Wilson has desperately been chasing that elusive round win in 2019. He won a race at the Wollongong round a week prior and it was obvious his riding at picked up as the series moves into the business end of the year and New Zealand marked another opportunity to snare a round win.

He matched his race win at Wollongong with another in Auckland on his way to fourth overall in a very competitive night. The top six riders were separated by less then .6 of a second in qualifying and that translated directly into the racing and by the end of the triple crown format, the points were tight with just a single pointing between second, third and fourth place.

Wilson’s fourth came via 5-1-4 results and leaves him in fifth place in the championship. Inside the top five are three US based racers and two Yamaha mounted Australian riders flying the flag for the local boys.

The Sky-City Short-Cut tossed up plenty of variables during the night and allowed riders to use a short-cut lane once during the three finals to improve their position. Wilson dropped positions in race one because of it but gained in race two when using it to take the race win. It adds an unpredictable element to the racing.

“Tonight was another good step in the right direction,” Wilson informs. “I qualified better, and I felt I fought it out in every lap of every race but that round won still eludes me. My starts weren’t ideal, but I was able to get track position pretty quick and be up front early.

“I got myself into a good position early in race one, but then two riders used the short cut to finish ahead of me. Race two, I was in the top four again and just pulled it early to get clear and was able to stay in front for the win. By race three most of the good guys had already used it so it was almost a normal race.

“I have one more chance to win this year in Melbourne and to do that at the biggest race of the year would be awesome. I want to keep the upward trend going on my results and Marvel Stadium would be the perfect place to get my first round win of the year,” Wilson ends.

It was an up and down night for team mate, Richie Evans in the SX1 class as he finished the night in 13th place. The SX1 class so the field bolstered by a list of big name US imports so landing inside the top six or seven just become and much harder challenge.

Evans gated well and raced to a sixth place finish in race one and started his night off promisingly. He was again towards the front in race two but ran high in a berm and went down dropping him all the way to the bottom of the field. Race three had he in reasonable position but several riders were able to use the short cut to move ahead of him by race end. He finished with 6-17-13 results for 13th on the night but still hangs onto sixth place in the championship.

“A little good and bad for me tonight. First race was good, and I was in the battle with the lead guys for a few laps and the intensity was pretty high. It gassed me a bit for the start of the second one and then I had a crash which damaged a couple of parts on the bike.

“The boys got it back and sorted for me and the last race I was running ok but all the riders that hadn’t used the short cut were getting by. It was a bit frustrated to see them but that’s part of the racing and its exciting for the fans.

“Sixth in the series is ok but I need to finish the season strongly at Melbourne. It’s a high profile race and I want to get back up near the front and battle with the US riders.”

Photos: Marc Jones