South Island driver wins NZ Saloon Grand Prix
The long trip north from Christchurch proved to be worthwhile for South Island Saloon competitor Ashton Osborne. Ashton won the Sentry Hill Motel New Zealand Saloon Grand Prix at Stratford Speedway on Sunday, March 24, adding to his trophy stash that includes placing second at the New Zealand Championship earlier in the year.
After racing was postponed on Saturday due to wet weather and the track initially being wet for the first races of the day on Saturday before drying out, Osborne made the most of the slick conditions to literally leave the opposition in his dust.
Osborne won his first qualifying heat from a grid two start before placing third in his second heat behind Craig and Thomas Korff.
His placings in the heat races secured him a front-row start for the 20-lap winner-take-all final. Osborne showed his class and led for the entire duration.
Bradley Korff, who had only finished one qualifying heat started in grid 12 of the final and ran the high line, working his way through the field to an eventual second place finish.
Another South Island driver, Campbell McManaway, was third after Ashleigh Halcrow (Palmerston North), who had been running third, left the door open for McManaway with a couple of laps to go.
Blake Hooper was looking good for a podium finish and pushing for second place but contact with another car saw his bonnet fly off of his car before being run over and he had to retire from the race.
The young drivers in the Stockcar class did not disappoint when they raced for the Dairymaster Under 23 Stockcar champs. As always, the fearless nature of these young drivers generated plenty of action on the track with cars being rolled and walled all over the place.
Whanganui driver Cody Lockett, who placed third at the New Zealand Championship here in January, was the winner of the event, assistance from his clubmate Callum Sturzaker being very valuable with Sturzaker happy to hinder or remove Lockett’s opponents from the final.
Wellington driver Tim Parker was second while Christchurch competitor Wade Sweeting was third, making the day an excellent one across the board for the Southern competitors.
Nearly 50 Youth Ministocks were on hand to race for the Hawera Rewinds Taranaki Champs with the event attracting drivers from Palmerston North, Whanganui, Hawke’s Bay, Auckland, Huntly and the 30 or so local Taranaki drivers.
The format saw competitors seeded into four groups with each group racing each other throughout the day. Palmerston North competitor Kase Willaims was the overall victor after racing his way to two wins and a fifth place, winning the champs by two points from local Bronson Pierce. Macy Penn form Hawke’s Bay was third.
In the support class racing, Stockcar races were won by Taylor Patene, Tyler Walker, Steven Read and Ricky Paul.