Warren Crowther was crowned the Mazda Racing Series North Island Championship victor at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park over the weekend.
The Auckland-based driver entered the round with a 13-point advantage over New Zealand and South Island Champion Chris White Jr, who was left with work to do to sweep all three titles in a borrowed car fitted with a second-hand engine as his own car is prepared for sale prior to his move to the Toyota 86 Championship next season.
Crowther finished the three-race weekend with a 55-point margin over White Jr to win the title, while Stiaan Kriel moved into third on the final day.
Crowther was “stoked” with his success, saying he never thought he would be winning championships at such a high level when he started racing.
“The season has been fantastic with so much young talent coming through, and I think consistency helped me win,” he said. He now plans to race karts alongside his son.
The weekend began with Tom Alexander, making a cameo appearance, qualifying on the pole for the opener ahead of Tuamarina’s Arthur Broughan, a former karting star in his debut Mazda Racing Series season. Crowther and title rival White Jr. shared the grid’s second row.
Broughan quickly took the lead in the race and steadily extended his margin over Crowther to take his first win after only entering the series and having his first race in a car late in January. At the chequered flag, he was 3.727 seconds ahead of Crowther, having also set the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1 minute 14.719 seconds.
Ex-pat South African Stiaan Kriel was third after slipping past Alexander on Lap 2, with White coming through and into fourth late in the race.
Stu Lawton of Wellington was sixth, which elevated him to third in the championship. Leo Bult, who held the spot prior to the round, did not compete in the round.
Crowther’s second place earned him a 19-point lead over White Jr. on the final day of the championship and extended that further in Sunday’s opener, a reverse top-ten grid race.
It was an intense affair, with an early safety car after David Atkins and Phil Clemas came together. At that point, Karl Gaines had the lead from Crowther, Alexander, White, Kriel, Lawton, Nigel Edger of Hamilton and Broughan.
At the restart, Crowther was quickly into the lead, but a major incident involved several cars, including Gaines, Mark Oudney, Edger, and Steven Spear, who were all out for the remainder of the meeting. White was also in the wars at the restart and was forced into the pits.
The safety car was again deployed, and the race never restarted.
At the chequered flag, it was Crowther from Alexander, Broughan, Kriel, and Lawton. Crowther was then adjudged to have crossed the pitlane entry at the restart, and the penalty relegated him to fifth, handing Alexander the win from Broughan, who, as he had the day before, set the fastest lap.
Sixteen cars remained from the original twenty-two for the finale. Alexander had the pole, but Kriel took the lead on the opening lap before Alexander passed him on lap five. In doing so, he dislodged the back bumper of Kriel’s car, causing a safety car.
At the restart, Alexander led until the final lap when a fuel pump problem slowed him, with Kriel getting through to take the win.
Broughan was second again after a very impressive weekend, which saw him take the round win with Crowther, the new champion, third. Lawton was fourth from Pratt, Wichman, White, Tork, Canty and Clemas.
