Lawson sees off his rivals

Simon Lawson, who signs off as a junior driver at the end of this month, did it in style last night when winning his second New Zealand junior drivers championship at Addington.

The North Island-based horseman staved off the challenge of 11 rivals in three races to be crowned champion for the second time following his success in 2009.

Despite some impressive success between his first and second championship crowns, Lawson rated last night’s victory as one of the best moments of his career.

‘‘As a junior driver it doesn’t get much better than this,’’ he said.

‘‘To be able to compete against your peers is something really special and it’s always an added bonus to win it.’’

Lawson kick-started his night in the right fashion with a victory on the consistent Sol Invictus to earn maximum points.

He followed that up with a sixth placing on Tuscaloosa in the second heat before a third placing on Sobek was enough to earn him the title after a tight leaderboard left eight drivers in with a chance of winning.

Mitchell Kerr was the best of the rest finishing second, while Roydon Downey was third.

The second heat went to Brad Williamson who produced a classy drive on Comenche to win by a massive margin.

Andre Poutama ended his night with a confident drive on Bushrod to win the last heat.

As well as individual glory, the 12 drivers also competed for their respective islands over the three heats. The North claimed honours with 140 points to the South Island’s 123.