White Jnr wins Mazda Racing Series round 2 honours.

Sixteen-year-old Chris White Jnr of Prebbleton was the form driver during the round 2 actions of the Nexen Tyre Mazda Racing Series National Championship at Levels Raceway on the outskirts of Timaru this weekend.

After taking the $500 Premier Insulation Pole Award and winning the first race of the round on Saturday, breaking the lap record in the process, he added a second place and another win in Sunday’s two races to take round honours and also increase his lead in the South Island Championship of which this was round 3. He also maintained second spot in the national series, narrowing the points margin to championship leader Simon Baker of Wellington.

Saturday’s race had seen White Jnr win from Flynn Mullany of Auckland and Baker after a good battle between the trio.

Sunday’s opening race featured a reverse top ten grid and it was Aucklander Leo Bult who found himself on pole after struggling in Saturday’s wet qualifying and recovering to tenth in the opening race. On Sunday morning, he led from lights to flag, putting in a good drive to win by 1.5 seconds from White Jnr, who put in an exceptional drive to come through the field into second place. Baker was another who came through the field to finish third followed across the line by Sam Dashfield of Auckland and Matt Horne from Masterton.

South Canterbury favourite Brent ‘Bones’ Collins drove his older ‘Batman’ Mazda creditably to eighth place after being a non-starter due to electrical issues the previous day. Shane Paget of Rangiora had a spin during the race after contact with Aucklander Elton Wichman. After stopping to re-boot the car’s ECU, Paget recorded a time just 3/10th of a second off White Jnr’s new lap record from the day before.

The third and final race of the weekend saw a good battle between White Jnr and Baker initially before White Jnr started building an impressive lead, ending the race over 3 seconds in front of Baker. Bult was third ahead of Warren Crowther (Auckland), Horne and Paget. The results gave White Jnr round honours with 128 points from Baker (114) and Bult (106).

Aucklander Flynn Mullany, who had finished second in Saturday’s race, took no part in Sunday’s races due to mechanical issues.

Several drivers were under the old lap record again on Sunday and despite very close, hard, door handle to door handle racing, there were few incidents and the racing was very clean.

With two national rounds now completed in the South Island, the next National Championship round is at Taupo International Motorsport Park over the weekend of February 10-12, an event that also doubles as round 3 of the North Island Championship.

After initially not planning to contest the round, it is highly likely that Chris White Jnr will venture north to line up at Taupo. As the series prepares to head north, Baker stills leads with 242 points from White Jnr, who has moved to within 15 points of Baker. Warren Crowther sits third on 185 points.

White Jnr leads the South Island Championship with 333 points from Matt Dodd (277), with Paget third with 269 points.

2023 Mazda Racing Series New Zealand Championship Points after Round 2:

2023 Mazda Racing Series South Island Championship Points after Round 3 – Top 6:

_{Main image: Neil Howie | Words: Lindsay Beer}