Twenty Six of the countries top Saloon Car drivers will make a rare appearance at the Xpress Printing House Ruapuna Speedway this Friday night (November 20) when the track hosts a round of the DHL Southern Saloon Series.

Legendary Golf Caddy Steve Williams, who is also a highly rated Speedway driver is the event organiser and he will be on the grid for the meeting in his Ford Mustang.

Williams promotes the series as a way of giving exposure to the Saloon Car class which is often overlooked for major events by promoters who have a fixation with the far more expensive Super Saloons.

“Its a great way to give a highly competitive class of racing exposure. The DHL Series is now well established in the South Island and with a hectic schedule of six meetings in six consecutive nights it requires great commitment from all of the teams,” said Williams.

There are twelve North Island drivers and Williams feels that it is the strongest contingent yet to cross the strait for the Series.

North Island Champion Nigel Ross (Auckland), Huntly's Greg Powell, Auckland veteran Phil Towgood and two time Rotorua Champion Graham Broklesby all come with the credentials and equipment to push Williams hard.

“The drivers love the chance to see a new track every night, but they also get to race a pretty strong lineup of South Islanders. Its always tough racing people on their own patch.”

Ruapuna has not hosted a major Saloon Car promotion since 1973 so it is something of a neutral track with Dunedin's Peter Walsh being the only driver to have had much experience there having raced Sprintcars several years ago while local driver Walter Whittlestone (Rolleston) is sure to put up a good showing in his Corvette.

On Saturday the Saloons cross the Alps to compete at Greymouth, while the attention at Ruapuna turns to the first round of the annual Sprintcar War of the Wings Series.

Defending champion Danny Mayson has had a mixed start to his campaign having inflicted considerable damage to his Maxim chassied car at a pre season practice but he is keen to reward his hard working crew for their efforts.

“The boys put in a huge amount of work in rebuilding the car, and I can reward them with a good showing.”

That could be easier said than done with local drivers Glen Everett and Matt Honeywell both showing good form at the opening meeting, while another Christchurch driver Jamie Duff recently secured a clean sweep of the Sprintcar programme at Cromwell.

Queenstown driver Jason Scott, who finished second in last years WoW Series is vowing to go one better this summer while eight time New Zealand Champion Allan Wakeling (Auckland) will be fronting in his Christchurch based Triple X car.