Alongside the headline acts of the Toyota 86 endurance championship and the opening round of the New Zealand V8 Touring Car Series, there was a buffet of action at Pukekohe Park over the weekend.
In case you weren’t trackside, here is a short log of how some of the more noteworthy events unfolded:
- Predictably, John De Veth was the man to beat in GTRNZ with his monstrous Daytona Crawford recovering from a mechanical gremlin in qualifying and stalling on the grid, to go on and dominate the opening race of the weekend.
- De Veth would then cross the line first in the opening handicap race of the weekend, overturning a 126-second deficit. But he would later be penalised 20 seconds for exceeding the breakout time, gifting the win to Brian Gray.
- It seemed the memo about staying with a specific handicap time failed to reach De Veth, as he stormed to a flurry of 60-second flat lap times in the final race of the weekend. Despite being sentenced with yet another haul of penalties, the Waikato driver was elated with his pace.
- Kerry Jones had a steady start to the weekend in the GT1 Corvette Transam. He was running double duties with gigs in both the GT class and the NZ V8 Touring Car Championship. Though he ended the day with the front splitter heavily wrapped up in race tape
- GT 2 driver Simon Barry’s Sunday was cut drastically short when he got loose at the top of the hill before darting across the track and into the inside concrete barrier. He wouldn’t return for the afternoon’s final race.
- The weekend was set to be the first to showcase the new Balance of Performance system in the NZ V8 Touring Car Series, which was to be implemented into Sunday’s one-hour feature race. Unfortunately, the full extent of the system was unable to be witnessed when an untimely safety car allowed eventual race winners Lance Hughes and Andre Heimgartner to effectively gain two laps on the field.
- Hopefully, the next few rounds will see an increase in grid numbers with only ten making it out for the weekend. Though that soon whittled down to nine after Nick Ross packed up early when his Nissan Altima suffered a nasty crash at turn one.
- The second round of the Nexen Tyres Mazda Racing Series was punctuated by a heavy crash in race two for Roger Beuvink. Skating onto the grass on the exit of the final corner, Beuvink speared head-first into the barrier, pushing the engine back and causing the No.97 to burst into flames.
- The fire marshals were quick on the scene to extinguish the flames, and Beuvink appeared to be uninjured after the hefty shunt. Unfortunately, the damage done to the car (main image) tells less of a similar story.
- The race would be neutralised behind the safety car for a further seven laps, leaving a last-lap dash to the finish. Once racing did resume, it was defending national champion Keith Wilkinson who clung on for the win.
- After narrowly avoiding writing off the No.76 machine in a wild crash in the opening round at Hampton Downs, Simon Teagle was back in action this weekend. The entire Mazda Racing Series team had come together between rounds to assist in the rebuild and a thankful Teagle was able to complete all three races.
- No doubt the Mazda boys and girls will also get behind Beuvink in the latest rebuild ahead of next round, which will be for the New Zealand Grand Prix weekend at Hampton Downs.
- Ronan Murphy had a battling introduction to the Toyota 86 championship. He was pitched into a spin by Connor Adam in Saturday’s race before clashing with Alexandra Whitley in the weekend’s final affair.
- Greg Spark won a chaotic opening race to the second round of the NZ Honda Cup Series after Mike Hoeft pulled off a daring lunge around the outside of turn one to move from fifth to second. Mark Elley was equally impressive with a scintillating opening lap to end up third having started from row three.
- Chris Hughes and Jason Weel shared the wins on Sunday with the Honda Cup providing some of the cleaner on-track entertainment with their strong 16-car grid.
- Though that didn’t compare to the 25 cars out in action for the second round of the NAPA Central Muscle Cars.
- Traditionally lethal around the Pukekohe circuit, Dean Perkins had his weekend plans stifled after just one race due to an engine drama. He wouldn’t return for the remaining few races, seeing his title aspirations slowly begin to lose traction.
- One, if not the, biggest surprise over the weekend was the electrifying pace of Shane Holland’s 1969 Ford Mustang. Making the transition to the Group 1 for this season after his championship-winning success in Group 2, Holland gave eventual winner Angus Fogg a run for his money in the final scratch race to finish just two seconds behind at the chequered flag.
- But if Holland wasn’t the standout performer of the weekend, V8 Ute rookie Shane Dias is undoubtedly a lead contender. Up against the likes of seasoned racers Peter Ward and Jake Stoneman, Dias looked right at home buried among the leading pack. He scored one podium and two fourth-place finishes across the weekend.
- Formula First once again delivered the on-track thrills with the largest winning margin over the three races just two-tenths. Chris Symon captured all three wins over the weekend, coming out trumps on each occasion due to being in the ideal position to use the draft on the run to the finish stripe.
- The only other driver to command the weekend was Paul Manuell who scored wins in all three V8 Ute races to kick his title defence into gear.
- Symon now holds a commanding lead in the championship and is a firm favourite to finally break his runner-up curse.