Living up to its name, Pukekohe’s ‘Thunder in the Park’ weekend, and the fourth round of the 2010/11 IRC Series, treated fans to a plethora of close racing and high speed action across ten diverse race classes.
Having gained a reputation in recent seasons as being a highlight of the New Zealand motorsport calendar, the 2010 Thunder in the Park event did little to disappoint, with Sunday in particular set under terrific weather conditions with the sun beating down upon the 200 plus entries scattered throughout the Pukekohe Park pit complex.
The inclusion of former NZV8 and Toyota Racing Series champions Kayne Scott and Earl Bamber into the GT1 class was the focus of many as the pair did battle at the front of the field in their Tranzam machines.
Despite setting blistering lap times (Scott with a 54.5 second lap in the final handicap race) Bamber failed to finish all three races, with Scott also DNFing the opening two, citing car trouble around the high speed, high risk Pukekohe circuit.
This left John Rae, Grant Brennan and GT2 class runner Graeme Barnes to share the three race wins; GT2 drivers Barnes and Jon Telford finishing in the top two positions in the final race after the weekend was initially dominated by Brian Gray and ‘The Metalman’ Clark Proctor.
In the NZGT class, acting as the junior GT1/GT2 series, Kevin Hyde took pole position and both the first and second race wins, with Tim James winning the finale.
The competition in the Bridgestone Porsches was some of the closest seen in years. Series front runners Ian Hayr and Conal Dempsey were joined by former GT3 Cup Challenge regular David Mackrell in his 996 Cup Car, taking the top three qualifying positions between them, covered by only half a second.
They finished as they started in the opening race with Hayr celebrating victory, but it was Mackrell who won races two and three, with Brian McGovern also showing his hand with a fourth, second and fourth on his scorecard.
The racing in the NZ6 series was, as we have come to expect, anyone’s game, with Super 6 class stalwarts Shane Wenzlick and Steve Bennenbrook joined by youngster Shannon Coker for the three race wins.
But it was the spectacular detonation of Brandon Elder’s Falcon that had race fans gasping, as his engine exploded crossing the chequered flag line in the opening race.
Destroying the entire drivetrain in a fireball and locking the diff solid, Elder had the ride of his life as he battled to bring his car to a halt, rear wheels locked, at close to 200kph. Thankfully he escaped unharmed.
Darren Swinburne was the dominating force in the HQ Holden class, taking pole position and three race wins. Initially challenged by Harrison Lingard, Swinburne’s job was made a lot easier with Lingard’s race two DNF, though he was pressured throughout by female driver Darrel Harris, who finished in second overall for the weekend.
In the Pre 65 racing, Bill McKinnon took pole in his Chevy Nova, turning that into a race one win. Robbo Robinson took the chequered in race two, while Mark Bowskill took his first race win of the season in the final by a convincing margin from Robinson.
The Formula First racing was as close as ever, though after qualifying it looked as though it could be a one man show with Hamilton schoolboy Kyle George making the most of the slipstream to take pole position from Michael Shepherd by over 1.3 seconds.
George took the race one win from Ryan Hellier, who in turn won the second from Shepherd, and George was resurgent in taking the final race of the weekend to take the round overall by a single point from Hellier.
But how is this for close racing – the winning margins between first and second place in the three Formula First races were 0.087, 0.015 and 0.010 seconds!
The Muscle Car racing was a highlight of the event with the largest field of 28 cars from the Northern and Central Districts doing battle. Colin Meadows took a convincing pole position however Paul Stubber, Steve Malam and John Elliot shared the three race victories.
Pacesetter for the SS2000 racing was Andy Duffin, taking pole and the first and third races, with the consistent front running David Geraghty taking the second race victory from John de Vith; de Vith taking a pair of second placings for the weekend.
In the Super Mini Challenge racing, the Super, Open and Mini 7 classes were out in force with varying levels of speed and vehicle development pitted against one another.
The van Swet brothers, Mark and Rick, finished first and second in the opening race, with class young gun Elliot Heron winning the second and Steven Lovett making up for a DNF in the second race by winning the final from Heron by just 1/10th of a second.
In the Pro 7 racing, James Parker returned for Thunder in the Park after having to withdraw from the Taupo round late in October, and did so with vigour, taking pole position form points leader Dean McMillan.
It was Myles Fothergill who took advantage in the first race, however, with McMillan winning race two and Parker getting his own back in race three and taking the overall round victory with a race win and two second placings.
The IRC Series now takes a well deserved Christmas break, recommencing with the fifth round of the championship on February 5-6 at Manfeild Park.
