SHEPHERD CONTINUES CLINIC @ RD6

After a complete wash out of the previous round at Pukekohe park raceway, the Weldwell NZ Formula First championship headed to Manfeild Park for round six. Unfortunately, the wet weather didn’t let up during the Friday testing and early Saturday qualifying – mixing up the starting grid for race 1.

The opening race of the weekend was run in devastating heat, which saw the defending series champion Michael Shepherd practically drive off into the sunset, as the driver second in points, Ryan Hellier valiantly fought to maintain the gap in second place.

While in third overall, Kyle George dropped back from the leading duo, as the heat got the number 9 Spectrum Architectural metals machine, forcing George to hold on to the place for the remainder of the event.

But it was only just held onto by George, as the lightning blue machine of David Ruthven and the bright yellow car of Michael Scott were on his tail over the final laps. In the end, only 0.6 covered the three going across the line.

The second race of the weekend, held Sunday morning, was almost a mirror image of the first, as the number 1 Go Rentals/Inov8 Challenge pulled away from the chasing Hellier and George to take the victory. This time around, Hellier didn’t have his own way for the second place spot, as George fought all the way to the end, only to miss out by a mere two hundredths of a second.

The Auckland based Arizonian; David Ruthven would continue his strong form in fourth place, with Matt Higham taking the fifth spot - after electrical issues forced the 53 of Michael Scott to pull off the circuit. Australian Daniel Plummer would take the sixth spot, claiming the achievement of best sabre runner for the race.

The final race of the day saw Shepherd run away and hide from the rest of the field to take a comfortable victory on his 250th start, with Kyle George in second place and Hellier dropping back to battle with the Bush road Panel beaters machine of Matt Higham.

Hellier would hold out Higham for the final podium spot, while Higham took out the fastest lap of the race trying to chase him down.

Fifth went to the consistent Ruthven, while Waiuku’s Cory Holmes would have an impressive showing in sixth overall.

With six rounds gone, only two remain as the championship returns to HamptonDowns. With the championship all-but sealed, will the defending champ continue the domination on the way to gaining Greatest of All Time status?

Find out by watching the action live @ Hampton Downs on the 5th/6th of March.