What got me so distracted was not only the number of cars on hand but the quality , particularly in the Super Saloon field. Household names the likes of Geoff Fletcher , Dean Waddell  , Maurice Cowling and Tony Cardwell who between them have claimed 8 past NZ Championships and countless other major wins and placings .Chuck in the new boys like Murray Guy , Neville Stuart , Ben Harding and other older hands like Don Galletly and Mike Peglar . Yep it was going to be good all right .

A check of the Modified ranks revealed Jamie Fox , Allan Haigh , Paul Blakely . Brian Jesen . All four top runners backed up by the likes of Gary Parker , David Gaskin , Phil Crumpe , Matt Hazelton and one other I now know to be Dean Martin . I wonder if he will be crooning his way around the track.

The pits were further populated by what seemed like a zillion Stockcars and a stack of Saloons .

This set me thinking about how good it would be if each of the tracks up this way had a turn about each month to be the only track running thus allowing the public the chance to see these top notch divers in one place more often . I don't mean just one class , I mean all the premier classes at the same time . Super Saloons , Saloons(ltd) , Modifieds , Superstocks and Stockcars(std) . Leave the budget classes out of these premier meetings , all due respect to competitors in those classes . Just once a month for four times a season let us see only the best of what NZ Speedway has to offer.

 Huntly's month could be October , Waikaraka's November , Rotorua's December and perhaps Baypark in March . A similar thing could happen further south with Stratford ,Wanganui , Palmerston and Wellington .
I know it'll never happen and I'm just dreaming .

Anyway after a while  I settled back into reality and headed back to my seat on the embankment stopping every few feet for words of greeting to many of the familiar faces that spend most of their free time and money feeding their speedway addiction . 
All people just like you because if you are reading the garbage I type then you are just as hooked as the rest of us . 
Luckily there is no cure although the cynical would suggest there is in the form of Ministocks , Production Saloons and Minisprints .

Once back at my seat it wasn't long before Yaz and Linz , Percy , Barry and Sally Brown and a couple of others
made their entrance and took up their positions . That Yaz though , one minute she's there the next she's gone and the minute after she's back again . All that youthful enthusiasm for everything speedway. God I'm feeling old .

Huntly have done a major revamp of their track for this season and it is obviously a big improvement . It's now more obviously banked and there is no sign of any sloping off towards the wall . It looked smooth and consistent and proved to be that way throughout the night . It had plenty of grip too with the likes of Steve Williams and Jamie Fox pulling wheelies. at will .

Stockcar Teams race : Waikato Raiders V Kihikihi .
Well let's be honest , this was no rugged encounter . Blu Rawiri and Brad Ridland had control from the get go and even when the other two members of their Kihikihi team retired they were still too good for the unorganized Raiders .It was the first encounter of the season though and you can be sure that the Raiders will be stronger next time . My only real beef is that the consecutive numbers of the Raiders team just leaves me confused about who is who . Team bodies look good but for the publics sake ,especially us with old-timers disease , stick with proper racing numbers .

Modifieds : 9 cars . I had hope one or two more may have showed but the field was mostly a quality one as detailed in my pit observations . Jamie Fox , Allan Haigh , Brian Jeson and Paul Blakely were the pace setters and there really was not much between them . Just slight advantages for one or another as the track conditions changed through the night .
Jamie Fox did seem the quickest in open air though and it was no surprise that he set a new lap record of 13.869 secs .
The new recruits to the class were doing all right too and in the near future there will be some new names featuring in the results records . . 
Sadly Allan Haigh had to cut his night short because his wife had been hospitalized . Hopefully there is a positive outcome to that .

Saloons(Ltd) :17 cars and for the most part clean and tidy racing . There was  carnage though , some depicted below but also for others such as 77k Ross Cresswell and 98h Greg Powell in the ex Jennings super . Star of the class was 48m Phil Towgood who is simply sensational to watch and his ability to place the car where he wants it is unequalled .What also adds to the spectacle is the attitude of the car on the race track . At times it looks plain ugly heading into the turns almost pivoting on it's right front . It works though and it works real well . Wins went the way of 98h Greg Powell , 48m Phil Towgood and 45m Paul Cressy in the real nice looking monaro

Super Saloons : 10 cars with 8m Geoff Fletcher in his second youth showing us all he can still do the business when he has a decent set of wheels under him on a decent race track  . Steve Williams showing off his grunt and super smooth Maurice Cowling all combined to produce a good show. Murray Guy is proving to be no slow coach in his recently acquired super saloon either . He was eventually black flagged from the track for excessive misfiring noise  . 

I missed the most major incident that occurred when 36a Mike Pegler drove over the front of 11m Neville Stuart .  Winners were Steve Williams and Geoff Fletcher twice .

Stockcars(Std) : I counted 25 cars for their first all in race and while they didn't play as brutally as I had hoped for they still produced plenty of action . Biggest hit was no doubt 771h Tony Wootton on 5k Brad Ridland , that was a real bruiser . 14a CJ Chessnutt was on the pace straight away , the car only having been green sheeted earlier in the day and
team owner Ric Horridge told me they were going to be taking it easy . Yeah Right! . 
 Tony Wootton won the first  Chessnut ready to pounce . Scot Fredrickson won one too as did Blu Rawiri

Superstocks (Agrade) : Only four cars for demonstration laps and I can't help but wonder if Waikaraka's decision to not run the NZ Champs until February is causing the almost total non show of the class in the north early in the season . I think if I was calling the play I would run next season's NZ Champs at labour weekend (October) . 
That might get some A's in G . It will be interesting to see what Rotorua can muster for their season opener next week .

Ministocks : 27 cars and mostly tidy racing . A couple of cars got trailered for excessive contact although I didn't notice .One or two of the novices trawled around just a bit too slowly for my liking and I was a bit worried that someone may collect them and injury result .  Thankfully it didn't happen so perhaps my fears were groundless .

Minisprints : 13 cars and the only roll over of the night from 12a , Production saloons : 10 cars

Commentating : Mintie and Mal Sines in full cry . well Mal was , Mintie was in hoarse mode as he's got a bit of a crook throat and I'm sure everyone wishes him well and the sooner the better . From what I heard they were doing a good job and it's great when the commentators know the cars and drivers as they do . I didn't hear them all the time , I was doing too much nattering and the speakers were sometimes a bit patchy .
 

Warning! :Beware the lurking Mintie There I was quite happy sitting watching some speedway and having a feed . Next thing up sidles Mintie , hands me the Mintie Award (click the image to the left) and shoves a microphone in me face . Thanks Mintie although I don't really deserve it  I am flattered all the same . One thing I am not though is a public speaker so no doubt I made an ass of myself .  What the award really represents is the effort Mintie puts into speedway and motorsport in general . The man eats ,drinks and breathes motor racing . No doubt if you asked his nearest and dearest they'd probably tell you he farts it too . Good one Mintie , long may you reign supreme .

Overall : This was good meeting that was well run with plenty of cars although eight classes is a couple too many in my view .
The track lighting falls a bit short  and is more noticeable as I get older and my digital type camera struggles . Won't be such a problem as the days draw longer .
 Huntly is a much more pleasant track to visit these days . It's comfortable with a real relaxed family feel to it .
The caterers have changed and food prices are higher but then so is the quality(chips were good) .
Gate charges are also up(aren't they all?) as is the parking charge but as long as the club works to give comparative value I don't see much problem . It's a fine balancing act though and I don't envy them the task .
The meeting started on time , ran smoothly and was finish by 10.30pm . Top Marks .
There are some big meetings coming up soon at Huntly so make sure you are there .

All the above is just my observation and perception of things , read also the review on the Huntly site for more detail of the racing and official results .