A rising star emerges in the V8 Utes racing at Hampton Downs

While Glen Collinson won Race Three, the weekend accolades belonged to Mitch Sparrow. As the youngest driver in the series at just 19 years old, winning Race Two of the Core V8 Utes was a standout drive for Mitch Sparrow. He then backed that up with a 2nd in Race Three giving him enough series points to seal the Round Three win.

Even more outstanding, was holding off the massively-talented Glen Collinson in Race Two. Here’s how Sunday’s racing at NZIGP’s March Madness unfolded.

In the reverse grid Race Two on Sunday morning, Mitch Sparrow took the lead early on. But current series champion Glen Collinson wasn’t taking it easy, moving up quickly from his 4th starting position into 2nd early in the race. Glen threw everything at it, including setting the fastest lap in pursuit of the flying Sparrow. But Mitch kept extending his lead, lap after lap. Come the chequered flag, a jubilant Mitch Sparrow relished that winning feeling, finishing more than 4 seconds ahead of Glen Collinson.

Mitch modestly admitted after the race, “It’s easy when you’ve got a fast race car.”

Behind the lead duo, Brad Kroef stormed through to 4th after starting a lowly 11th – a mere 8 thousandths of a second ahead of Blair Gribble-Bowring in 3rd. Not to be outshone by his son, Greg Kroef finished 5th ahead of Dan Ludlam. Sadly a mid-race spin sent Paul ‘Smokey’ Fougere into a spin and tumbling down the order to 12th.

For Race Three, Mitch Sparrow and Brad Kroef started on the front row, with Greg Kroef and Glen Collinson breathing down their necks at 3rd & 4th on the grid. Mitch Sparrow held his lead off the line, but Brad Kroef soon overtook Mitch late in the first lap.

It wasn’t long before Brad had concerns of his own. Glen Collinson had found a way past Mitch and by the 3rd lap Glen overtook Brad. From there Glen proceeded to stretch his lead.

But Mitch Sparrow wasn’t done. Just 1.2 seconds behind Brad mid-race, Mitch saw an opportunity coming into the hairpin on the 7th lap. Brad Kroef’s Heron / P & I Pascoe Ford developed front brake issues hampering his progress and Mitch Sparrow pounced.

Behind the lead trio, Greg Kroef kept on his game to finish 3rd, Daniel Ludlam improved on his 6th start position to finish 4th. Phill Ross ran a clean composed race to finish 5th improving on his 8th place starting moving ahead of a wounded Brad Kroef. So close was the racing that after 10 laps, the field was stretched out by just 20 seconds. That’s how the weekend finished for the Core V8 Utes, leaving Brad Kroef on top of the series, Daniel Ludlam 2nd and Greg Kroef 3rd. Next round is Taupo the final weekend of March.