Champ defends his national title
Brad Lane fends off 25 challengers at Stratford Speedway
New Zealand Modified Champion Brad Lane came to Taranaki to defend the New Zealand title he won last season at Huntly Speedway. That is exactly what he did over two nights of racing at Stratford Speedway, fending off challenges from 25 other competitors to retain his title of New Zealand champion.
Lane qualified comfortably on Friday night, finishing second in his group behind Christchurch racer Jacob Mitchell before doing what he needed to do on Saturday night in the finals to retain his placing.
Starting at the very back of the field in the first heat, Lane moved up an incredible 13 places to finish seventh, before placing third in heat two from grid 10 and then placing second in heat three from grid one, recording enough points to win the Plant & Fabrication Services Championship outright from local driver Carl Hinton by five points.
Hinton had made the most of a grid-one start to lead the first heat for a large portion of the race before New Zealand-ranked number-three Luke Brown from Auckland made a pass and won the race.
He then made good ground in the second heat to finish fifth from grid 11 before doing enough work in the final to finish tenth from grid 20. Brown retained his ranking, finishing third in the championship after recording two race wins. A DNF in heat two hurt his chances of progressing further up the rankings.
As with any event, there were plenty of hard-luck stories. Three of the most notable? Christchurch racer Jacob Mitchell, who was very fast in the qualifying stage and looked to be a serious threat for the podium until a flat tyre in the opening lap of the first finals heat saw his chances diminished, while Huntly racer Brett Parsons exited the championship most spectacularly with a very high roll-over that destroyed his car.
Popular local driver John Jackson, who crashed out of qualifying, returned with a notable “bin it or win it” attitude on the track on the Saturday night, making enough passes to progress through the repechage and then running the outside line and completing daring passes next to the wall to move through the field in the first heat of the finals from grid 16 to fourth.
After running third in heat two and then being relegated to the rear of the field for an on-track incident, he made his way back to sixth position with the same daring driving style. Jackson eventually came unstuck in the third heat when he rode over Newton Gordge’s wheel and slammed into the wall. If the title was to be won by the bravest driver, then “Jacko” would have won it for sure.
The second-tier event was won by Lane’s sister Samantha, ensuring both siblings went home with a trophy. Ricky Dykstra was second and Hayden Corbett third.
A full contingent of support classes over both nights saw several other trophies up for grabs. Logan Sharpe and Scott Williams won the Superstock Best Paris ahead of Kylee Symes and Matt Picard, while Phillip Gargan and Hamish Booker were third.
Booker won the King of the Mountain Superstock Champs from Sharpe and Williams. Ryan Hurliman won the Youth Ministock 60th Anniversary Cup, and Cory Symes won the youth version of the 60th cup.
Mini-sprints raced for a range of trophies as part of their Canam series, which featured drivers from the US and Canada. Erin Uhlenberg, Cameron Hurley, Daniel Nickel, Cody Ogle, Jono Noonan and Canadian driver Luke Didiuk all podium-placers.