Nexen Tyre NZ Mazda Racing Series action resumes this weekend as competitors contest Round 3 of their North Island Series at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park.
The series will be part of the programme at the latest round of the NextGen New Zealand Championship, Presented by Repco, being the Alliance Services Hampton Downs International.
Series leader Rex Edwards faces the first challenge of the weekend even before racing begins as he awaits clutch parts from Japan to enable him to compete.
Edwards has a 27-point lead in the series after finishing third overall at the opening round at Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon before winning the second round at Taupō in November. Should Edwards, the 2022/23 champion, not be able to make the startline that would allow the chasing pack a great chance to overtake him in the points.
Second overall heading into Round 3 is Karl Gaines, also the leading Masters (Over 50) driver in the series. Gaines has been consistent thus far finishing fourth and third respectively at the opening two rounds. Just ten points behind him is fellow Aucklander Callum Pratt who scored his debut win last time out at Taupō.
Stuart Lawton is next up, currently fourth on points. Lawton had a great run at the series’ opener but the second round was the complete opposite for him. He had an ECU problem in the first race at that round and borrowed a car for the second day of racing coming through from the back of the grid to snare a couple of top ten finishes. Despite those issues he is still just 44 points off the series lead.
Close behind Lawton are Aucklanders’ Lance Gerlach and Sam Dashfield while the current top ten is completed by Mark Oudney, Nigel Edger, Leo Bult and Alex Canty.
Others to watch will be South Islander Mac Templeton and Aucklander Steve Brown. Templeton is contesting both the North and South Island titles this season and has been quick but has suffered setbacks at the opening rounds as has Brown.
After three practice sessions on Friday competitors will have a 15 minute qualifying session on Saturday morning to establish grid positions for Race 1 over ten laps that afternoon. On Sunday a 12-lap race with a reverse top ten grid based on Saturday’s race result takes place at 8.30am with the finale over ten laps with a grid based on weekend points timed to start at 1.53pm.
Header Image: Geoff Ridder (Supplied)
