Series win belated gift for Bryan

TIGHT QUARTERS: Aaron Lovell and Tracey Bryan (93) have the edge over their closest rivals Adam Unsworth and Stu Dawe (inset far right) during the F1 Sidecar action on the Cemetery Circuit yesterday. Lovell and Bryan (above) went on to win the Suzuki Series F1 Sidecar title in Wanganui yesterday.PHOTOS/LEWIS GARDNER 261214WCLGCEMETERYCIRCUIT14, 261214WCLGCEMETERYCIRCUIT17

Hometown girl Tracey Bryan (nee Stent) had to wait until Boxing Day to receive her best Christmas present ever - the Suzuki Series Formula 1 Sidecar title.

Bryan, who now lives in Tauranga, came to the final round of the series on the Cemetery Circuit in Wanganui with her Hamilton-based rider Aaron Lovell, well clear on points after unbeaten performances in Hampton Downs and Manfeild.

They had 102 points compared with nearest rivals Adam Unsworth and Stu Dawe on 88.

Series victory seemed assured and that occurred, but not without a fight from the two former Wanganui racers.

In the first race, the Lovell/Bryan combination got away to a good start on their LCR outfit, leaving Unsworth and Dawe to chase on their Boss Engineering F1 Windle.

Coming up to the railway overbridge turning into Ridgway St Unsworth cleverly out-braked their rivals to nab the lead.

Lovell and Bryan then had a spinout leaving them further behind. However, they rallied well enough to take second behind the lads from Auckland and still with enough points to ensure the title as long as they finished race two.

Not only did they finish race two, but they won it by leading throughout.

Unsworth and Dawe have held a mortgage on the F1 Sidecar title in recent years, but the superior power of the far later LCR model raced by Lovell and Bryan proved too strong throughout the series.

"This is my first F1 title, but Aaron I think has won titles before. He gave the game away for about 10 years before returning," Bryan said yesterday.

"I think we only needed to finish race two to get the title. That was our aim with this machine since we started racing it in October last year. Now we want the New Zealand No1 on the paintwork.

"After that I'm off to race on the side with Chris Lawrance [Auckland] at the Isle of Man and I'm really looking forward to that. In the meantime, it was great to catch up with the family while I was back in Wanganui and this series win was just the icing," Bryan said.