Hawkes Bay's Steve Flynn looked comfortable on the unfamiliar WXC Speedway Western Springs track on Saturday night, winning the first Super Saloon race in 23 years at the Auckland venue.
Flynn stole the lead from Nelson's Ian Burson on a restart midway through the race and held on to win ahead of Christchurch's Mark Osborne, who made a last lap pass on Burson for second.
"I'm glad to have finished first as that restart may have been a bit controversial, but I got away with it and I'm really happy," said New Zealand champion Flynn.
"We're all just really rapt to be here and put on a show for the fans because this is somewhere we have always wanted to come."
The Super Saloons may return to Western Springs on an annual basis as they proved a hit with the 15,000-strong crowd.
"Seeing how well the public has responded to this experiment, the Super Saloons are certainly welcome back next year if they'd like to come," said promoter Greg Mosen.
Meanwhile, Californian-Kiwi Jonathan Allard will represent New Zealand at the famous Knoxville Nationals in Iowa this year, having won the sprint car qualifying feature.
"Hopefully we have a good enough car to go back to Knoxville and really put a show on and do New Zealand proud," said the 37-year-old.
Allard also picked up the coveted winner's ring for his efforts, beating Tokoroa's James Dahm and Dean Brindle from Hamilton.
"I love my rings, I've only managed to win a few and none here in New Zealand so it means a lot to me," Allard said.
Hayden Williams won his second midget feature of the season ahead of Shayne Alach and Leon Burgess, while Joe Malone took out the F2 midget event.
