‘Agonisingly close’ for Gooch

Brenden Gooch (left) is pictured here earlier in 2018 with son Brodie and cousin Shanan Gooch (right). File picture

Gisborne streetstocker Brenden Gooch, now 2NZ, went agonisingly close to retaining his New Zealand title at the Paradise Valley Raceway in Rotorua on Saturday night. He finished two points behind the winner.

Gooch qualified for the final along with Gisborne speedway clubmates Dave Hampton (88G), Shaun Kingi (75G) and his brother Sean Gooch (9G).

Brenden Gooch was leading the final series until the last corner of the final heat when he got spun and lost a few placings . . . he finished second overall, two points back, his father Neil Gooch said.

“He was so close to going back to back, and while he was a bit disappointed, he realises what a great achievement it was to finish runner-up.”

Neil Gooch said the championships were “pretty fierce”, especially the final heat.

“Only about 10 or 12 cars finished out of 26 in that final series.”

Brenden Gooch said today that he was happy to get a New Zealand number on the car.

“But man, it was so close to being 1NZ again,” he said.

“The track was so rough, and the racing was hectic.”

Gooch went from Position 17 on the starting grid in the first heat to finish seventh, then from fourth on the grid to finish fourth in Heat 2, and from Position 19 to finish eighth in the final heat.

“He was winning that final heat up to the last couple of laps, then dropped back a couple of places, but he would still have kept his title if he hadn’t been spun on the final corner,” Neil Gooch said.

Hampton finished fifth, and Kingi also made the top 10.