By Victoria Beaver

Michael Pickens ousted the North American invaders in the first of three rounds of the International Sprint Cup Series (ISCS) at Western Springs Speedway in Auckland, New Zealand, on Saturday. 

With this win, the Auckland local and now American Sprint Car and Midget standout surpassed the 100-feature win mark at the track. After the race, Graham Standring — the track announcer for Western Springs — gave Pickens his gold and diamond “100” ring. Standring is also known as the most successful driver at the track because of his previous 100 wins, which contributed to an emotional night as the 34-year-old Pickens moved to the top of the all-time win board.

Pickens beat California native Kyle Hirst to the finish line of the 30-lap feature with a 0.577-second margin. Pickens started on the front row after sustaining damage in one of his two heats.

New Zealand native Daniel Eggleton crossed in third, nearly two seconds behind the leaders. Eggleton started sixth before driving his way up to the final podium finish.

“We’re all pretty excited to get on the podium from a grid six feature start,” Eggleton said. “I felt nothing was going our way again on the double-file restarts stuck on the bottom in P3 on each one. Losing a position and having to fight back for it wasn’t easy."

Shane Stewart — who has been named to the Flo 50 Greatest Dirt Track drivers of 2017 — was the second-best American in his No. 2 USA sprint. Stewart had to race through the Semi-Feature to make the A after two bad heat finishes. He was sixth in his first heat and had a DNF in his second try. 

Stewart recorded the fastest lap on the track in both of his heats and in the feature, giving the top three something to worry about in the final laps. Ultimately he finished 1.071 seconds behind Eggleton.

"I’ve seen Shane Stewart race in USA and he is unbelievably fast," Eggleton said. "When he got by me I thought a podium was all over, but he made a slight mistake enabling us to get back by. That last restart, we finally got to start [fourth] and got back in to third where we had been running for most of the race. It was a great result for our sponsors, fans and team. Congrats on Michael Pickens for taking the win and Kyle Hirst second.”

Veteran NASCAR and Sprint Car driver Tony Stewart also competed in the first night of the ISCS with a seventh-place finish. This trip has been more than 20 years in the making for Tony, who almost raced in the series the winter after his 1995 USAC Triple Crown win. Tony had to race through the Semi-Feature as well to make it to the big show in third behind Shane and New Zealand local Jonathan Allard.

Allard was taken out in the lap-18 crash that also claimed Jamie McDonald and American driver Brad Loyet. After the caution, Loyet got into a confrontation. While the fight alone did not hurt the American’s chances of staying in the three-race hunt after the race, he mouthed off in the race control center and made sure that everyone knew he was so unhappy with the incident and would be returning to the states early.

“It’s a real shame to lose a competitor like Brad at this early stage, especially given the investment made to bring him down,” said the event promoter, Greg Mosen. “I am sure there is more to his story. We will continue on without him and now look forward to two great shows this week.”

Jamie Larsen finished fifth in the feature and settled the tie in the NZ vs. USA team challenge by recording the fastest lap of the challenge. That propelled the New Zealand team to a victory in the 38-point draw.

The second night of the ISCS takes place at Robertson Holden International Speedway in Palmerston North, New Zealand, on Tuesday, Dec. 12. The competition will then meet back at Western Springs on the 16th for the final night.

Top 10 Finishers 
1. Michael Pickens
2. Kyle Hirst
3. Daniel Eggleton
4. Shane Stewart
5. Jamie Larsen
6. Keaton Dahm
7. Tony Stewart
8. Daniel Rodgers
9. Stephen Taylor
10. Jeremy Halpin

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