Here some more updates on my racing this season.
11/12 January - NZ Champs - Nelson
Had the practise on the Thursday, only did two runs just to make sure any changes we had made we fine. Friday was qualifying, only 6 cars per group go through to the finals on the Saturday, my group had 19 cars. I did well and qualified 4th in my group. Placings for that night were two 5ths and a 4th. Saturday night finals, 26 cars all trying to get the top spot. Started 6th in the first race and got pushed back to 10th in the first lap, then slowly worked my way back to 6th again, then got spun so finished 22nd. Second race started 12th and pushed my way forward and finished 5th. Going into the last race was 12th on points overall, to far away to win the champs, but still able to get a spot in the top 5. Started 21st pushed my way up to 5th, caught up to a driver who was higher on points than me, spun him but spun myself at the same time. Unfortunately because of wrecked tyres I had to pull into the infield and never finished the race. Got 21st overall. Still really happy with the result because my main aim was to qualify.
18/19 January - NZ GP - Christchurch
Friday night was good racing, qualified for finals, placings were 4th, 5th and in last race got a flatty which put me at 19th. Qualified 8th overall. Saturday night first race started 19th and got all the way up to 4th, second race started on pole and won race! Going into the last race was 4th on points, started 26th, got up to 11th passed the 3 drivers who were on higher points than me, then the tail shaft on the gearbox snapped and ripped the drive shaft out, couldn't finish the race which put me at 11th overall on points.
2 February - King of the Clay - Nelson
This was probably one of the worst meetings I have had so far. Got taken out in the first race so only finished 12th, second race went ok didn't make up places but didn't loose any either got 8th. Last race wasn't going in high on points so did some blocking for the drivers that were higher on points, ended up bending the front bumper onto the wheel, think I finished last. They named the tigers that night for NZ Teams Champs, made it into the team!!
8/9 February - NZ Team Champs - Palmerston North
On Friday night we came up against Christchurch and Hawkes Bay. We only won the race against Christchurch getting 110 points for that race. The next race against Hawkes Bay I was the spare car so sat the race out, got 2nd, 3rd and 4th giving us 80 points. Didn't qualify in the top 4 but qualified 6th, because of the format of the racing the highest place we could of got overall was 3rd. Saturday night came up against Christchurch again, we bet them again, finished 1st, 3rd and 4th. We made it into the final for 3rd and 4th against Bay Park, we won the race getting a 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th. The team finished up 3rd overall which was awesome!!
23 February - Best Pairs - Nelson
Was paired up with 77N Dave Bright, First race started 5th and finished 3rd. Second race 9th got up to 5th and then got spun so finished towards the back. Last race we weren't high on points, started 4th got into 1st place and then the gearbox selector failed and wouldn't go into top gear, pulled in for a few laps and managed to get a gear so I could finish the race. Tigers were selected for Auckland Teams Nationals, I made it into the team, they picked the same team they had for Palmerston North.
Heading to Auckland this weekend for the teams and then to Christchurch the following weekend for Battle of the Stocks,
Well it was a long haul up to Auckland but it was well worth it. We were up against Manawatu Mustangs first. It was a really good race, we got 1st, 2nd & 3rd & I even managed to tip a car on its roof. Second race was up against the Waikato Wanderers, once again it was a really good race, we finished 1st, 2nd & 3rd. We qualified top of the table. For the semi-final we were up against the Mustangs again, it was another really good race. We got 1st, 2nd & 3rd & I tipped the same car on his roof again! In the final we were up against Palmy Panthers, that didn't go as we planned.
We lost and we got a bit of damage as well, but we still came out with a second overall which was one better than Palmy teams so that was a bonus. We headed home on the Sunday/Monday which only gave us 3 days to get the car fixed for the following weekend.
Got the car all ready and we headed down to Christchurch on the Friday for the Battle of the Stocks. The layout for this event is that every South island car entered gets paired up with a North island car for the weekend and after every race the points from each driver are combined. I drew out Kevin Roberts from Palmy as my partner. We both finished every race on the first night, I got two 8ths and a 4th. I finished 7th on points individually after the first night, my team mate didn't do that great individually. We were 9th on points for pairs after the first night. The second night we had a top ten shoot out which I was in and got 8th. The three races on Saturday went good but I was lacking in drive as the track went black. My placings were 8th, 13th and a 10th. I finished up 7th overall and 8th in pairs, it was still a really good outcome for me considering that the last three years I haven't made it to the second night due to car failures and me breaking bones.
So, that's our season over and done with. Overall we had a very good season, 24 race meetings, 80 races and we only had 3 DNF's and 3 races we didn't start!
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