Hawke's Bay stockcar driver Cameron Swift was quick to praise his extended support crew after he received the Kuru Cup on Saturday night.
"Not just my regular support crew but a team of about 15 guys who worked on my car while I sat inside with my seatbelts on before the run-off," Swift explained.
Swift, 19, was having his first crack at the cup, one of the heaviest pieces of silverware on the national speedway scene, and was one of 24 starters in the 13th edition of the event. In his third heat his back brake rotor broke on the final corner and another car shoved him across the finish line in third place and this left him tied on points with Meeanee Maulers teammate Regan Penn.
"There weren't just issues with my diff. I had also blew a radiator hose off so the crew did a tremendous job to get everything fixed during the 10 minutes before the run-off. While I hope I'm not ... I will probably a marked man in the East Coast championships next weekend so I'm not going into that with any expectations," Swift said.
In the runoff Penn started on pole and turned right into Swift at the start. Swift got away and Penn waited to block in the strategic tussle but Swift got past him on lap four to secure the title.
"It was awesome to have our four Maulers in the top five ... our manager [Andrew Powell] was pretty happy," Swift added referring to the fact fellow Maulers Brandon Symes and Brett Loveridge finished third and fourth respectively.
Gisborne's national champion, Ethan Cook, won the 10-car East Coast saloon championship with consistent drives which saw him record two firsts and a third. There was carnage in the first heat which ended Hawke's Bay driver Shane Laking's championship.