The Final round of Formula Open New Zealand (FONZ) was held at the Hampton Downs Motorsport Park at the end of May. With Tom Alexander missing due to other racing commitments, there was still promise of a good fight at the front when Sam MacNeill (Tatuus FT50) who qualified on the outside of the front row with a time of 1:02.968, alongside James Watson who was only .017 sec faster with a 1:02.951. Young Bailey Cruse (Tatuus FT50) qualified third fastest whilst Kenny Smith also FT50 mounted was alongside him in fourth.
Unfortunately, the expected battle between Watson and MacNeill didn’t eventuate as Watson missed the start with a broken front sway bar mount. That left MacNeill to win by a narrow margin of less than a second from Cruse, picking up his first podium with Kenny Smith third just .09 of a second behind. A fast-finishing Gary Rush (Swift DB4) took out fourth .001 of a second behind Smith.
The second of the day’s three races saw MacNeill on pole with Cruse alongside him and Smith in third with Fergus Crabb starting out of fourth. Watson had to start from tenth due to not setting a time in race one. From the get-go it was all action with MacNeill defending from both a very determined Cruse and Smith.
However, the real action was going on with a fired-up Watson carving through the battling pack to not only win outright but also lower the FONZ lap record to 1:01.021 in the process. MacNeill finished second with Smith in third again having displaced Cruse who eventually slipped to fourth behind Crabb.
Race three was the 10-lap final and they lined up for the rolling start with Watson on pole from MacNeill and Cruse in third then came Crabb in fourth with Smith fifth and Rush in sixth. At the start Watson used the superior horsepower of the Swift DB4 ‘s Toyota 4AGE to pull away from MacNeill. Rush doing the same to get past Smith.
Also gaining at the start was Crabb getting the jump on Cruse. The ensuing battle between these two young guns, both in their first FONZ season, was intense and enthralling with Cruse managing to slip past at turn two with three laps to go. It wasn’t over though, as Crabb hounded Cruse all the way to the finish to end up on Cruse’s gearbox across the line.
So that ended the season that was somewhat shortened by COVID lockdowns and restrictions. There was a great prize giving at the end of the meeting with James Watson winning Group One overall to take out the Graeme Lawrence Cup and Ethan Sillay winning Group Two and receiving the Jim Palmer Cup.
Both Graeme and Jim attended to present the cups. The big award for the Formula Open New Zealand series over all is the Howden Ganley Cup and that was presented to James Watson by Howden’s good friend Motorsport Historian and Journalist Michael Clarke.
Rounding the evening off was the appointment of Kenny Smith as series Patron. Not only has Kenny contributed to the careers of many young drivers, but has contributed a huge amount to FONZ in finding drivers wanting to get involved and sourcing and supplying cars.
We look forward to the 2022/23 season with a big increase in field sizes which will include eight Ex TRS Tatuus FT50’s, seven Tatuus FT40’s five Swift DB4 Formula Atlantics and at one Reynard Formula Atlantics. That means a field of twenty one cars will face the starter next season at seven meetings at all tracks between Pukekohe and Ruapuna.
If you want get involved contact John Tomlin on 021 759820 or johntomlin@xtra.co.nz
Final Season Points
Car # Competitor Vehicle Points
31 James Watson Swift DB4 F / Atlantic 205
22 Tom Alexander Tatuus FT50 F / TRS 154
19 Sam MacNeill Tatuus FT50 F / TRS 128
99 Fergus Crabb Tatuus FT50 F / TRS 124
27 Gary Rush Swift DB4 F / Atlantic 116
33 Leo Francis Tatuus FT40 F / TRS 90
49 Josh Donohue Tatuus FT50 F / TRS 87
94 Grant Rivers Swift DB4 F / Atlantic 80
88 Bailey Cruse Tatuus FT50 F / TRS 71
3 Geoff Harriman Tatuus FT50 F / TRS 61
47 Paul Couper Tatuus FT40 F / TRS 50
11 Kenny Smith Swift DB4 F / Atlantic 34
5 Ethan Sillay Swift SE3 F/ Ford 2000 33
98 Richard Crabb Tatuus FT50 F / TRS 26
9 David Mitchell Mygale M12-SJ F/ Ford 2000 3
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