Memorable debut for Hawkeyes rookie
Rookie Hawke's Bay Hawkeyes superstock driver Hayden Hart knows a couple of spots are up for grabs for the Palmerston North Teams Champs in February and he wants one.
Former Auckland Allstars racer Hart, 21, proved what an asset he will be when he secured the Hawkeyes their second of two wins against the Wellington Wildcats at Meeanee last night.
"I had a coil issue during the hot laps before the first race so I missed that one. We managed to get that sorted in time for the second race. It was a memorable debut race for me and a top night all round for the Hawkeyes," Hart explained afterwards.
"It's always been a dream of mine to race for the Hawkeyes. They are way more professional than the Aucklanders," said the Waipawa-based Hart who works for Shane Warner Engineering.
"I'm good mates with Randal and that's one of the main reasons I moved down here to race," Hart said referring to fellow Hawkeye and 1NZ Randal Tarrant.
Hart pointed out two of last summer's Hawkeyes won't be available for the Palmerston North Teams Champs. Thomas Stanaway wants to focus on individual races and Regan O'Brien has retired from the Hawkeyes.
All of the Hawkeyes deserve praise for their cohesive victories last night. Clayton Hagen secured the win in race one where Mike McLachlan and Kairyn O'Brien impressed with their blocking.
Round two in the Bryce Townsend Memorial Midget Series was the other feature attraction at last night's Motorworks Christmas Special Meeting. Nineteen drivers fronted and 10 years after he won the last midget meeting at Meeanee Auckland's 10A Brad Mosen (pictured racing below) produced arguably the best open wheel class drive seen at the track to win the 25-lap race feature from grid 10 to secure the round title.
Mosen, who had finished second to fellow Aucklander Ryan Baker at last month's Western Springs-hosted first round, wasn't happy after drawing the marble for an inverted grid draw for the top 10 qualifiers.
He was fifth after three laps, third after 16 and he took the lead with four laps remaining. Fellow Aucklanders Max Guilford and James Cossey finished second and third respectively.
"I didn't think the car was working well early in the race. But it was working how I like it to after eight laps and having five laps added to the 20 which were originally scheduled worked in my favour," Mosen said at the prizegiving.
Superstocks, streetstocks, TQs and sidecars were the support classes. Stanaway produced an 18.13s lap time on the way to victory in heat one for the 17-strong superstock class and he also won heat two.
Eighteen drivers fronted in the streetstock class. Hawke's Bay's Darren Melling won heat one.
His clubmate Tim Towler pipped fellow Meeanee driver Brent Redington by 00.38s on his way to victory in heat two and Gisborne's Shaun Kingi took out the feature.
Eighteen drivers also competed in the TQ class. Gisborne's Dylan MacGregor won heat one and the feature and Aucklander Jakeb Le Cren took out heat two.
Four crews fronted in the sidecar class. Hawke's Bay's Craig Bowler and Ann Plummer won two of the heats and Palmerston North's Mark Whye and Jacob Cooper triumphed in the other
