A photo finish put an exclamation point on the summer of high-intensity Sprint Car racing at Baypark Speedway’s season finale on Saturday night.
The electronic lap scoring separated Tokoroa’s James Dahm and Hamilton racer Dean Brindle by a mere 0.026s after Dahm completed a last-corner pass to win the 20-lap feature, which brought the 2023-24 racing season to an exciting close.
Dahm was the early leader, but Brindle seized a chance in the lapped traffic mid-race and built a slim advantage. Dahm wasn’t giving up and chased till the final corner when the leaders had a lapped car to contend with.
“I only had one opportunity. When I saw him [Brindle] go to the bottom, I committed to a bit of a Hail Mary around the outside. We went either side of the lapped car and I had just enough momentum to get me past,” Dahm says.
There was a little extra motivation for Dahm to end the season with success after a major rebuild following an Easter weekend crash at Palmerston North.
“We had to put the chassis back on the jig at Bayspeed to get it straightened, and I was thinking about Gordon [his father] and the team thrashing on the car last week to get it ready.”
The last gasp win was Dahm’s second feature race victory of the season and denied Brindle the chance to extend his win tally to three.
“I wasn’t sure who’d won when I pulled onto the infield. It was awesome to race so close, and James drove a really good race,” Brindle said.
Keaton Dahm completed a successful night for the Tokoroa family with a third-place finish ahead of Cole Wood. Earlier in the night, Holly Williams, Rodney Wood and Keaton Dahm had taken heat race wins on a fast track with lap times in the mid-13s range.
A 25-strong field featuring visitors from the Huntly, Rotorua, Stratford and Kihikihi tracks joined the Baypark teams to battle out the Super Stock Rumble with Kerry Remnant, Elias Dykstra and Todd Hemingway each taking a win.
It was Hemingway with a second and third placing to accompany his win who was the clear points winner ahead of Remnant.
James Earl returned to winning form in the F2 Midgets to claim his fourth feature race win of the season ahead of Beau Patchett and Brynn Jackson.
Two wins and a second secured a convincing win for Tauranga’s Josh McClymont in a three-race points contest for the Six Shooters ahead of Rotorua’s Luke Westbury with Roydon White taking third place.
The 2024-25 season at Baypark Speedway will begin at Labour weekend (Saturday October 26).
