Cambridge racer Jarred Fletcher mastered the conditions at his home track to clinch the New Zealand Saloon Car Championship. Photo / Supplied
Cambridge racer Jarred Fletcher mastered the conditions at his home track to clinch the New Zealand Saloon Car Championship. Photo / Supplied
Almost exactly 32 years to the day after this father raced to New Zealand title success at the original Baypark, Cambridge racer Jarred Fletcher clinched the 2023 NZ Saloon Car Championship at Baypark Speedway on Saturday night.
Fletcher, 29, is a third-generation racer continuing the success of his father Geoff- a two-time NZ champ - and grandfather John as he has grown up around the family’s racing efforts.
“We work so hard in the shed, dad and I and all the guys, and it pays off,” says Fletcher.
“So, it’s great to finally stop having to chase it. Dad’s got it a couple of times and I’ve always wanted it since I was a kid growing up.”
In a tightly contested 25-lap final, Fletcher led all the way in his Pro-X Corvette but was under pressure from former champ and top qualifier Ethan Cook.
Fletcher dictated the multiple restarts in an incident-packed race and with the track conditions shifting in favour of the more conventional torsion bar designs, Fletcher’s home track knowledge and patient race craft proved the decisive factor.
“This car doesn’t have as much horsepower as some of these other guys are claiming, but it’s got torque down low. So, it was nice slow restarts, then get on it and it would drive away,” says Fletcher.
Heading to the track on Saturday the father and son had talked about how overnight rain since qualifying might impact the track conditions. The surface stayed smooth until late in the evening when some ruts developed.
“Turn two cut up quite bad and it was in a bad spot. When you got into the corner, they would hook your right rear just as it was loaded, and it would flick the front end,” says Fletcher.
Trent Amrein, Jarred Fletcher and George Phillips celebrate their New Zealand Saloon Car Championship podium success.
“Once it stopped bucking out of the ruts you could just square it back up and go.”
The race came down to a five-lap sprint following a multi-car pile-up with Fletcher controlling the restart ahead of Cook, Southland’s George Phillips and Baypark racer Trent Amrein who were locked in a sometimes three-wide battle for the podium.
Phillips slipped past Amrein on the penultimate lap and Cook challenged till the final lap when he ran wide and lost five spots. Amrein seized his podium chance to finish ahead of Christchurch racer Ashton Osborne.
After enjoying the smooth track and posting four heat race wins, Phillips said he was surprised at how the ruts developed later in the night.
“There were definitely more ruts than in my last heat race when there were none. As the race went on, they got bigger and bigger, and it was very hard to hang onto the car,” says Phillips, who repeats as the national title runner-up.
Southland’s George Phillips (2NZ) battling with Tauranga’s Trent Amrein for the podium honours. Photo / Supplied
“Baypark is a great track to race on. It’s fast and there are two lanes but unfortunately, I don’t think there were two lanes for the feature. But I’d happily come back here in the future.”
Defending champion Chris Cowling dominated on Friday night winning three heats. After a second place in his penultimate heat, his car wouldn’t shift out of reverse when he returned to the pits.
Cowling missed his fifth heat while a spare gearbox was fitted. Starting ninth, he climbed as high as fourth but was involved in a late-race collision and finished seventh.
International golf caddy Steve Williams signed off on his long speedway career by finishing eighth at the track where he had won both Saloon and Super Saloon national titles.
