Kitching takes early lead in Mazda Racing National Series

Will Kitching of Timaru is the early leader in the Nexen Tyre NZ Mazda Racing New Zealand Series after the first round at Teretonga Park in Invercargill at the weekend. Kitching drove to third place in Saturday’s first race after recovering from an off-track excursion and then won both Sunday races to leave Teretonga with the trifecta of the round win, the National Series lead, and a healthy lead in the South Island Series of which this was Round 3. Mac Templeton of Prebbleton in Canterbury was second overall for the round while Stuart Lawton of Paraparaumu was third.

The weekend began with Templeton leading all the way from pole position in the first race on Saturday to win by 2.611 seconds from Rex Edwards of Tauranga and Kitching.

Race 2 on Sunday morning featured a grid with the top ten from Saturday’s race in reverse order. Bryan Walker of Christchurch got the best start from pole but it was Callum Pratt of Auckland who took the lead out of the loop on the first lap while Matt Dodd of Christchurch ran wide and lost a few places. Pratt led at the end of lap one from Mac Berkett of Nelson, Kitching, Lawton, Templeton, Edwards and Jesse Gould of Raumati Beach.

The race was turned on its head soon after when Edwards made contact with James Black of Dunedin at the elbow and the resulting deflection saw Walker spun around. Walker rejoined while Black retired to the pits and Edwards parked with damage. That brought a lengthy safety car period and when racing resumed Kitching pounced and took the lead. Pratt pressured him all the way to the flag while Lawton held off Templeton for third with Gould, Berkett and Andrew French next.

Kitching said, “it was good fun. I avoided the carnage and tried to minimise the mistakes. Callum applied a lot of pressure after I took the lead.” Pratt said it was a “very good race. I got a good start, then the safety car took up five laps. Will got a good jump at the restart.”

The final race on Sunday afternoon saw Kitching on pole and Templeton alongside. Kitching won the start and led all the way from Templeton who was never far away and only .549 of a second behind at the end of ten laps. Lawton was quickly into third and held it until the end.

Edwards and Black were down the grid after their DNF’s earlier in the day but Edwards drove a remarkable first lap from thirteenth on the grid to be sixth by the time the field was a third of the way around the first lap, However, as he tried to pass Gould on lap 5 he slid wide and dropped several places, eventually finishing eighth.

Kitching said, “I tried to get a good start and not muck it up,” while Templeton was happy with the points. “It is a long series.”

The series raced at Teretonga Park, Invercargill, this weekend as part of the Ascot Park Hotel Teretonga International, Round 5 of the Repco NextGen NZ Championship.

Next weekend the series moves to Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell for Round 2 of the New Zealand Series and the final round of the South Island Series.

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