v8 suscsed

Organisers of the inaugural Hamilton 400 motor-racing event today hailed it a success, saying it was marred by only one "blemish". A capacity crowd of 60,000 was at the new street circuit today for the final day of the New Zealand round of the V8 Supercar championship. There were also big numbers on the first two days - over 58,000 yesterday and almost 54,000 at practice on Friday - making a total attendance of more than 170,000 for the long weekend. "We've put on what we believe is an amazing first-year event," promoter Dean Calvert said. "It's given us a great platform for moving forward." He said a case could be made for getting resource consent to increase daily capacity to 80,000 next year. Calvert admitted that some spectators in the main grandstand had complained about their obstructed view of the track and he said the problem would be fixed for next year. He had spoken to most of the fans affected and they understood that not everything would be perfect first-up in an event of such size. "We aim to get it 100 percent right and we missed out in that area," he said. "It's the only area of any issue we have had, which is quite incredible considering the logistics of doing this." Despite the problem, Calvert believed the three-day ticket prices of $95 for general admission and $145 for a grandstand seat represented good value for money. "A lot of people have said that should be a day price because of the experience they've received." Hamilton will be a V8 Supercar venue for at least six more years and Calvert was asked what mark out of 10 he would give the inaugural edition. "If we didn't have that blemish, we would have rated it 10 out of 10 for year one," he said. "There are always small things to do, but when you look at the massive exercise involved, we are looking very good for years to come." V8 Supercars Australia chairman Tony Cochrane described what Calvert's Caleta Streetrace Management Ltd and Hamilton City Council had achieved as "nothing short of magnificent". "They have created an absolute world-class facility for a brand new street race." On the visibility issue, Cochrane asked fans to be patient over "one small error" that would be corrected. "It's not the first track in the world that has got the rake of a grandstand wrong." Hamilton Mayor Bob Simcock said his council was delighted with how the weekend had gone, and gave his rating as 12 out of 10. There have also been plaudits from the drivers for the 3.4km circuit and from police for the general behaviour of fans. Despite an estimated influx of 65,000 visitors to Hamilton, Waikato police said arrest numbers were below that for an average weekend. Inspector John Kelly, officer in charge of "Operation 400", credited a positive public attitude and an increased police presence for there being just 28 arrests between noon yesterday and 6am today, and just 21 the previous night. At the circuit itself, there were a number of evictions, but nothing like what police had anticipated. Mr Kelly also said many of the expected traffic issues had been avoided by fans leaving their cars behind and taking advantage of free buses to get to the track. One key concern, however, was the large volume of traffic expected to leave Hamilton after the final race, and Mr Kelly urged drivers to be patient and to drive to the conditions