Sam Dashfield of Auckland took the spoils in a dramatic start to Round 2 of the Nexen Tyre NZ Mazda Racing North Island Series at Taupō International Motorsport Park in Taupō today.

Racing as part of the Repco NextGen NZ Championship the Nexen Tyre Mazda’s provided an exciting spectacle with twenty-one cars providing close, hard racing throughout.

Tauranga driver Rex Edwards, the series 2022/2023 champion, had taken out the Racetech Pole Award ahead of Mac Templeton of Prebbleton and they settled into a battle right from the start with Edwards leading away from the green light. Dashfield settled into third ahead of Stiaan Kriel, now domiciled in Australia, but returning for a one-off appearance to shake down a car he sold prior to leaving New Zealand for the new owner while Stuart Lawton of Paraparaumu was next.      

Edwards margin over Templeton was never greater than .8 of a second before the action ramped up approaching half distance when Lawton who had just passed Kriel had his car grind to a halt. The defining moment of the race came a lap later as Templeton passed Edwards for the lead at turn eleven in a very tight move down the inside. It was now Edwards turn to pressure the youngster but as he did so he ran wide at the first corner on lap 8 letting Dashfield take second place.

Templeton went on to cross the line 1.915 seconds ahead of Dashfield but a five second penalty for exceeding track limits as he passed Edwards saw him drop to third handing the win to Dashfield. Edwards was second ahead of Templeton. Kriel was fourth with Jesse Gould of Raumati Beach fifth.

Aucklander’s Steven Spear and Alex Canty both had brief off course excursions during the race while New Plymouth teen Paige Macey had a spin on lap seven. Lawton’s retirement from the race was costly after he came into the round second in the point standings.

Tomorrow competitors will contest a twelve-lap race in the morning with a grid based on the top ten reversed from today’s race result followed by a ten-lap finale in the afternoon with a grid based on points to that stage of the round.