Penn and veteran Tony "Shiny" Palmer were the only Hawke's Bay qualifiers for Saturday night's top 30 championship races. While mechanical issues prevented Palmer from coming out for the final race, Penn, 43, still managed to finish second from grid 27.
"There were a few of the others after me but I managed to hide and run pretty well," Penn recalled.
In his first championship race he finished fifth from grid 17 and in heat two, second from grid two. Whanganui's Dion Mooney and Palmerston North's 2015 2NZ Jayden Ward was third.
"When I look back I had six good races during the weekend and didn't have to do a thing to my car," Penn said.
The new supremo is a son of 2005 national superstock champion Bryce Penn and a brother of 2013 and '14 national superstock champion Shane Penn. They had other commitments and were unable to travel to Huntly to support the family's latest national champion.
The only family member who travelled north with him was 10-year-old daughter Asha, who handled the media calls while Penn drove home from his cousin's place in Waiuku last night.
"Asha and my cousin were my pit crew. We got back to Waiuku from the track at 8am today. Looking at the crowd at home here it's looks like we could be in for another late night ... I might not make it to work tomorrow," Penn said.
With the 1NZ stickers on his car Penn knows he will be a marked man for the remainder of the season. However drivers from outside of the Bay may not get a crack at him until the East Coast Championship at Meeanee at Easter.
Although he has raced for the Meeanee Maulers in the past, Penn has opted out of teams racing this season. In the wake of the weekend's success it won't be a surprise if he gets a late call-up from the Maulers for the February 12 and 13 Peter Barry Memorial Teams event, which is the next meeting at Meeanee.
A national champ on a high and with a positive attitude like Penn took away will be hard to ignore. He made an impressive debut for the Maulers in their Peter Barry title win in 2014 in early races before being forced out of the final with rib injuries.
Penn is the first Hawke's Bay driver to win the 1NZ title in the 16-year history of the class and only the second Bay driver to podium. Regan O'Brien was the first when he finished third in 2011.
It will be interesting to see if Penn's nephew and one of the Bay's top ministock drivers, Regan Penn, feeds off his uncle's success when he tackles the prestigious Ministocks in Paradise meeting in Rotorua on the same weekend of the Peter Barry event. Regan was second last year and his form this summer suggest his chances of going one place better are high.
