World 240s Championship and Conclusion of Ladies’ Championship in New Zealand

Yesterday saw four BriSCA drivers in action at Paradise Valley Speedway in Rotorua. Frankie Wainman Jnr (515GB), Joe Booth (446GB) and Bobby Griffin (166GB) were competing against the best drivers in the SuperStocks formula whilst Catherine Harris (8GB) continued her pursuit of claiming the Ladies’ Championship in the Stockcar formula.

It was Harris up first in Heat 4 of the Ladies’ Championship, which continued from the previous evening. Harris entered the race in 3rd position overall in the points and started this race from 12th on the grid. It was certainly a tough race for Harris with the other drivers intent on making sure that the title didn’t leave the country. Halfway through the race Harris was fired into the wall causing a puncture and steering damage but continued on to finish 20th and claim 7 valuable points.

Before the first race for the BriSCA F1 trio, Bobby Griffin’s car developed a misfire but on hand was Malcolm Ngatai (19C) who arranged for Griffin to race the 991C car, a car he hadn’t even sat in let alone practiced in.

First race for the trio and Wainman starts the day off in the best way possible with a flag to flag victory after starting on pole, taking the full 26 points on offer, but this only meant that it was going to get a lot harder throughout the event. Griffin and Booth stated the race from 7th and 21st on the grid and came home in 13th and 16th respectively, claiming 14 and 11 points. The race had plenty of action as 10 of the 26 cars ended up on the infield and Booth finishing the race with a puncture.

Harris was back out for her 2nd race of the evening in Heat 5 with a pole position start. All was going well as she was out in front until she was spun out. Having got back into the race and making her way through traffic she saw her opportunity for exacting revenge on the driver who walled her in the previous race and sent the car crashing into the wall. Harris finished the race in 8th place and sat in 5th place overall with one race left to go.

Second race for the SuperStocks and this was certainly more difficult for the British trio, Booth started the race from 8th on the grid with Wainman and Griffin from 14th and 20th. At the start of the race, Booth was in the thick of it as both him and Ngatai went straight into the wall and unfortunately registered a DNF. Wainman continued to be on the pace only to be put into a spin, losing a few places but continued and finished the race three ahead of his starting position in 11th. Griffin also improved on his starting position with a 15th place finish.

The final race of the evening for Harris and what an effort she put in. Starting 23rd on the grid, Harris made her way through the field until she came across Ashleigh Halcrow (242P). Harris, clearly making a name for herself, fired the 242P car into the fence and drove away easily.

Carol Podjursky (69S) took victory in the Ladies’ Championship with a combined 128 points with Hailey James (18V) and Brittany Carpenter (85GM) finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively on 120 and 116 points.

Harris put in a magnificent effort over the weekend and certainly made an impression. She finished the championship in 7th place overall with 106 points, only 22 behind Podjursky.

The final race of the night and unfortunately for Booth, it was already the end of his night as he was unable to make the grid which meant it was now down to the British duo of Griffin and Wainman who took their places on the grid in 14th and 26th. Wainman was a target early on as Benji Sneddon (471K) set about taking care of the threat the Brits posed to the 240s title. That wasn’t the end of it though and Wainman continued to race but was once again targeted but this time it was Ethan Rees (127G) who slammed the 515GB car hard into turn two. Griffin put in a excellent effort in this race as he came away with a 7th place finish whilst Wainman continued after both efforts to finish his night failed and ended with a 14th place finish.

Keegan Leiven (5W) took victory in the World 240s Championship with a combined total of 71 points with Jason Long (41B) and Nick Vallance (45G) finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively after a run off due to both ending on 70 points each.

All three drivers put in a fantastic effort in the championship with Wainman finishing 6th with 55 points, Griffin secured 9th place with 46 points and Booth finished 21st with 11 points only due to his DNF in Heat 2 and was unable to take his place on the grid for the final race.

All of the drivers represented the UK extremely well over the weekend and promoting their respective sports, BriSCA F1 and V8 HotStox.

Congratulations to all the winners over the weekend and to Carol Podjursky and Keegan Leiven on their championship wins.

A huge thank you to everyone who has been involved in New Zealand so far and also to all the sponsors as without them this would not be possible.

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