The third generation of the Whanganui Huijs family head into battle at the NZ Midget champs

The third wave of Team Huijs has been sent into battle, with the 2019-2020 AccessMan New Zealand Midget Championship in Christchurch the end game.

Three generations of the Whanganui family have now been infected by the motorsport bug, racing everything from motorcross, go karts and drag racing to mini stocks, saloon cars and TQs, sprint cars and midgets on speedway tracks around the country while several have now even taken to water, competing in the frenetic world of jetsprints.

This weekend the third generation of the team is heading down to Ruapuna speedway in Christchurch to compete in the New Zealand Midget champs.

"Each year we build up to the New Zealand champs that is held at different tracks all over New Zealand and compete against top drivers from all over the world," Brent Huijs said.

"This season four drivers from the USA and two from Australia, along with drivers from all over New Zealand, are competing."

Defending New Zealand midget champion Michael Picken is also in the field and his impressive record suggests a repeat could well be on the cards.

The Aucklander is an eight-time New Zealand champion and is this country's leading open-wheel driver with feature wins in the USA, Australia and New Zealand.

The Huijs family boasts just one former New Zealand champion among its rank - Brent's uncle Peter Huijs, a former 1NZ TQ racer.

Love of anything motorsport has not waned with each generation of the Huijs family and the name has now been etched into speedway history after more than five decades of involvement.

This weekend Glenn Huijs is driving the 7v and has been racing midgets for four years. Ben Huijs is driving 74v and has been on the dirt since he was 12 years old in everything from mini stocks, saloon cars and now midgets while Brent Huijs is in the hot seat of 12v and has raced TQs, sprint cars and now midgets over the years.

While all three were planning an attack of the New Zealand Grand Prix in Nelson last weekend, only Ben made it out onto the track. He finished fourth in the first race, but was forced to pull out of the main event with engine problems. He did, however, finish second in the recharge.

Midgets are small compact units weighing in at around 420kg each with 350-400 horse power, four cylinder motors capable of more than 100km/hr on tight, turning oval-shaped speedway tracks.

"Compared to Oceanview here in Whanganui, the track at Ruapuna is slightly bigger and wider with banked corners, so suits our style of racing," Brent said.

Iain Hyndman
Whanganui Chronicle 23/1/20