The battle for the 2009/10 MINI Challenge continued at the twisting Timaru Raceway circuit last weekend, with Ryan Bailey emerging as the overall winner for the weekend.
Varying weather conditions throughout the weekend confused the racers in all classes, with rain making the track treacherous on the patches of circuit that had been recently resealed.
The weekend started disastrously for Team Kiwi Racing teammates Ryan Bailey and Matt Hamilton when they made contact in race one.
“At Timaru the track is wet from pole position, so we dropped behind Ryan and unfortunately we tangled and had a lot of work to do particularly to the back corner suspension to get the car ready for the second race,’’ said Hamilton.
This enabled Bailey to take out the race win from Gavin Yortt and Mark Maddren.
Maddren, who has arguably emerged as the fastest of the non-TKR drivers, took out the second race with Hamilton coming through from the back with his repaired car, his weight penalty meant that he was unable to get close enough to Maddren to make a real challenge for the lead.
In the reverse grid race Hamilton was first to take the chequered flag, ahead of David
Grigor and Wayne Timms. Meanwhile Bailey picked up a drive through penalty for contact with Yortt, but still gained enough points to win the weekend.
The cars are now en route to the North Island for the remaining two rounds at Manfeild and Taupo. Bailey may be the points leader, has a shadow hanging over him, as he needs more sponsorship to complete the Challenge. “There are some things in the pipe line, so I’ll just keep chipping away at it,’’ he said.
