Southland’s Alex Crosbie came away from the Supercars weekend at Pukekohe Park Raceway in Auckland as winner of the second round of the 2022/23 Giltrap Group North Island Formula Ford Series (NIFF) in association with Napa. Three podium finishes including a race win, saw him narrowly beat home championship leader Liam Sceats (Van Diemen Stealth) by just seven-points.
“It’s pretty exciting to win this meeting with such a big crowd and the last Supercars event at this track is very special,” commented Crosbie.
Initially Sceats set a blistering pace in qualifying with a 1:10.1350 second lap, 0.7050 ahead of Crosbie with Blake Dowdall third fastest ahead of Leo Scott (Spectrum 010) and Zac Christensen (Ray GR20). In doing so, Sceats collected the $500 cash prize for fastest qualifier provided by the Hampton Downs NZ Racing Academy.
Sceats then went on to win a close Race 1 on Saturday from Crosbie by just 0.0390 seconds with Scott third ahead of Kyan Davie (Spectrum 015) and Christensen.
“The first race was really close up front,” said Crosbie. “I got passed Liam a couple of times. Then on the last lap I thought my chance to get passed him would be out of the hairpin with a draught to the finish line. It was close but not close enough. It was really good getting second in only my first race at Pukekohe.”
In the second race, Crosbie won ahead of Scott, David, Dowdall and Mason Potter (Van Diemen Stealth) with Sceats in sixth having been penalised 5 seconds for a jump start. The race coming to an early conclusion (red flag) after Christchurch’s Simon Hunter (Mygale) crashed coming over the hill onto the main start/finish straight.
Unfortunately, the third and final race was red-flagged after a major incident coming onto the back straight when race leader, Zac Christensen, was spun around after a mechanical failure, resulting in a number of cars coming together.
“In the third race I was in third most of the time,” said Crosbie. “When Zac spun, I was able to get by. There must have been quite a carnage behind us as the race was eventually stopped.”
Sceats was awarded his second win of the weekend ahead of Christensen Crosbie and Matt Hamilton (Van Diemen Stealth). While Sceats came away with two race wins, his sixth placing put him second overall for the round behind Crosbie with Christensen third and Davie fourth.
The category was part of the support classes for the ITM Auckland SuperPrint round of the 2022 Repco Supercars Championship round won by Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen.
“I learnt a lot in Formula Ford,” said van Gisbergen over the weekend. “It’s definitely the best way, I think, for a driver to learn race craft and how the car moves around a lot. Formula Ford is the best place for someone to get out of karts and go racing.”
Other prizes on offer for the round from both NIFF and Napa was $1500 of cash prizes for 1st to 3rd, ($750, $500 and $250) as well as the Napa Account credit of $230 for the overall winner, Alex Crosbie.
The Giltrap Group North Island Formula Ford Series is also supported by Yokohama, the Tony Quinn Foundation and NAPA Auto Parts.
The next round takes place again at Pukekohe Park Raceway (long track) on 8 October 2022. Sceats continues to lead the Series from Crosbie, Dowdall and Potter.
Overall Points after 2/7 Rounds (Top 12)
1/ Liam Sceats 424
2/ Alex Crosbie 383
3/ Blake Dowdall 326
4/ Mason Potter 287
5/ Leo Scott 279
6/ Zach Blincoe 205
7/ Sebastian Manson 174
8/ Zac Christensen 158
9/ Kyan Davie 156
10/ Chris Symon 151
11/ Judd Christiansen 126
12/ Dylan Grant 114
Race Results
Race 1 (10 laps)
1/ Liam Sceats Van Diemen Stealth
2/ Alex Crosbie Ray GR21
3/ Leo Scott Spectrum 010
4/ Kyan Davie Spectrum 015
5/ Zac Christensen Ray GR20
6/ Mason Potter Van Diemen Stealth
7/ Dylan Grant Van Diemen RF03
8/ Blake Dowdall 2019 Spectrum
9/ Zach Blincoe Mygale SJ08
10/ Sebastian Manson Spectrum
11/ Matt Hamilton Van Dieman
12/ Blake Knowles 2005 Van Dieman RF05
13/ Shane Drake Van Diemen RF92
14/ Caleb Byers, Ray
15/ Jack Noble-Adams Ray GR21
16/ Simon Hunter Mygale
17/ Ryan Low Ray GT08
18/ Mike Davidson 1984 Reynard Historic
19/ Chris Symon 2001 Van Diemen
20/ Judd Christiansen Stealth
21/ Andy Downs 1974 Lola T342
22/ Bob Corbett 1979 Dulon
23/ Ian Arbuthnott Lola T340
DNF Hayden Bakkerus Mygale SJ11A
DNF Ken Smith 1986 Van Dieman
DNF Martin Lucas Lotus
Race 2 (7 laps)
1/ Alex Crosbie Ray GR21
2/ Leo Scott Spectrum 010
3/ Kyan Davie Spectrum 015
4/ Blake Dowdall 2019 Spectrum
5/ Mason Potter Van Diemen Stealth
6/ Liam Sceats Van Diemen Stealth
7/ Zac Christensen Ray GR20
8/ Sebastian Manson Spectrum
9/ Simon Hunter Mygale
10/ Dylan Grant Van Diemen RF03
11/ Zach Blincoe Mygale SJ08
12/ Matt Hamilton Van Dieman
13/ Jack Noble-Adams Ray GR21
14/ Caleb Byers Ray
15/ Shane Drake Van Diemen RF92
16/ Chris Symon 2001 Van Diemen
17/ Judd Christiansen Stealth
18/ Ryan Low Ray GT08
19/ Mike Davidson 1984 Reynard Historic
20/ Blake Knowles 2005 Van Dieman RF05
21/ Ken Smith 1986 Van Dieman
22/ Andy Downs 1974 Lola T342
23/ Bob Corbett 1979 Dulon
24/ Ian Arbuthnott Lola T340
DNF Hayden Bakkerus Mygale SJ11A
Race 3 (8 laps)
1/ Zac Christensen Ray GR20
2/ Liam Sceats Van Diemen Stealth
3/ Alex Crosbie Ray GR21
4/ Matt Hamilton Van Dieman
5/ Mason Potter Van Diemen Stealth
6/ Blake Dowdall 2019 Spectrum
7/ Kyan Davie Spectrum 015
8/ Shane Drake Van Diemen RF92
9/ Chris Symon 2001 Van Diemen
10/ Caleb Byers, Ray
11/ Hayden Bakkerus Mygale SJ11A
12/ Ryan Low Ray GT08
13/ Blake Knowles 2005 Van Dieman RF05
14/ Judd Christiansen Stealth
15/ Mike Davidson 1984 Reynard Historic
16/ Ken Smith 1986 Van Dieman
17/ Andy Downs 1974 Lola T342
18/ Bob Corbett 1979 Dulon
19/ Ian Arbuthnott Lola T340
DNF Sebastian Manson Spectrum
DNF Leo Scott Spectrum 010
DNF Dylan Grant Van Diemen RF03
DNF Jack Noble-Adams Ray GR21
Comments