Close racing was the hall mark of the New Zealand Three Quarter Midgetcar Grand Prix, raced

at Mag and Turbo Ruapuna Speedway on Friday evening as 43 drivers chased the blue ribbon event. Dylan MacGregor, based out of Auckland claimed his second GP title, from current New Zealand champion, Craig Todd (Napier) with Rachel Melrose, formerly of Christchurch in third place. In the close fought battle less than two seconds separated the top three cars at the end of the 25 lap race, with Duane Todd (Napier) in fourth place from Christchurch's Gareth Bindon. MacGregor and Craig Todd went into the GP as the top points scorers, each winning one of their three heat races with Melrose, who now lives in Auckland, claiming two heat wins, while Jarred Taylor (Auckland) and Bindon each registered a heat win to head the top 24 cars that contested the GP. MacGregor led out from the green flag from Craig Todd, with Melrose having a battle for third place with Shane Phillips (Auckland) before Melrose made a passing move. She then chased down Todd, claiming second place on lap six and then closed up on MacGregor. The race went under caution after Gavin Chappell rolled his car heavily going into the town bend. On the restart both MacGregor and Melrose opened up a lead on the chasing pack with Melrose less than 0.2 of a second behind the leader with nine laps to run. She lost ground when trying to pass lapped traffic allowing Craig Todd to close in. As the three lead cars encountered more lapped traffic they were locked together on the last lap but Melrose got baulked by a slower car on the run to the chequered flag which allowed Craig Todd to claim second by less than a car length. The visiting USA and Australian drivers all suffered from mechanical problems during the night in what was their first meeting since arriving in NZ for the Tri Nations Series which will be raced around South Island tracks over the coming week, before ending back at Ruapuna. Nelson's Nevil Basalaj had the ideal build-up to the NZ Midgetcar title which will be contested at Ruapuna this coming Friday and Saturday evening, winning two heats and then taking out the Feature from Glenn Everett and David Kerr, with Kerr winning the other heat race. Darryl Harris dominated the Modified Sprint racing with two wins including the Feature while Liam McCoubrey claimed honours in the 1/4 Midget section which including several Auckland drivers. Results (Competitors from Christchurch unless stated) Three Quarter Midgets

New Zealand Grand Prix

Ht 1. Craig Todd (Napier) 1, Paul LeCren (Auckland) 2, Jeremy Webb 3, Ben Gilmore 4, Dylan McGregor (Auck) 5, Gareth Bindon 6. Ht 2. Jared Taylor (Auck) 1, Shane Phillips (Auck) 2, Blair Warren 3, Kyle Glover 4, Brad Day (Aust) 5, Marty Kennett 6. Ht 3. Rachel Melrose (Auck) 1, C Todd 2, Taylor 3, Tom Lumsden 4, Blair Warren 5, Lindsay Bailey 6. Ht 4. Gareth Bindon 1, D McGregor 2, Duane Todd (Napier) 3, Ben Tiplady 4, Ryan MacGregor (Gisborne) 5, Phillips 6. Ht 5. D MacGregor 1, Ben Gilmore 2, Le Cren 3, Glover 4, D Todd 5, Bindon 6.

Ht 6. Melrose 1, Bailey 2, C Todd 3, R MacGregor 4, Phillips 5, D Webb 6. Qualifying Points: C Todd 72, D MacGregor 72, Melrose 66, Phillips 65. Bindon 65, LeCren 64, D Todd 62, Glover 62, Warren 62, Ben Gilmore 62, Bailey 60, Marty Kennett 53, D Webb 47, J Webb 47, Taylor 47, Day 46, R McGregor 43, Kenny Willey(USA) 43, Charles Gardiner 41, Gavin Chappell 41, Lumsden 40, Brett Booth 39, Kimberley Yeatman 39, Atama Holland (Greymouth) 39, Mel Smith 38, Ben Tiplady 38, Matt Leversedge 37, James Thompson 37, Justin McMinn (Aust)34, Scott Bailey 33, Brian Fridd 30, Daniel McKinlay 19, Ryan Chapman 17, Chuck West (USA) 14, Scott Dobson (USA) 12, Marus Doocey 11, Andrew Miller 9, Mike Griffith (Aust) 0, West Evans (USA) 0. Repercharge: Holland 1, Tiplady 2, Thompson 3, Yeatman 4, Fridd 5, McKinlay 6. NZ GP Final: D MacGregor 1, C Todd 2, Melrose 3, D Todd 4, Bindon 5, Phillips 6, P LeCren 7, Gilmore 8, L Bailey 9, S Bailey 10. Midgets Ht 1. David Kerr 1, Michael Moulin 2, Gavin Wilkie (Dunedin) 3. Ht 2. Nevil Basalaj (Nelson) 1. Steve McCallum 2, Wilkie 3. Ht 3. Basalaj 1, Kerr 2, Wilkie 3. Feature: Basalaj 1, Everett 2, Kerr 3. Modified Sprints Ht 1. Darryl Harris 1, Ray Baughan 2, Charlie Jackson 3. Ht 2. R Baughan 1, Harris 2, Caleb Baughan 3. Feature: Harris 1, C Baughan 1, R Baughan 3. 1/4 Midgets Ht 1. Jay Basalaj (Nelson) 1, Liam McCoubrey 2, Jack Low 3. Ht 2. Brad Shearman 1, Jayden Bradley (Nelson) 2, McCoubrey 3. Ht 3. Hayden Guptill (Auck) 1, Morgan McHugh (Auck) 2, Bradley 3. Final: McCoubrey 1, Basalaj 2, Bradley 3.

Results First Round of CHCH TQ Club Tri-Nations Sseries at Greenstone Park Speedway, Greymouth 2nz Duane Todd 14a Paul le Cren 1nz Craig Todd 8c Jeremy Webb 39c Matt Leversedge 16c Kyle Glover 3usa Kenny Wiley 18a Shane Phillips 4n James Nicholson 74g Ryan MacGregor