Ah, Talk Motorsport’s annual Best Of column, an opportunity for us hacks to bask in the reflected glory of our favourite drivers’ achievements, then spend the next six months trying to avoid all the aggrieved Dads/Wives/Girlfriends/Mechanics/Mates etc whose nearest and dearest didn’t, er, make the list!
Best drivers of 2019
My ‘best ofs’ are unique thanks to what for many readers will be my positively weird mix of category interests.
While you couldn’t pay me (actually that’s not quite right, but work with me here) to watch a F1 race at the moment, I could bore to Africa and back about the best Karters, Drifters and both South Island Formula Ford and SAS Autoparts MSC NZ F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series drivers.
Here, for instance, are just a few who caused me to arch an eyebrow, purse my lips and go ‘Phooooaaar!’ in 2019
Ken Smith & Michael Collins
Seriously, Ken’s (main picture) got a good 17 years on me, yet whenever he slips behind the wheel of one if his beloved single-seater racing cars he loses 50 of those years. Physically that’s impressive enough. But mentally, his achievements are positively off the charts. Cunning, incisive and never satisfied unless he is pushing whatever car he is in, to the absolute edge, Ken is an inspiration to us all.
The Yin to Ken Smith’s Yang, 23-year-old Michael Collins is quietly going about the business of taking over Smith’s mantle as ‘man-to-beat’ in the SAS Autoparts MSC NZ F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series. Michael’s height and stocky build worked against him through his teen years in karts. His talent and easy-going personality quickly earned him a spot in South Island Formula Ford championship folklore, however, but he might have been lost to us (for want of a suitable and affordable ‘next step’) had John Crawford not offered him a drive in the ex Chris Lambden McRae GM1 ‘ to bed some new brake rotors in.’
So quickly (not to mention well) did young Michael adapt to the unique handling and power characteristics of the big ‘ole McRae, that Crawford suggested to car owner Alistair Hey that he put the young Christchurch ace in it for the opening round of the 2017/18 SAS Autoparts/MSC Series at the ITM Virgin Australia Supercars SuperSprint meeting at Pukekohe Park Raceway. A big ask? Not for Collins, who has that rare ability to make racing anything look easy.
Jacob Douglas & Louis Sharp
I copped quite some flak for the way I wrote up the review of the ROK Cup Superfinal kart race meeting from Lonato in Italy in October; all because I ‘led’ the story with Jacob Douglas’ breakthrough win in the Junior ROK class, and fellow Christchurch youngster Louis Sharp’s equally impressive third place finish in Mini ROK.
The ‘problem’ as the critics saw it was that both earned their results in their classes’ B Finals (the Bridgestone Trophy for Douglas and the Singha Cup for Sharp). Where other members of the Kiwi squad – notably Auckland’s Nathan Crang – had made it to the ‘A Final,’ (the top 34) Douglas and Sharp had ‘only’ got as far as the ‘B Final (for those who ended up between 35 and 68 after qualifying and four heat races).
In theory, of course, they were right. In practice though my attitude (and that of every trained media type I have since spoken to) was ‘Bollocks to that,’ a win’s a win, you did the right thing!
Both are talented, ambitious young drivers with supportive parents and – perhaps most importantly – well planned career trajectories as well as independent funding streams already in place.
In this they share a similar ‘strategic direction’ to another young Christchurch driver, Marcus Armstrong, and we all know where his early success in karts got him, don’t we?
Clay Osborne and Jay Urwin
It would be churlish of me not to mention the breakthrough achievements of Clay and Jay at this year’s Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals meeting at the Sarno kart track (near Naples) despite a messy dispute between the local series promotor and KartSport NZ. 2019 will go down, in fact, as the year Kiwis finally stepped up and delivered on the potential previous teams have possessed.
Prior to this year both Matthew Hamilton and Josh Hart have claimed second placed finishes bit only Ryan Urban had actually won a class Final at an event.
This
time though 15-year-old Clay Osborne won the Junior Max title and
11-year-old Jay Urwin won the Micro Max title. Both classes were chock
full of the best age-group talent the Rotax world
has to offer, so the wins put the pair at the absolute pinnacle of the
sport world-wide.
Matthew Hamilton, Daniel Bray & Ryan Urban
All three are well into their third decade now but rather than showing signs of slowing down each remains absolutely committed to the sport which gave them their start, albeit in three very different ways.
Matthew Hamilton was again the driver to beat, for instance, in his class at the annual SuperKarts USA (SKUSA) SuperNats meeting in Las Vegas, despite spending much of his year racing cars and mentoring young drivers like…Jacob Douglas.
Daniel Bray was one of the pioneers of the now well-trodden Kiwi KZ2-to-SKUSA Stock Moto/SuperNats path and has a US title to go with his two FIA KZ2 SuperCup event second placings. As important as success overseas, to Daniel, however, is building a solid family/business base at home here under his N-Zed Motorsport and GP Karts banners. And this year he elected not to race the KZ2 SuperCup event in favour of helping fellow Aucklander Matthew Payne, as well as a bevy of other drivers on a contracted arrive-and-driver basis here, across the Tasman and to what must feel like his second home now, Italy.
As if that is not enough Daniel is also fast (har-de-har-har!) building a name for himself as an engine builder and tuner as his Split-Second Race Engines brand takes on the world, and wins.
Then there is Daniel’s collab of sorts with West Aussie’s Patrizi brothers as they build their own karting dynasty in Australia with another high profile Italian company, Birel ART, and hook-up with Aussie F1 ace Daniel Ricciardo and the kart brand F1’s always smiling ‘Honey Badger’ lends his name to, Ricciardo Kart.
Ryan Urban, meanwhile, couldn’t help himself, adding ‘yet another’ NZ Sprint title to his tally when he beat none other than Scott McLaughlin to the top step of the 125cc Rotax Max Heavy podium at the Porter Group KartSport NZ Champs at Hamilton over Easter.
Never mind that for the past three or so years, the Aucklander has focused on dominating the NZ Superkart scene as a driver and chassis and engine tuner, while as a mentor he has also put his considerable energies into helping the likes of NZ’s top female karter, Rianna O’Meara-Hunt, maximise her potential here and overseas.
All it took was word that McLaughlin was on his way and Urban borrowed a chassis, tuned up a couple of his Urban Performance Rotax engines and he was there and setting the pace.
Legend!
Tom Alexander, James Watson & Haydn Mackenzie
You’re right, of course, it would be hard to come up with an odder mixture of names, ages and backgrounds but there three are united by their ability both to drive, and to hustle up a deal. Tom of course has just won the ECB SuperUtes title for Isuzu and Ross Stone in a deal brokered by Tom’s ‘manager’ Ken Smith. Like all the other talented young drivers Smith has helped over the years Tom is the real deal……and is now being talked about across the Tasman as a potential Dunlop Super2 series race winner in 2020.
James Watson is arguably better known as the brains behind the formation and on-going success of the 2KCup. It’s the speed the son of Hampton Downs co-founder Chris Watson has shown behind the wheel of a Ralt RT4 and Swift DB4 in various Formula Libre races at Hampton Downs at the beginning of the year that earns him a mention here though. Bottom line? The bugger can drive, begging the obvious other question, what other talent is lurking in the pits at a 2KCup series round?
And Haydn Mackenzie? It takes a special set of skills to complete any Targa tarmac rally, but another set altogether to win one, let alone two in a year. Yet that’s what 35-year-old Albany, Auckland car dealer Haydn Mackenzie did in 2019. True, he benefitted by the retirement – due to an engine bay fire – of event specialist Glenn Inkster late in the event. However, before Inkster’s golden run ended Mackenzie had been the only other front-runner to be able to run at or even near Inkster’s breath-taking pace, the reason Mackenzie’s winning margin over the second-placed Porsche 991 GT3 RS of 2013 event winner Martin Dippie was an amazing 11m: 47.9.sec.
Darren Kelly, Zak Pole & Nico Read
Three of NZ’s best drifters who – oddly enough – have seen little of each other since the heady days of the D1NZ Championship Series five or six years ago.
Then Darren was fresh from winning the NZ Pro-Am title in a (pretty much) self-built four-door Nissan R32 Skyline and was making in-roads into the Pro class in a pretty much self-built R34.
He has since won the D1NZ Pro class title twice (in 2015 and again in 2019) and now drives one of the world’s most desirable drift cars, a Nissan GT-R35). Not bad for a self-confessed ‘car-mad kid from the North Shore!
As Darren Kelly was moving up the ranks, another young Aucklander, Zak Pole, was doing amazing things in what’s known in the drift community as a ‘boat,’ an (otherwise unloved) Nissan Skyline R33 coupe. An IT guy by day and drift car builder extraordinaire by night, Zak’s car always looked like it was still ‘in-build’ yet twice I watched in wonder as the unassuming kid from the North Shore took down none other than Mad Mike in full battle mode.
Then as quickly as he burst onto the scene Zak was gone – trusty R33 parked up in a mate’s garage as he did a three-year OE in the UK.
With that out of his system the Zakster has returned and been quick to put all the lessons he learned building the R33 into an even madder, badder, radder 9,000rpm-capable RB28-turbo-powered Nissan S15 coupe.
Then there is the enigma that is Nico Read. I tell anyone who will listen that I honestly think Nice is one of the most talented young drivers this country has ever produced though of late you would be hard-pressed to see him in action. Like the similarly talented Joe Kukutai, Nico eventual tired of the pressure to perform which (of course) is part and parcel of a pro-level championship series like D1NZ.
Thank goodness then for the ‘more laid-back pastures’ of drifting’s ‘grassroots’ scene, where with some gentle prodding and help from guys like Drift Direct’s Haydn Storey, Nico (and Joe) are regulars at Evergreen Drift Park in their old D1 cars.
That he has still got it was proved at the recent MSC Challenge NZ battle event where Nico qualified as well as finished a close second to young New Caledonian drift sensation Jeremy Slamet.
And so ends my ‘Best Driver’ list.
Next I’ll look forward with my predictions for 2020, by analysing some of the highs AND lows of my motorsport year in 2019!
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