A late-afternoon rain shower, with thunder and lightning, had organisers ''hugely worried'', because the club's event scheduled for the previous night, the South Island Saloon Series, had been rained off, club promotions co-ordinator Joanne Gaudion said.
Yesterday, though, it was only a ''quick shower, about 10 minutes'' and did not seem to dampen the spirits of the crowd.
Through swirling dust and grit hurled from the racetrack, a ''massive'' crowd numbering in the thousands watched more than 100 people race around the track in sprint cars, saloons and sidecars.
''The sprint cars bring people in 'cause they're fast and when they crash, they really crash,'' Gaudion said.
The club's next meet is tomorrow, when five classes, including sprint cars, saloons and youth mini stocks, can be seen in action from 6pm.
Gaudion said it was hoped another ''huge'' crowd would turn out for that.
