Speedworks announce new dates for Pukekohe and Taupo events

Pukekohe will hold its revised round of the 2020/21 Speedworks later this month, with event organisers confirming dates for the final two events.

The Auckland circuit was scheduled to host the latest meeting of the championship on March 5-7.

However, the round was forced to be postponed when Auckland was elevated to Covid-19 Alert Level 3 over the week and into the weekend.

Now, with the Auckland region down to Alert Level 2, Speedworks have confirmed that Pukekohe will still host the next round of the championship over March 26-28.

Government will decide on whether Auckland will be dropped to Level 1 with the rest of the country later this week, which should hopefully mean fans will be allowed to attend the event.

Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park in Taupo will conclude the 2020/21 season on a revised date of April 16-18.

“Obviously we want to acknowledge the organisers of the North Island Endurance Championship who were very helpful in moving their opening round a little later so we could hold the final round of the summer series at Taupo on what was originally their date,” explained Speed Works’ Geoff Short.

“The situation was complicated by the fact that earlier this week Ironman Taupo announced that they have postponed their event from this weekend and rescheduled it to March 27th. The result of their decision would cause challenges to our planned event at Taupo on the same weekend.

“Centennial and Broadlands roads will be closed for the Ironman and that would mean access to the Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park was restricted. This with the added pressure to the Taupo township in having two major events meant that we needed to re-evaluate our dates beyond a simple rescheduling of Pukekohe.”

The Taupo round will wrap up seasons for the Racer Products NZ V8 Allcomers, NAPA Central Muscle Cars, Best Bars Toyota 86, NEXEN Tyre Mazda Racing Series, HI-Q Components Formula First, Motul Honda Cup, GTRNZ and the Ryco 24/7 V8 Ute Championship.

Also making a return is the Rush Hour one-hour race, which will run at the Pukekohe round. The mini-enduro will make a great warm up for any competitors eyeing up a Golden Homes North Island Endurance Championship one-, two- or three-hour campaign.