Kiwis charging for glory
THIS weekend there are three Kiwis out to make their mark in their chosen motorsport codes. The one whose efforts deserve the greatest attention at this point is Scott Dixon, who leads the 2018 Indycar series heading for the championship finale at California’s Sonoma Raceway.
Dixon is one of seven drivers to have won America’s premier openwheeler racing title four times. A fifth title would enable him to be behind only AJ Foyt (seven titles) and Rick Mears (six titles) at the top of the list.
The race on Monday will start with three other drivers with a chance of snatching the crown. Two of them — Will Power and Josef Newgarden — are far enough back that Dixon needs do little more than finish to stay head of them in the points, but Alexander Rossi is well placed to stage an upset should Dixon falter.
While Dixon chases glory, Brendon Hartley will be fighting for his F1 career at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Although his chances of retaining his drive with Toro Rosso increased last month when teammate Pierre Gasly was promoted to Red Bull, Hartley must still lift his game in the final seven races of 2018 to secure his ride for 2019.
Haydon Paddon also needs a strong result as the wold rally championship moves to Turkey. Paddon finally has his Hyundai i20 WRC car handling how he likes it and, with Turkey’s stages new to all of the drivers, a great scrap is in prospect.
Oh, and apparently there’s a pretty good V8 Supercar race in the offing across the Tasman in the form of the Sandown 500. The two drivers dominating this year’s series are New Zealanders Shane van Gisbergen
(Holden) and Scott McLaughlin (Ford).
Championship leader Courtney Duncan should also have been competing in the penultimate round of the Women’s World Motocross in the Netherlands, but has been forced to pull the plug on her challenge because of a foot injury.