Hamilton Sprintcar racer Daniel Thomas avoided a couple of late race dramas to complete an unbeaten performance at Baypark Speedway on Saturday night.
The former New Zealand champion won both of his heat races and then battled with Tauranga’s Rodney Wood in the 20-lap feature race to claim his second main event win of the 2024-25 season at Baypark.
Wood grabbed the initial lead, but Thomas pounced on the first restart and was never headed in a race that saw the second half interrupted by two multi-car incidents.
Thomas also had to slow and steer around a spinning lapped car in the final corner and due to the laps completed under the earlier cautions, he ran out of fuel while attempting his victory doughnuts.
“I’m glad there wasn’t another restart for the car that spun in front of me – we wouldn’t have made it,” says Thomas.
“The car was amazing to drive. With our Flying W shock package and a perfectly balanced set-up by Jason [McIndoe], our car was on-point all night.”
Hamilton’s Dean Brindle worked his way through from the third row of the grid to finish second ahead of Wood while Kapiti’s Jamie Larsen was fourth ahead of Ryan O’Connor (Auckland) and Ayrton Hodson (Katikati).
Close racing in the North Island Super Stock Thunder series produced three different race winners and an overall win for Baypark’s Elias Dykstra – by just a single point from Gisborne’s James Clark.
Tauranga’s Kerry Remnant, Gisborne racer Regan Penn and Rotorua’s Mark Costello were the three race winers in a tightly fought contest while Dykstra posted two thirds and a fifth placing.
The season debut of the Stock Cars saw a big field and Gisborne’s Trevor McArthur in dominant form. He won the first two heats and was leading till the final lap of race three when he was delayed for a few seconds, just long enough for Rotorua’s Alex Maule to slip through for the win.
McArthur recovered for second and was eight points clear of Maule with Baypark’s Chloe Ingram one point further back.
The other class making its first appearance of the season were the F2 Midget Cars. Top qualifier James Earl in his rapid Honda powered racer fended off a mid-race challenge from Joshua Mathews to win the 15-lap feature race with CJ Wilson completing the podium.
The next meeting at Baypark Speedway on Saturday December 7 features the annual South Pacific Super Saloon Car title and the inaugural Aotearoa F2 Midget Car Championship – establishing an unofficial national title for the category which holds Regional Class status with Speedway New Zealand.
