Finding just enough room to power a wide-bodied Super Saloon Car between his closest rival and a lapped car earned national champ Chris Cowling an exciting win in Saturday night’s South Pacific Super Saloon Car title at Baypark Speedway.
Cowling was chasing fellow Baypark racer and longtime rival Sam Waddell in the 20-lapper when a gap opened, and Cowling squeezed through with the winning move.
“This meeting [the South Pacific Champs] has always been a bit of a bogey meeting for us, and I thought it might be again after the first heat. But I sorted myself out and won my second heat which put us on the front row with Sam,” Cowling says.
“Sam and I have started together on the front row so many times. Nearly every time he chooses the outside and puts me on the inside.”
Waddell got the jump from the outside and led through two early cautions. As the leaders closed on lapped traffic with five laps to go, Cowling grabbed the lead and edged away to a 1.52secs winning margin.
“It was hard to tell how the race was going to unfold. Sam was faster in the first 10 laps, but then I changed my line, and I started to close in on him.
“It’s so good racing with Sam. We always race hard but we respect each other, and we give each other just enough room.”
Steve Cowling closed to 0.3secs behind Waddell at the finish with Auckland’s Craig Cardwell and Hawke’s Bay racer Thomas Stanaway completing the top five. Twenty cars started the feature race which is a curtain raiser and early form guide to the New Zealand Championship at Baypark Speedway over the February 14-15 weekend.
James Earl has been a regular F2 Midget Car feature winner at Baypark, but he had to work hard for the win in the BSL Racing Aotearoa F2 Midget Car 20-lapper, an inaugural unofficial national title for the class.
Ryan Baker built an early lead while Earl ran in third spot battling with Tylar Browne. Baker’s engine stopped during a mid-race caution putting Browne in front, but Earl quickly found his way past to control the race through a sequence of late cautions with Dion Kendall driving his way up to second.
Also shining was 18-year-old Silverdale racer Holly Russell, on just her third night of speedway racing and with a background in motocross and offroad racing. She won her opening heat race, made good progress through the pack in heat two and after starting sixth in the feature she battled for a podium spot and finished third.
California’s Jonathan Allard raced to his second Baypark Sprint Car feature win of the summer with the main pressure from Hamilton’s Daniel Thomas coming on a couple of restarts. Allard won by 1.15secs from Thomas with Ryan O’Connor continuing a strong start to the season with a third place effort.
Tauranga’s Todd Hemingway drove a borrowed car to win the three-race Stock Car contest, finishing two points clear of Chloe Ingram with Ryan Decke completing the podium.
The next meeting at Baypark Speedway on December 28 is the Bay Super Stars featuring visiting US and Australian Midget Car drivers, the Hokey Ashby Memorial for Super Stocks and Kiwi NASCAR winner Shane van Gisbergen is scheduled to make a Sprint Car appearance.
