Minisprint Grand Prix
Palmerston North would be the location for the final Speedway NZ title of the 2023-2024 season, the NZ Grand Prix. We headed down to take on a 20 car field, all desperate to make the most of their last chance to stamp some authority on the season. We were happy with our prep and headed down confident for a good result.
The format was back to our standard layout with two qualifying heats to decide the feature grid, then it would all be decided over a 25 lap final at the end of the night. We drew a mid grid which would put us in the thick of the action all night.
For the first heat we started outside row 5 and made the most of the track position as we headed into the first corner, moving up to get a big run on the opening lap and making ground up to the top five. We continued to move around through the race and picked them off inside and outside before finally getting to second place right on the finish line. It was a great start to the night with the car handling excellently.
Race two put us on the inside groove which always makes it more difficult to produce those opening lap heroics and that would prove to be the case this time also. We ended up getting shuffled in the wrong lane a couple of times and fell back a few spots before we could get a little more strung out and make some passes. The car was fast and we had a good run working up to about seventh spot before a caution closed things up again. We were able to make another couple after the restart to wind up fifth before a DQ ahead of us pushed us up to fourth place.
Those two results gave us the top qualifying position and lane choice for the feature start where we picked the outside groove. We were able to control the pace down to the start and after the first start was called back for a jump start on the other lane we were able to lead away for the opening laps. We had plenty of car pace on the slick track and stretched out to a commanding lead before catching lapped traffic. We got through the first few with ease but eventually caught a big group which proved difficult to despatch. Then in the middle of turns 1-2 the two cars leading the pack had a spin and parked across the track. We were very lucky to miss contact with either the spinners or the following pack as they slid around the wreck. This brought out a caution and gave us a little breather at about 2/3 race distance.
When the restart came around we were off to another quick start however this late in the race our tire condition was beginning to wane. We cleared out to the front but the chasing pack stayed close, it was just a case of minimising mistakes and making good lap time until the end while trying to slide as little as possible to manage the tires. Eventually the white flag came out and it was once more around to finish an emphatic victory in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd.
The result was a great way to wind up the business end of the season, making us the grand prix and north island champions. It seems likely we will only have one more race date for the remainder of the summer, being Winged Thunder 12 at Harrisville speedway on Easter Sunday. We hope to have a good result there to cap off a great season.
