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(reported as seen by Fred V.)
27th November 1999
Auckland had a terrible downpour and the meeting got cancelled after about an hour, we had 2 races that weren't very exciting as the track was very slippery and all the drivers could do was try to get around without hitting eacj other or the wall.
Oh well better luck next week.
20th November 1999
With all last weeks damage repaired we turned up at Waikara Park for another night of racing. It was good weather and the track looked OK, so lets get into it. I had picked up the repaired Rev Counter so I fitted it back into the old No.9 and gave it a go. But to no avail as it still didn't work, not the best of starts is it? Never mind lets go racing, we got grid 2 for the first race next to Lynn Yates and hoped for a good start. Steve managed to get in front going into the first turn closely followed by Geoff Gentry who had Brent McClymont hot on his tail. We had made some changes to our setup and whilst he kept an eye on the rearview mirror for Geoff and Brent he was able to check out the handling, the track was nice and drivey although a bit soapy in some places. But all went well and he won the race. Good to see him going around with the checkered flag, specially after all the repairs he had done over the last week.
Race 2 saw us start at the rear of the field on grid 15 with Brent in front of us. His car was going really well and all the work he had to put in over the last few days paid had of. I heard that an engine rebuilt had taken place after last weeks oil filter damage. Steve managed to pick up a few places in the first couple of laps and was doing well. Lynn Yates had a spin but recovered. Steve and Brent swapped places a fair few times whilst trying to get around Geoff Gentry, an extremely exciting race to watch as they fought for a position. With Steve hanging on in the outside lane it was without a doubt the race of the evening. The tussle went on right until the checkered flag fell, Chriss Miller tangled with Kevan Culley right on the finish line and destroyed his front end going up the wall and Kevan went over the finish line in reverse!!. Steve got 6th place for his efforts and was very happy with that.
We were invited into the Top 6 race, with Tim Hood and 4 Super Saloons, with people like Skinny Colson and other top Super drivers in the field it was going to be exciting. Steve got past Tim Ok but the track was getting a bit slicker and the big horse power machines had some trouble getting enough grip. Skinny tried hard but ended up spinning out and none of the others got close enough for a pass so Steve won another race.
The feature saw us starting on grid 13, not as near to the front as we had hoped for but never mind we were having a great night and Steve was going to give it his best shot. Chriss Miller had repaired his car but something was amiss as he didn't make it through the first lap. Steve had Brent hot on his tail as he was trying to weave his way through traffic. Brent got through the traffic better than we did and got in front with Steve behind him. The track was rather slick by then but we must have had the setup spot on as the car handled very well. Steve charged after Brent and got passed him and pulled away a little and got another win for his efforts. 
What a night this turned out to be, 4 races and 3 wins, wow! The organisers asked if we wanted to be in the Super  Saloon feature, WOULD WE ?? Of course we would.
It was a very busy evening but we were having a blast, so we saddled up once more and started our last race for the evening, well that is what everybody thought, but the man with the flags wasn't so sure and when everybody expected a green light we got an orange flag ! No Lights just a flag, not seen by all so when the front car stopped and the rear ones didn't we ended up the meat in the sandwich and got bashed in the back and run over the front! Darn not what we had hoped for, but with 2 flat front tyres and broken front suspension we weren't going anywhere. Neither did at least 4 other cars. A bit of a sad end to a otherwise great evening, we had a look at the car after it got towed back to the pits and it all seem to look far worse than it is, a bit of fibre glass and some tyres and we should be OK. The minor panel damage on the doors shouldn't be a big job to fix so we will be OK for next week, will you be??

Not how we wanted to finish.
13th November 1999

It was a bit of a shock to find up on my arrival that we there was only one other crew member for the night. Linda was there waiting for me but everybody else was otherwise engaged for the evening. Oh well shouldn't be a problem, let get started. Ok where is the toolbox? Great, Steve had forgotten to put it in the ute! So a quick begging trip around the pits to secure a few items for the evening and we were ready to go. 
As it was the Starship Childrens Hospital charity meeting there was a parade of all the race cars. A chance for me to wheel the No 9 around the track, slowly though as Steve was sitting on the roof ! 

Whilst we were going around the track I admired the new rev counter Steve had bought during the week, but was surprised to see the "shift light" on, Hmmm strange there doesn't seem to be an adjustment here? Asked Steve about it when we came back in the pits. Oh dear it wasn't working properly, so we weren't too happy about that as it wasn't a cheap item. Never mind lets go racing.
We got grid 5 for the first race and the track was nice and drivey although there were a few wet patches to deal with. But after a good race with Phil Towgood Steve managed to win so the evening looked to be getting better.
We managed to watch the Super Saloons race and wasn't it great to see "Skinny" back at The Park, he was doing his usual, driving like a man possessed.
Awesome driving  by all the Supers made for an exiting race, Skinny got to the front fairly early but got passed by the ever present Glen Turner when he hit one of those wet spots on the track and it took him a while to get passed Glen again, but in the end it was Skinny who paraded the checkered flag around.
Race 2 saw us towards the back of the field so that was going to be the one where we could make a lot of points for the evening. 
As a display for the crowd there was a "Monster Truck" that was going to flatten a few old cars by driving over the top of them, I looked forward to that as I always enjoyed watching them on Sky. It was going to happen right after our second race so the car would have to wait for it attention till I was finished filming that.
The race went OK and we managed to get to 8th position when there was an orange light due to a crash, we had caught up to Phil Towgood and were looking to make the most of the restart. Steve got passed him when Phill got a bit wide going into the first turn. A spin in Pit bend seemed to go un noticed as there where no orange lights and the field had to weave their way between 2 spun out cars, twice!!
Another restart and we got to fourth place by then with Brent McClymont leading, but no further passing was done. Phil Gladding who was in front of us pulled out with some mechanical problems so we finished 3rd. Not bad, that should give us a near front start for the final and a good chance of winning the evening. 
So there I was standing there filming that monster truck crashing over those cars when I got called to our car to have a look at the steering as there seem to be a problem with it. Oh well duty calls, never mind it wasn't all that exciting anyway. Back to our car to check the suspension etc, Steve was away talking to someone and when he came back he notice an awful lot of oil coming out of the rear axle and covering the right hand wheel!!!!!!
What was that! Quickly we removed the wheel as we didn't have long to go before our next race and found the hub had broken. Probably due to a previous encounter with the wall a couple of weeks ago. We dismantled the thing and welded it up but ran out of time whilst reassembling as our race was about to start. Not happy about that at all, but what can you do? Like they say "that's racing". ( hey it was the 13th )
Seeing we couldn't be in the race we watched it instead, Brent McClymont was looking good for the evening as he had won the second race, but it wasn't his night either as he ran over a bumper that was lying unnoticed on the track and it took out his oil filter, still no orange light and the bumpers next victim was Tim Hood, he found it suddenly poking through his firewall and between his feet!! Not satisfied with that the bumper took out a brand new tyre on Dave Fisher's car for good measure. So that was a lot of damage in that race and only 4 cars finished!
There was a " Pole shuffle" race for the Supers and that was convincingly won by Skinny so he at least had a good night. 
Well that was it for another week, a few repairs to do but nothing too major. So I am sure we will be back next week to have another go.
Hope to see you all then.
Auckland 6th November 1999

After last weeks bumpy track the first thing upon arriving at the Park was a quick peek over the gate. And we were greeted by a much smoother looking track, although rather wet after the rain Auckland had the previous days.
We got busy getting our car ready for the first race which was the first event of the evening, therefore a wet setup was required. We got grid 4 so we had some passing to do, and with some of the top cars back at the track it wasn't going to be easy. There wasn't a lot of passing being done but not for the lack of trying. A spin by No 84 which took out Phil Towgood and Brian Skelton caused an orange light and bunched the field up again. Steve had managed to get into 2nd place by then, behind Brent McClymont and hoped to make the most of the restart, but that wasn't to be and we ended up with a 2nd place and Brent the win.
Race 2 turned into a disaster straight from the start, with the orange light going off the pack made their start but when they crossed the start/finish line the orange flag was still there and no green lights were on!!
Confused?? Steve was, so he figured that wasn't a start and readied himself for a restart, PROBLEM!! Nobody else did!! So after the field of cars came around on their second lap he decided to join them rather then getting run into and go for it. We finished 5th after all that and as soon as Steve pulled into the pits he went to see the officials to get an explanation. And was told they screwed up and they would give him his 5th place even though he missed one lap. He made the request to announce over the PA system an explanation to the crowd as we had a very irate sponsor, who wasn't very happy with the parks management. We were told that would be done.
We were invited into the Top 6 Shootout, 3 Saloons and 3 Super Saloons, and of course we gladly accepted. Unfortunately Brent McClymont had some technical problems and couldn't make the start and we ended up with 4 Super Saloons and 2 Saloons. No gaps in the grid this time to allow for the difference, we were playing with the big boys and it was their game! Exiting stuff, we finished 4th in this one but the finish was close, showing that the track was a bit one laned and rather loose on the outside, the enormous horsepower of the Supers didn't let them run away with the race this time. Next was the fireworks display to celebrate Guy Folks but as our next race was straight after that we didn't have a chance to watch it.
Our fourth race for the evening was a trophy dash, and was going to be a short one, so the car was set up accordingly. Grid 4 again for us with Earl McGee on pole. Steve got to 3rd with Earl leading and Chriss Miller trying hard to pass him, but managed to stay in front and Chriss had to pull in behind. That gave Steve an opportunity to pass Chriss but the track had gone off considerably and passing was getting tricky. A touch with Earls rear wheel put Steve off line a bit and that gave Brent and Phill ,who were hot on our heels, a gap to squeeze through and we were back to 4th. Steve managed to pass Brent but failed to gain any more places so finished 3rd in a race that was longer than it was ment to be. Had we known that it was going to be a 12 lapper we might have set the car up differently but hey hindsight is a great thing. All in all not a bad evening apart from the second race, the rain that had been threatening all evening held of right until the last race of the night. As our last race was rather early I spend some time sitting in the Grand Stand with my family who came along to see the fireworks (2 little kids you see) and asked a few of the people there if they heard anything about that fiasco during the second race. But was told they hadn't. Sitting there for a change made me realise how TERRIBLE the sound system is!! We weren't far away from a pole with 2 enormous loudspeakers on it but I didn't understand a word that was said. How does the public know what is going on?? Surely something could be done about that, maybe a few E-Mails to the committee will get something done about it?
During the last race for the night the rain started and people began to head for home, including us. So that was it for another week, see you all next time.