we were wrong and it was still really slippery. I struggled to keep the revs up and let the whole field go by as I came off turn 2 way too loose. I felt pretty shit but knew the track would come to us over the course of the night.

Heat 2 we started near the back. After a few laps the car felt good and the track had good drive. I saw a few getting together and I watched as they came to stop but I had left my entry too late watching them and coasted into them doing some lite damage to the front. No restarts so DNF and a nearly last. It was’nt looking that great.

The track was drying out though and we grided up 6th for our last heat. The car was heaps better. Predictable, and we were able to move forward finishing 3rd.

Feature time. I was gearing up to start off the back knowing we had’nt qualified that well but the grid was inverted. Fastest to the back. 14a Jodie Vincent must have had a rough night and started off poll with Nevan Bowman next to him. Ricky McGough on 3, myself on 4 and Carl Worboys was starting off the rear.

On the start Jodie got away but never from our sites. We were all over Nev but I was having trouble making a clean pass. I went high a few times but was’nt able to pull it off. Eventually we got him on the inside only to have the yellow come out. I’m sure Nev loved that, so he went back into 2nd. On the restart I found Carl tapping at my heels. He got through but we got him back. Then he made the outside line work on 3 and 4 and went round me and a lap later round Nev. I followed Carl to get back into 3rd. Carl cruised off to take down Vincent and win the race. On the last lap we caught up Jodie and passed him but he came off the turn with more speed and just bet us across the line for 2nd.

Not a bad night. We’ve just got to start being strong from heat 1.

We’ll be back at Huntly for the Huntly Champs in 2 weeks

Sunday 13 December 2010

Last night was the 2nd annual Michelin Huntly 40 lapper. For the 2nd year running the midgets put on a great show. Lots of passing on fast but very dry slick track.

We pulled a grid 2 for the first heat. I had this new set up I wanted to try on a drivey wet Huntly surface but the track was looking a lot drier than previous race nights there so we changed it a bit but thought we would stick with it. As I was gridding up I went to give it a burst but there was no throttle. I wondered if we were running on 3 instead of 4 or if the injectors were blocked and hoped it would sort its self out for the green. It went but when the revs got up it started to slow back down. I got a big push going into turn 1 because it wouldn’t take the gas. I think the whole field went passed when I was stuck up by the wall. I think I did one more lap before pulling off incase I was doing any damage to it.

We cleaned out the injectors, fuel filters etc and checked that everything was ok under the rocker cover. And set up for the 2nd heat. Starting off the back I new I had my work cut out after a DNF.

By now the track was really dry. The car felt good again which was a relief because I thought it might have been some dodgy fuel we bought and if that was the case we may have been out for the night. We started 12th and made a few spots on a really tough track to pass on. Finished 7th or 8th I think.

Feature. We had qualified 18th out of the 23 cars that were there. Not as good as we had hoped at the start of the meeting but we were in so that was a start. We nailed the set up and as soon as the green fell we started picking cars off. We were passing mainly coming off the turns but made some sweet ones on the outside in the early laps. There was no grip anywhere which meant everyone was scrapping on the pole which caused a few pile ups. We were involved in the first lap incident but were restarted in original grids. A few more yellows later and we were in 8th following Shayne Alach who started at the rear through the gaps.

The V8s seemed to have it sussed on the front with Kendall, Green and Insley scrapping over third. I was feeling pretty good keeping up with this group of top drivers and went high into 1 to get a jump on McCutheon who was now in 7th as Shayne had just gone through. But it was a case of bad timing and being in the wrong place at the wrong time as 3 or 4 cars right in front of me went round. Everywhere I looked there was a car blocking the track We hit Green pretty hard as more followed in behind us, one even rolling up the wall. Our Chassis and front end sustained some heavy damage so that was it for us. It was a great race to be in but obviously we would have loved to finish it to see where we could end up.

Shayne continued an awesome calculated drive through the field making some great passes on a really slick track to finish a deserving 1st after coming right from the back. Pickens and Mosen in the V8 Chilli Bowl machines finished 2nd and 3rd.

Sorry about the lack of new photos on this site. We are working on it.

Monday 7th December  2010

 After a few rainouts at Huntly I felt like we had not gone racing for about a month so we packed up Friday night and headed down to Stratford Speedway to race amongst the best in the National Midget Car Series ( NMCS ) .

Weather was a little bit shady again but looked like it would be ok. It was and the night ran without any rain dramas.

Heat 1: We were split into 2 groups of 12 and 13. We drew grid 12 for the first heat. It was a battle to get grip but I felt as if we could do much better. There were a few yellows with cars spinning battling the dry surface. We brought it home 5th.

Heat 2: We were off the front on grid 1 with local Ricky Paul beside us. Ricky was really on the pace and could go into turn 1 much faster than we could. A few times I tried but I was too loose and saved a few close spins. We finished 5th again.

We had Qualified 7th, 8th, and 9th equal with 20 points. Ricky had qualified pole but he drew the 2 marble which inverted the grid. He chose who started next to him and so fourth. Ricky Started on 16 with 7 none qualifiers behind him. I started 3rd with Craig Stienbring on pole. 23 started the 30 lap Feature.

We had made some changes to the car set up and it felt heaps better. It was a long fast race with a high line and low line but riddled with yellows. We finished 8th. Not a bad effort and we have some ideas to try the next time were in Stratford.

See you at the 40 lapper this week at Huntly Speedway on Saturday.

Wednesday 11th November 2010 
 
We rocked up to Huntly Speedway excited about a new nights racing. I had the shocks tested and found that one was'nt right during the week so we were confordent we would have better grip. But at the track we found that our adjustable left rear had got stuck in the tie down position during the trip. Un-believable but thanks to Nevan Bowman we were able to borrow a shock for the night. Cheers mate.

We drew grid 10 out of eleven cars for the first heat. Ricky McGough had a spectacular flip on around lap 2 which put him out for the night. On the restart we passed Porter for 6th but it was just before the cone which I failed to see. Because you cant pass before the cone I was relgated 3 spots. Placed 9th.
Heat 2 we were off grid 2 with Nev beside us. Nev was'nt going to give up getting to the corner first but he slipped up the corner so I ducked under him. We were away no worries untill the yellow came out. We restarted with Fabish behind us. Ruts were everwhere now and I made one slip up coming off 4 and he got up the inside then on the last lap I got a bit wide again and Bunney went through.. We finished 3rd.

Feature. Amazingly we had still qualified 3rd with Fabish on poll and Bunney on 2nd but Fabish pulled the 10 marble which meant the grid was reversed fastest of the back. I dont mind this but it means all the carnage is in front of you rather than behind which means driving carefully rather than as hard as you can. We avoided a couple of spinning cars but in the end we hit one. Our front end was broken so we could'nt restart. DNF. Congrates to Craig Stienbring who I hear drove the pants off his machine.

This weekend the MRT Team will be down at Springs Speedway on our week off having a geez for the first time this year. See you there.

Wednesday 11 November

We rocked up to Huntly Speedway excited about a new nights racing. I had the shocks tested and found that one was'nt right during the week so we were confordent we would have better grip. But at the track we found that our adjustable left rear had got stuck in the tie down position during the trip. Un-believable but thanks to Nevan Bowman we were able to borrow a shock for the night. Cheers mate.  

We drew grid 10 out of eleven cars for the first heat. Ricky McGough had a spectacular flip on around lap 2 which put him out for the night. On the restart we passed Porter for 6th but it was just before the cone which I failed to see. Because you cant pass before the cone I was relgated 3 spots. Placed 9th.

Heat 2 we were off grid 2 with Nev beside us. Nev was'nt going to give up getting to the corner first but he slipped up the corner so I ducked under him. We were away no worries untill the yellow came out. We restarted with Fabish behind us. Ruts were everwhere now and I made one slip up coming off 4 and he got up the inside then on the last lap I got a bit wide again and Bunney went through.. We finished 3rd.

Feature. Amazingly we had still qualified 3rd with Fabish on poll and Bunney on 2nd but Fabish pulled the 10 marble which meant the grid was reversed fastest of the back. I dont mind this but it means all the carnage is in front of you rather than behind which means driving carefully rather than as hard as you can. We avoided a couple of spinning cars but in the end we hit one. Our front end was broken so we could'nt restart. DNF. Congrates to Craig Stienbring who I hear drove the pants off his machine.

This weekend the MRT Team will be down at Springs Speedway on our week off having a geez for the first time this year. See you there.

Monday 2nd November

The first round of midget racing at Huntly Speedway saw 16 midgets race two 12 lap heats, and because of time restrictions a shortened 10 lap Feature.
Heat 1: We drew grid 4. Our main objective was to finish and not push it too hard. The track was a bit greasy but still fairly fast. We finished 4th.
Heat 2: Grid 12. This was my most exciting race. I rode a wheel coming off 2 and my front got spat out towards the wall but we recovered and continued to make some passes. We were in 6th when a yellow came out. The pace on the restart was set too slow for our car and we were nose to tail waiting for the green to fall but it was too late. We got hit from behind and we stalled. No restarts so a DNF was it. 
Feature: Grid 8. We had changed our set up because I felt we were struggling for grip all night. It was the same in the feature. We brought it home 6th which is'nt too bad but we'll be trying really hard to better that this weekend.

Sunday 25th October

Yesterday we finally got to have a run in the car. Angus McLoed has done a great job with the motor. Started up no problem and runs like a dream.

We got 2 practice sessions of around 10 laps I think. The track was really dry on top for warm up so we put a slick set up on for the first session but the classes that went on before us chopped it up a bit which brought out a nice drivey track. It was good to get out there again but 10 laps was'nt close to enough to what I would of liked.

For the 2nd session we changed the car a bit as the track was far drivier than we had thought and just before we went out we were told it had some big ruts in it. After a few laps I had caught up to a slower car and thought the safest way past was to go round but there were some big bumps up there. I went in to turn 1 and caught a rut which loosened up the rear end I spun it up with a car behind me with not much time to stop. A real stink thing to happen on a practice round. It was exactly what I wanted to stay clear of but thats how it goes sometimes.

Saturday 10^th October 

Today should have been the third and final practice session at Huntly Speedway before the season kicks off next week. But if you’ve been in Auckland lately you would know all about the weather. Heaps of rain saturated the track which made practice impossible.   

 The old Harris Fontana is green sheeted and all ready to go. The engine is back in with new crank. I am itching to get back in and get back into the summer months of racing.

This coming Saturday is also Western Springs first practice session. Fingers crossed for some better weather this week.
Catch you at the track.  

Sunday 20th September A few weeks ago while attending an NMCS meeting Angus Mcloed let us know that while he was stripping our motor he noticed our crank had a crack in it. Not great news 3 weeks away from the first practice at Huntly. Still it was good to catch it before it blew through the side of the motor I guess, because if that happened I think I'd have to resort to pedal power. Our new Crank from Joe Fontana in the States has arrived and Angus has proberly almost finished getting the motor back together. We are hoping to get the engine in this weekend and make the 2nd Huntly practice.

I bought my midget licence on Friday down at the Huntly track. I dont think there were any new sign ups.  The Calander has been updated. It includes all Huntly meetings and Springs meetings. As far as I know NMCS dates are not confirmed yet but I'll get them up as I get them. The NMCS meeting was about 2 weeks ago now. As of that meeting there were only 12 drivers commited to the series but I think if 20 drivers sign up it would be a great series of Midget car Racing around the Country. At this stage MRT wont be joining the series due to a lack of Sponsership dollors so far this year.