Motor Sport
Southland drivers gave their home fans some of the highlights on the first day of the Speedworks Motorsport Championship at Teretonga Park on the outskirts of Invercargill today.
Local driver Brendon Leitch qualified third for the opening race of the weekend in the Castrol Toyota Racing Series and raced to second place behind Dutchman Richard Verschoor after Thomas Randle was penalised for a jump start. Leitch also qualified fastest for the feature race, the Spirit Of A Nation Cup that will be held tomorrow.
Riverton driver Ethan Anderson broke the run of nine wins of championship leader Liam Lawson of Pukekohe when he won the first Formula F1600 race while Invercargill driver Andrew Cundall won the opening OSCA Super Saloon race from fellow Southlander Liam MacDonald.
Simon Evans of Auckland in a Holden Commodore won the first BNT NZ Touring Car Championship race from Nick Ross in a Nissan after an early Safety Car period following a first lap incident, while in Class 2 Southlanders Jamie Conroy and Liam MacDonald qualified first and second just .033 of a second apart. In the race MacDonald took the honours while Conroy’s run of ill luck continued when he retired from the race.
The NZ Super Trucks featured on Saturday’s programme twice, Alex Little of Wellington in a Freightliner winning the first from Troy Wheeler of Papakura before Wheeler won the second from Malcolm Little.
Richard Moore of Auckland in a Holden won the Porter Group NZV8 Ute race, while the Toyota TR86 Championship featured some superb racing with Ryan Yardley taking the win and NZ1, Bronson Porter of Hamilton prevailed in the NZ Six Saloon race.
The action continues from 9.00am on Sunday. Children under 14 are free if accompanied by an adult.