17/03/2026
🏁 Double Header Weekend – Clay Cup & CTRA South Island Champs
We had a big weekend of racing with the Clay Cup on Saturday night and the CTRA South Island Champs on Sunday.
Saturday – Clay Cup
A really good field of Lightning Sprints turned up.
Heat 1 – Grid 9 | Finished 11th 😔
This one definitely didn’t go as planned. I was hoping for a strong start to the night but probably over drove it a little and got a bit loose coming out of Turn 4. Luckily I didn’t lose any spots and carried on. After a yellow restart I rode another driver’s wheel and had the car up on two wheels before regaining it and finishing 9th on track. Unfortunately I was called upstairs and sent to the rear of the field for being to loose, so it wasn’t the start to the night I was hoping for.
Heat 2 – Grid 2 | Finished 2nd
After the first heat I knew I had to make the most of the front row start. I got a great jump on Boothy and led the first four laps, but he had some serious pace. Even though I set my fastest lap time around Ruapuna, he just had a little bit more and we came home in P2.
Heat 3 – Grid 10 | Finished 5th
With a few cars having mechanical issues, it was basically a pre final with the top four cars starting in front of me. The car felt great and we managed to come home in 5th.
Final – Grid 6 | Finished 5th
I was really looking forward to this as it was my first 20 lap final. I got a good start and moved into 5th early, sitting right on the back of the front group. Around lap 8 the car started missing coming out of the turns. I hoped it would clear itself but it stayed for the rest of the race, so I nursed it home for 5th.
Overall I was pretty happy with the night.
Congrats to Boothy on the win , he was locked in all night and deserved it, and also to Cooper and Jayden on their placings.
⸻
Sunday – CTRA South Island Champs
After the issues on Saturday night, Quint went straight to the work shop, and with help from Jayden and some new parts he didn’t get home until after 2am, hoping we had solved the problem for Sunday.
Heat 1 – Grid 11 | Finished 9th
The good news was the car was running mint. The bad news was I just didn’t feel comfortable on the track and really only made spots from other people’s mistakes.
Heat 2 – Grid 1 | Finished 7th
This was probably one of my worst drives to date. I really struggled and couldn’t find a line that worked for me, and I ended up shuffled back to 7th.
After a serious debrief and maybe a few swear words plus a lot of drawing on the whiteboard, we came up with a plan on where to run and adjusted the car accordingly.
Feature – Grid 10 | Finished 5th
The silver lining from my average heats was that if I could make some passes, the Hard Charger award (which had been jackpotting for a few meetings) was up for grabs.
I managed to get the car on the drivey dirt, made some good passes, and worked my way up to 5th. I showed my nose to Jayden for 4th but that’s where we finished. Pretty happy to come home 5th and take the Hard Charger award.
Congrats to Cooper on the win, and Boothy and Clay on their placings.
Big Thankyou Quint and Jaden
Next meeting 27th & 28th March at Ruapuna Speedway for the GP and fireworks 👍
📸 Motorsport Files thankyou
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