Hot on the heels of the opening round of Nexen Tyre NZ Mazda Racing South Island Series last weekend the North Island Series will have its first outing at the OctoberFAST event at Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon in Feilding this weekend.
This year’s series is wide open with the top three from last season’s series – Chris White, Warren Crowther and Stiaan Kriel – all absent from this year’s grid for various reasons.
Two South Islanders will cross Cook Strait to take the challenge to the northerners this weekend and one to watch will be Arthur Broughan of Tuamarina near Blenheim. Broughan is moving into the Toyota GR86 Championship this year but is making some early season appearances in the Mazda Series where he had a superb rookie season last year, finishing sixth overall in the New Zealand Series and fifth in the South Island Series. He contested the opening round of the South Island Series last weekend and finished second for the round with three second placings. Also travelling north is Prebbleton driver Mac Templeton who was fifth overall in the South Island last weekend.
Despite the absence of last season’s top trio, the southerners will meet tough competition at Manfeild. Stuart Lawton of Paraparaumu, Aucklanders Leo Bult, Steve Brown and Phil Clemas plus Nigel Edger of Hamilton all finished in the top ten in the North Island standings last year and are all experienced campaigners.
Sam Dashfield of Auckland only ran a limited campaign last season but is always quick while potential entries Rex Edwards of Tauranga and Aucklanders Callum Pratt plus Elton Wichman are all threats.
Last year’s series provided spectacular racing and with the series wide open this year the action should be just as good.
The Nexen Tyre Mazda Racing Series competitors will have the opportunity for testing at the circuit on Friday before qualifying and a 10-lap race on Saturday. A top ten reverse grid race over 12 laps is next up on Sunday morning followed by a 10-lap finale on Sunday afternoon.
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