There was plenty of close racing at Xpress Printing House Ruapuna Speedway on Saturday evening with all the races keenly contested.The feature class, the Sprintcars produced some epic racing for the Christmas Sprintcar Classic.  Sixteen cars from around New Zealand lined up in the sprintcar events with the track conditions allowing for passing throughout the entire evening. The Feature event turned into a battle of experience, in the form of eight time New Zealand champion Allan Wakeling of Auckland and two rising stars local Jamie Duff and Palmerston North’s Nelson Hartley.  These three drivers each took out a heat win that determined starting positions of the 20 lap Classic and it was the young chargers, Hartley who was making his debut on the Ruapuna track and Duff who started on the front row with Wakeling on grid three. Duff quickly took the lead from the green light and quickly opened up a lead from Hartley and Wakeling, with Matt Honeywell and Cromwell’s Jason Scott next in the 'freight train'. By lap five, Duff was lapping cars and held a big lead over his two rivals but this was reduced when the race went under caution as Glenn Everett spun in the Prison bend.  When the race resumed at full pace Duff again cleared out with Wakeling taking over second place when Hartley spun coming out of the Town bend which allowed Honeywell to pass Hartley as well, but the young palmerston North driver quickly regained control and rejoined the race.  Duff was again lapping cars with seven laps to run but this slowed his progress , giving Wakeling a chance to close the gap. Going down the front straight on the next lap Duff come up behind two slower cars racing side by side and going into the Town bend Wakeling showed all his 25 years of racing experience when cutting down low with Duff trying the outside pass.  As the four cars come out of the bend Wakeling had taken the lead, going on to record his fifteenth feature win on the Ruapuna track. Duff had to settle for second place overall but had the satisfaction of recording the fastest lap time of 13.95 seconds, with Hartley having a great dice with Honeywell over the closing laps before he managed to secure third place on the final lap.  Nelson driver, Nevil Basalaj had and interesting night in his midget car, finishing third in the opening hear behind Gary Lennon and Nick Marquet (Nelson), and then involved in a tip over in the next heat. Basalaj car was undamaged and started in the rerun to lead from starting to finish from Phillippa Melrose and Dunedin’s Gavin Wilkie.  The feature event saw three different leaders with Bryce McCall leading early on before losing out to Marquet who in turn had to concede the lead to Basalaj after stalling his car when getting to side on in the Town bend. Basalaj went on to record a clear from McCall and Melrose.  A packed field of Three Quarter midgetcars battled it out on the track with competition so great that no one driver dominated. Brain Fridd lead from start to finish to win the opening heat which saw Graham Sharp’s car involved in a heavy roll during the race. Kyle Glover and Ryan Stone were locked a battle for the lead in the next heat with Glover managing to hold out Stone to take the chequered flag. In the Feature Ricky Brett took the win from Lindsay Bailey and Glover.  Their were three different winner’s in the Modified Sprint section with Kieren Harris and Jason Stack taking out the heats wins with Darryl Harris winning the Feature.  In the development classes Nelson driver’s secured good results in the Youth Ministocks with Steven Sloper and Liam Smith each picking up a win as did Alex Boreham while in the quarter midget racing Matt Leversedge recorded three wins from as many starts.  Race Results (Competitors contracted to Christchurch unless stated) Sprintcars Ht 1. Jamie Duff 1, Steve Mora 2, Ray Baughan 3. Ht 2. Nelson Hartley (Palm. North) 1, Jason Scott (Cromwell) 2, Danny Mayson 3.   Ht 3. Alan Wakeling (Auck.) 1, Greg Teecse (Nelson) 2, Greg Clemence 3.  Feature. Wakeling 1, Duff 2, Hartley 3.   Midgetcars Ht 1. Gary Lennon 1, Nick Marquet (Nelson) 2, Nevil Basalaj (Nelson) 3.  Ht 2. Basalaj 1, Phillippa Melrose 2, Gavin Wilkie (Dunedin) 3. Feature. Basalaj 1, Bryce McCall 2, Melrose 3.  Three Quarter Midgets Ht 1. Brian Fridd 1, Ben Tiplady 2, Ryan Stone 3.  Ht 2. Kyle Glover 1, Stone 2, Nick Donaldson 3.  Feature. Ricky Brett 1, Lindsay Bailey 2, Glover 3.   Modified Sprints Ht 1. Kieren Harris 1, Keith Brough 2, Brett Robinson 3.   Ht 2. Jason Stark 1, K Harris 2, Anthony Dawson 3. Feature. Darryl Harris 1, Robinson 2, Brough 3. Youth Ministocks Ht 1. Steven Sloper (Nelson) 1, Liam Smith (Nelson) 2, Ricky Blackler 3.    Ht 2. Alex Boreham 1, L Smith 2, Ryan Smith (Greymouth) 3. Feature. L Smith 1, R Smith 2, Boreham 3. Quarter Midgets Ht 1. Matt Leversedge 1, Jay Basalaj (Nelson) 2, Hunter Rowland 3. Ht 2. Leversedge 1, Rowland 2, AJ Horwell 3.     Feature. Leversedge 1, Basalaj 2, Horwell 3.