Michael Pickens picked up his seventh New Zealand Midget Car Championship, at Milestone Homes Top of the South Speedway over the weekend.
The Aucklander is now level with Ted Tracey with the most individual wins in the grade.
He is also the current Australian champion and he proved why he was the car to catch, all weekend.
Michael ended the qualifying heats top on points, though he did have a lucky escape when running into an upside down Neville Basalaj in the final heat on Friday night.
Michael won the six car six-lap dash to secure pole for the 30 lap final, but it was never his until the final couple of laps.
The veteran led the final race comfortably until the first yellow light came on in lap 10 for a broken car.
A fumbled restart saw him slip to third down the back straight, he recovered quickly to leap back into second.
He spent the next eight laps chasing the lead car of Hayden Williams before Hayden made a wee mistake and Michael grabbed his chance, only to be thwarted by another safety light.
The flying car of American Alex Bright got high up in the marbles and rolled up the fence to stop the race.
The restart saw the multiple-time champion apply the blowtorch and the pressure finally paid off and he grabbed the lead back with both front wheels lifting off the ground as he passed the pit gate.
Hayden overdid it again to allow Brad Mosen through to second while American Spencer Bayson did the slide move to slip under Williams in the final corner to claim third place.
The track surface was perfect for night one with some added bite for Saturday’s second night which created some extra carnage.
Nelson icon Neville Basalaj was leading in the final heat of Friday night when he clipped a car along the back straight, and as he headed out of the final corner the tyre went flat, putting him up the wall and over several times before landing back on the track only forty metres from the chequered flag.
Neville worked all night to fix the car and managed to qualify for the final race, but was down at the rear of the field.
It was a Kiwi front row to start the finals but the four visiting Americans were only a whisker behind the pace, it was one of the best fields to compete in the 75 years of the championship.
The Nelson Tigers have had to call on a couple of outside drivers to fill the team this year to do battle at the Palmerston North Teams Championships.
Adam Groome, Scott McEwan and Dion Mooney will team up with locals Trevor Lineham, Ken Nolan and Jared Gray to fly the flag this weekend.
The Tasman Thunder have named Michael Paynter, Keightley Teece, Brad Neiman, Adam Hall, Tim Ross and John Everett to contest the New Zealand Stock Car Teams Nationals in Gisborne next month. The team was second last year and hope to go one better this time.
