Podium finish for Ben Bargwanna
Ben Bargwanna of Warragul finished on the podium at the Hyundai Excel Nationals at Wakefiled Park in New South Wales recently.
The popular Hyundai Excel series has almost 300 competitors across the country culminating with the Australian National title event.
With the best of the best showing up for a crack at the national title, 16-year-old Ben performed well at the pinnacle event for the category when it counted claiming third in only his first year of car racing.
After qualifying fifth, he moved up to fourth position in the elite top eight shootout.
In the ABCD round robin heats races Ben crossed the line first in heat one and a second for heat two.
After the points where tallied, Ben earnt an all-important third starting position for the final race, which was a winner take all and the prestigious title of Australia number one.
A capacity 34 car field lined up for the 23-lap final. Ben made a great jump and quickly moved into second by turn one.
The top three then proceeded to open up an eight second gap on the field, and leading into the final five laps the intensity started to grow.
The battle for the lead involved current national champion Cam Wilson, young Victorian hotshot Jaylyn Robotham and Ben as position changed with door handle to door handle racing lap after lap.
A nail bitting nose to tail finish had all three cars crossing the line covered by just over a second for all three cars. Cam Wilson from Queensland picked up his second national title in two years in the tightly contested battle.
“I am so excited, the racing was intense and to end up on the podium is mind blowing,” Ben said.
“We had good car speed, and to race for the lead in this field, against the best in the country was just awesome.
“That final race was crazy and you couldn’t afford to make any mistakes.
“In the last few laps we had the lapped traffic to deal with as well, adding to an even more exciting finish, we are so happy with the result.”
Ben will continue next year with the Hyundai Excel Racing Series as he develops his career, and 2018 will bring his first Bathurst start at Easter in the Excel Series invitational with a 55 car field.
At only 16, the future looks bright for the third-generation racer. As combining his year 10 studies at St Paul’s Anglican Grammar in Warragul with his racing commitments is a challenge, but an all-important part of Ben’s racing career development.
He has his eyes set on reaching the big time and a career in the Supercars in years to come.
The final round of the Victorian state championships will be held at Winton Raceway and with Ben currently sitting top five in the championship, he is hopeful of a strong end to the season.