There is always something special about autumn and so far 2020 has been a cracker. Most of New Zealand has had plenty of sun-filled days throughout April making Level 4 Lockdown more bearable.
There was something special about the first V8 Supercars round on the streets of Hamilton back in 2008. The autumn colours, warm sunny days, a great crowd of spectators and the unique sounds and sights of street racing.
It was the 2007 V8 Supercar Champion Garth Tander who won the inaugural Hamilton 400 street race in front of a sell-out crowd of 172,000 fans over the three days . The Holden driver won all three races on the streets of Hamilton with runner-up and leading Kiwi Steven Richards and fellow Ford driver James Courtney who was third.
Fourth home was 2006 V8 Supercar champion Rick Kelly, who gained the lead in the championship ahead of Tander by 46 points with Lee Holdsworth third, 92 points further back.
Jamie Whincup had a disastrous weekend after crashing in qualifying. He did not start in all three races which dropped him down to fifth place behind fellow Ford driver Mark Winterbottom. Whincup would go on to record a total of 15 race wins for the season, winning the 2008 title ahead of Winterbottom and Tander.
Tander was in complete control on the Sunday, starting from poll and controlling both races in an emphatic campaign, made all the more special when he received the Mark Porter Trophy.
The organisers offered a superb trophy to be held in perpetuity to honour former V8 Supercar driver Mark Porter, who came from Hamilton, and died at Bathurst in 2006.
“They were certainly three very good races,” Tander said. “It’s a new circuit so it’s quite easy to make mistakes so I was just trying to concentrate and look after the car as much as we could.
“All weekend we’d seen cars damaged by the chicanes and kerbs, so we were trying to look after the cars and the tyres in case there were any late safety cars. It was a fantastic result for us and fantastic for Holden, the eighth in a row in New Zealand.”
The weekend threw up some outstanding efforts, none more impressive than young New Zealand driver Fabian Coulthard who had a breakthrough weekend to finish sixth overall – fittingly with his Glenfords Ford carrying the old race number that Mark Porter campaigned.
Eighteen year old Aucklander Shane van Gisbergen continued his remarkable rise in the sport with the young Ford driver, who turns 19 next month, finishing 10th overall in an outstanding weekend.
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