It was a night of thrills and spills on and off the track at Baypark speedway on Saturday night, says Speedway manager Roger Bailey.

Crowds rolled in for the opening night of the flamecrusher top half midget series which saw Aucklander Jamie Macdonald win the Sprint Car feature, defeating Tauranga driver Greg Kilworth.

Saturday night's opening event will packed with action on and off the track. Photos supplied.

Viewers watched as Auckland sprint car driver Daniel Rogers (7A) came unstuck at turn four earlier in the night with a series of rolls that put him out for the remainder of the evening.

Dan Corin in the 274M Saloon also retired early after trying his hand at one wheel driving – but the landing proved too much for the car, says Roger.

As well as some rough and tumble action on track, a fire alarm in the corporate box area caused some off track action for the Speedway fans.

Roger says the corporate box was evacuated, but the programme was quickly reorganised and minimum disruption was had.

272M Chris Cowling went on to win the Saloon feature from hard chargers 16M Steve Muir and 2NZ Brent McClymont, while 17A Chris Gwilliam returned to the track after a two year break to win the Midget feature – after an engine failure stopped crowd favourite Michael Pickens on lap 14.

Multiple speedway champion and Speedway commentator Graham Strandring came out of retirement to finish second with 17A Alastair Wootten in third.

Craig Cardwell dominated the Super Saloons with 1NZ Steve Flynn and 12M Kristen Vermeulen second and third respectively.

Damien Orr won the stock car feature with local driver Bradley Marsh on the number one podium spot in the Mini Stock Class.

The next event at Baypark speedway will be a fireworks evening on November 3.