White all the way at Teretonga

Chris White increased his series lead in the Bridgestone GR86 Championship lead with a lights-to-flag victory in the first race of the third round at Teretonga Park today.

On a wet track, it was far from plain sailing for White as he came under massive pressure late in the shortened race from pole sitter Ajay Giddy.

Reduced to ten laps, White was well aware that had it gone the full 15, Giddy would have been even closer, but Chris had done the hard work in the early stages and was delighted to take the win.

“It was definitely difficult out there,” said White afterwards. “The car was set up well and after a great start I got a really good lead, I didn’t want to make any mistakes with Ajay that fast behind so that was really the focus of the race.”

Giddy was happy enough with second – disappointed with his start but happy with his race pace – while Zach Blincoe satisfied with third after struggling a little for race pace but still managing to hold off a very fast and fired up Hugo Allan for the final place on the podium.

Rain from qualifying had continued – much lighter – but the track remained wet for the start of the first race of the weekend and as the lights went out, it was White who took the lead while pole position holder Ajay Giddy was quickly under attack from Zach Blincoe and Mac Templeton. The drivers were able to hold station despite a bit of rubbing through the first turn.

At the end of the first lap White led, from Blincoe, Giddy, Templeton, reigning champion Hugo Allan, Justin Allen, Cooper Barnes and then a fast starting Simon Hunter, Josh Bethune and Cameron Hill.

White was simply driving away at the front, moving away from those behind at the rate of a second a lap. Giddy wanted a piece of the action and was putting immense pressure on Blincoe, managing to get up the inside of Zach at the end of lap three on the final corner.

Blincoe wasn’t done, however, and latched onto the rear bumper of Ajay as the two fought on. Behind them Hugo Allan went around the outside of Templeton on turn 1 with a great move, with Justin Allen looking for a way by the Neale Motorsport youngster as well. His team mate White was absolutely flying up front, and by the halfway mark had maximised the benefit of the clear track and clear vision ahead to charge out to a lead of more than three seconds.

Cooper Barnes was leading the charge for the Right Karts by M2 Competition team, racing hard and joining the battle for the podium places but facing a real challenge in getting past Allen. His charge came to nothing on lap seven however when he lost it through the circuit’s infield and dropped to the back of the field.

As Giddy picked up his pace in the second half of the race, Blincoe fell back into the clutches of Allan – the champion eyeing up a top three finish too.

Given Ajay’s incredible pace as the race wore on, it was good news for White when officials decided to shorten the ‘time certain’ race to ten laps rather than 15 and White was able to hold on to win by just a couple of seconds ahead of a charging Giddy. That would allow the Christchurch racer to extend his championship lead.

Behind Allan it was Justin Allen taking one of his best results so far this season, ahead of Mac Templeton who also had a very strong race for sixth. Simon Hunter led home his team mate Josh Bethune as the Right Karts duo came home seventh and eighth, while top Rookie Lee Zeltwanger finished ninth. Cameron Hill rounded out the top ten while a little further back Lucas McGill continued his learning season with a personal best result of 11th.