Blyton said it was a night with some ups and downs in round four of the Thunder Thru the Plains series.

“Unfortunately organisers had a problem starting at the scheduled time of 7pm when the ambulance failed to make it to the track,” he said.

“This put back racing an hour and later in the night the track had dried out substantially and caused a few problems for all the drivers. As it turned out it was more like midnight before we finished.

“The first heat for me was without drama and I was happy enough with second.”

But in the next round both Jeremy Cross and Blyton got involved in some mayhem and were banished to the tail of the field.

“I stared from 10th on the grid and Jeremy was back in 13 but we were still able to finish third and fourth and safely get into the final,” Blyton said.

“The track provided some anxious moments in the final but the Sydney guys Ian Madsen and Stuart Williams had their cars on song and they were able to finish with the first two placings.”

A big crowd was on hand to watch the action with the sprint cars creating a cult following since we first saw them in round three at Gilgandra on January, following the earlier races at Dubbo in December.

The series started with 20 teams and drivers will now be getting anxious to earn valuable points in round five at Gunnedah on April 18 and finish at Gilgandra on April 25.

Dubbo placings: number 35 Ian Madsen 1; 46 Stewart Williams 2; 11 Mark Blyton 3. Then followed: 39 Jeremy Cross; James Thompson; Peter Lack; 6 David Doherty; 60 Mick Matchett; 75 Glenn Saville; 76 Peter Attard; 86 David Craft; 4 Kelly Linigan; 18 Ian Loudoun; 7 Roddy Bell-Bowen.

A lap down were 95 Daniel Needham; 13 Wayne Mackenna; 62 Taylor Johnson and Queenslander 67 Rod Wilson.

Those who didn’t finish were 74 Brodie Tulloch; 56 Peter Johnson; 78 Andrew Wright; 80 Gavin Black and 10 Adrian Maher.