Motor Sport
Southland teenage motor racing star, Alex Crosbie, the reigning New Zealand Formula Ford Champion, has made a stunning start to his national title defence.
Crosbie, a Year 12 student at Southland Boys High School, has a 99 point lead after two rounds of the championship which took place at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park in North Waikato and Taupo Motorsport Park early in February.
At Hampton Downs, where the championship supported the New Zeraland Grand Prix, Crosbie battled throughout the three races with Aucklander, Dylan Grant. Grant won the first race by just .042 of a second from Crosbie before Alex reversed the result the next morning, this time prevailing over Grant by .04 of a second. In the third race Crosbie was leading on the final lap only to be hit when Grant attempted a pass. Despite damaged suspension Alex did a fine job to limp home to score points for 13th place, and more importantly, bank enough points to leave the round with a precious one-point championship lead.
The action moved to Taupo the following weekend and Crosbie was unbeatable, winning five races from five, increasing his national championship title lead to 99 points and securing the prestigious Ron Frost Trophy in the finale. In each race he trailed Aucklander Sebastian Manson early before getting by and opening a gap.
The action now moves to the South Island for the final two rounds, the first at Crosbie’s home circuit Teretonga Park over the weekend of 18/19 March and then Mike Pero Motorsport Park in Christchurch a week later. Before then Alex will compete in the fourth round of the South Island F1600 Championship at Levels Raceway, Timaru early in March. Alex leads the South Island title race too, by just 9 points, after battling Christchurch driver Blake Knowles at the first three rounds prior to Christmas. Following Timaru, the South Island Championship is also part of the Teretonga and Christchurch national rounds.
“It is a good place to be,” says Crosbie of his lead in both championships. Looking back on his season he says of the South Island Championship races, “Blake (Knowles) was definitely on the pace, especially at Timaru and Teretonga. It was quite tough racing.” Moving onto his national title defence he admits that after the Hampton Downs round he was a bit more confident. “I was pleased to be on the pace there. Dylan (Grant) has done a lot of racing there in Formula First and Formula Ford on the short track and I had only done a practice on Wednesday before the weekend and then again on Friday.”
“Taking all five wins at Taupo was a big surprise. I learnt a bit on the first day, I was behind Sebastian (Manson) while he used his tyres, then I pounced and drove away. I picked that up and knew what to do after the first day. Taupo is a tough track but it’s not too bad to learn. There are heaps of different corners, like Hampton Downs. The South Island tracks are flat and have more even corners.”
Crosbie’s efforts have also been boosted with the support of several new sponsors this year. He scored a major coup in attracting the support of Rodin Cars recently. Rodin have recently become the major shareholder in successful UK based race team Carlin and support top kiwi motor racing stars, Liam Lawson and Louis Sharp. Other support comes from Invercargill Oil Shop, Stresscrete Southland Limited, Four Square Otatara, Kiwi Skips, Motorsport Solutions NZ Ltd, Macaulay Motors and Easy Steel Invercargill
Southlanders can see Alex Crosbie as he competes in both the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship and the South Island F1600 Championship meeting at the Southern Thunder race meeting at Teretonga Park over the weekend of 18/19 March.