Tauranga racing driver Richie Stanaway already has a 2011 title under his belt.
Racing at the seventh round of the German Formula 3 Championship at Lausitz EuroSpeedway last weekend, a second placing in Saturday's race and a win on Sunday means Stanaway now has an unassailable lead in the German F3 Rookie Championship standings.
He also extended his lead in the outright championship to 29 points with four races remaining.
Stanaway was on pole position for the first race at Lausitz by a commanding 0.484s margin from closest championship rival Marco Sorensen of Denmark.
Stanaway was beaten away from the start by the Dane and in spite of applying pressure throughout the race he finished a close second but added the bonus point for fastest lap to the one he earned for pole position. On Sunday Stanaway scored another pole position and raced away to win by 4.1secs and again took the bonus point for fastest lap.
Overall for the weekend Stanaway extended his championship lead by four points over Sorensen. There are now two rounds (four races) remaining at Assen in the Netherlands on September 17-18 and Hockenheim on October 1-2.
This weekend Stanaway is racing at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza having his second GP3 Series outing for the Lotus ART squad.
GP debut for CooperNew Zealand motocross champion Cody Cooper (Papamoa) narrowly missed out on scoring an MX1 World Championship point on his Grand Prix debut in Germany last weekend.
Cooper, riding in place of the injured Clement Desalle (Belgium) for the factory Suzuki team, was 26th in the opening moto at the GP of Europe raced at Gaildorf and was just one place outside the points in 21st place in the second moto.
"It was an awesome experience in terms of being with the team and riding the bike but I guess I'm not that fit," said Cooper. "It was good to come over and race. I wasn't sure about it in the beginning because I'd been on holiday since the end of the Aussie nationals. I didn't want to let the team down and just tried to have fun. I felt a bit better in the second moto as I had crashed in the first. It was real hard-pack here and these guys are fast for sure."
Cooper gets his second Grand Prix chance this weekend at the season-ending Italian Grand Prix at Fermo.
A third and then second placing at Gaildorf wrapped up back-to-back MX1 world titles for Italian KTM rider Antonio Cairoli.
Impressive title haulBay of Plenty Trials Group riders have won five out six titles in the North Island Moto Trials Champs which wrapped up in Hawke's Bay recently.
Tauranga's Phillip Shilton won the A-grade contest beating Carl Robson (Lower Hutt) and James Wade (Wellington) to win the title and having some close late season battles with John Haynes who joined the series at mid-season.
It was Shilton's second North Island A-grade title following a 2008 success and follows an earlier success in the junior class. Shilton, 25, is now planning a step up to the Expert grade in 2012. "That's a huge step up in the size of obstacles and the precision you need," said Shilton. "It means you have to be riding every week and I've got a new bike coming as well."
Along with Shilton's success Waihi rider Gary Samson won the Intermediate grade and Tauranga's Warwick Merriman won the Presidents grade.
Gabrielle Gundry took out the Clubman's title - the first time it's been won by a female rider - and her younger brother Jacob Gundry edged out Te Puke's Ben McLeod for the Junior title. The junior class was the closest of the series with Gundry only six points clear of McLeod after 10 events.
Shilton says the success of the BOP riders is a result of club training seminars and riding together on a regular basis.
"You've got three generations of the Gundry family who are out riding as much as they can and this year I've helped Gary [Samson] with a bit of coaching and he's improved a huge amount."
The only category not won by a BOP Trials Group rider was the Experts division won by Taranaki's Matt Foster.
Riders are now preparing for the New Zealand Championship over three days at Labour weekend. The Hamilton Motorcycle Club has three venues for the nationals at Wharepapa South, Roto-o-rangi and Pirongia over the October 22-24 weekend.
Leading contendersA fourth seeding for Saturday's Gisborne Rally is the best start position yet for Tauranga rally driver Ben Thomasen.
Thomasen and co-driver Rachel Pittams (Subaru Impreza STI) are among the leading contenders in the six-stage event which uses a selection of challenging former Rally New Zealand stages such as Wharekopae, Pehiri, Whakarau and Rakauroa.
The rally starts at 8am from Gisborne and has two visits to a service park at Matawai before finishing back in Gisborne at 4.45pm after 173km of competitive driving.
The top seed for the event is Havelock North driver Stewart Taylor (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo) who recently finished second at the Hawke's Bay National Championship Rally. Also in a small 33-car entry are Tauranga's Phil Campbell and Venita Fabbro (Ford Fiesta ST) seeded 11th and the Ford Escort crew of Andrew Shrimpton and Trevor Corbin seeded 25th.
Cadet field popularA BOP Kart Club fun day at Fagans Valley Raceway near Te Puke on Sunday saw 37 drivers in action including visitors from the Auckland and Eastern BOP clubs preparing for the annual Citrus Invitation two-day meeting on October 8-9.
Cadets were the biggest field with Adam Bell taking the win over Hunter Cheetham and Blake Evans. Ethan Anderson completed a clean sweep in the Junior Restricted class and Chris Lee headed off Auckland driver Zach Coffey and local Mitch Sanders to win the Junior class. Formula Junior saw Josh Adlam score five wins from five starts and also break the lap record set by Tom Blomqvist back in 2007 while Blake Harris moved up from Junior Restricted and finished second. The fastest senior driver was open class racer Lance Fisher in his DD2 kart while Rotax Lights was won by Sean Spragg and the Yamaha Lights win was claimed by Jason Vessey.
BOP Kart Club Fun Day - results:
Cadets: 1 Adam Bell 4pts; 2 Hunter Cheetham 8pts; 3 Blake Evans 11pts.
Junior Restricted: 1 Ethan Anderson 3pts; 2 Fletcher Hodges 6pts.
Juniors: 1 Chrisden Lee 4pts; 2 Zach Coffey 7pts; 3 Mitchell Sanders 12pts.
Formula Junior: 1 Josh Adlam 4pts; 2 Blake Harris 8pts; 3 James Witters 12pts.
Yamaha Lights: 1 Jason Vessey 4pts; 2 Karl Alsop 8pts; 3 Tyler Walsh 12pts.
Rotax Lights: 1 Sean Spragg 4pts; 2 Bailey McIntosh 9pts; 3 Steven Gaskell 10pts.
Rotax Heavys: 1 Rob Bull 4pts.
Open: 1 Lance Fisher 4pts; 2 Zayne Martin 8pts.