Allen wins a thriller – Townshend bags first podium

Feilding’s Justin Allen won an absolutely thrilling first race at Hampton Downs at the second round of the Bridgestone GR86 Championship today.

Allen started third but produced a fantastic start to leapfrog into second and begin several laps of relentless pressure on leader, and rookie, Zach Blincoe.

Throughout the early laps Blincoe did exceptionally well to hold both Allen and Josh Bethune off, but it all came unstuck for the rookie when he slowed dramatically on the sixth lap after dicing with Allen for the lead. After that it was head down to the end for the Toyota racing veteran, and he raced home just ahead of Josh Bethune and Harry Townshend, the latter taking his first podium in the championship in his third season.

With the field so closely matched, Allen was delighted to win and put the first victory on the board for new Syndicate Motorsport team.

“I’m absolutely delighted to win that one,” he said afterwards. “I did manage to get a great start and that set me up but Zach did really well in those early laps and it was a hard fight.

“It’s tough at the moment while we are all learning the new car for anyone to be consistent and we have seen that in every session, but when it’s up in the air like that I’m delighted to be the guy to win. We got our car right today for sure.”

Second was sweet redemption for Bethune after the frustrations of Taupo. Fast at the first round, he was one of the few pacesetters from Taupo to maintain his form. A great pass on Townshend early on pushed him up into the podium spot but he pressed on and kept Allen honest throughout the final few laps. Second was a great result for the team – another new one – Right Karts By M2 Competition.

Townshend too, could be well satisfied with a very polished performance that saw him a contender throughout. When Allen and Blincoe were dicing for the lead, he pulled the rest of the field behind up onto their tail. He never looked remotely like he would concede his hard-earned place in the final frantic few laps and his first podium brought a smile to him and his regular army of family and friends.

Behind the top three Chris White drove a fantastic race to go from 12th on the grid to an eventual fourth place, demonstrating plenty of race craft to avoid any mid-pack rough and tumble and maintain excellent pace until the end.

Behind him Blincoe recovered to fifth, while championship leader Hugo Allan pulled something of a rabbit out of a hat to make his way through the field from 14th on the grid to a very impressive sixth to maintain a slender championship lead.

Pole position sitter Arthur Broughan will definitely want to forget the race, however, as he went backwards in the first lap after a slow start. He eventually fell to tenth in the first couple of laps, although he did pick up his pace and make his way back up to seventh.

Cameron Hill, Taupo race winner Emerson Vincent and Australian series debutant Lachlan Evennett rounded out the top ten. Just 20 seconds covered the entire field after eight laps of hard racing, an indication of just how competitive TOYOTA GAZOO Racing NZ’s new championship is proving to be.