Liam Sceats showed his Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship experience benefited him hugely at Hampton Downs for the Historic Racing Clubs Legends of Speed meeting 18-19 March. This was the penultimate round for the Promains Formula Open NZ Series.
With three pole positions, three race wins and the class lap record to boot, Sceats claimed maximum points and has launched himself into a challenging position for the Graeme Lawrence Cup in the Black Fox Electrical Class. It also gives him mathematical outside chance of taking the Promains Formula Open Series title outright and the Howden Ganley Cup to boot.
Other motorsport commitments kept Tom Alexander away from the round and series hot-shot James Watson, had over committed himself by spending every night of the previous week preparing a McLaren M18 Formula 5000 to race at Hampton as well as racing his Swift DB 4 Formula Atlantic. This mammoth effort saw James severely fatigued and nearly two-seconds a lap of his normal pace. This of course robbed us of seeing he and Liam Sceats going head-to-head.
The latest addition to the series was young Hayden Bakkerus in a Tatuus FT40 entering the Fitness Portal supported Jim Palmer Cup class, having only driven the car for a few laps for the first time in the Friday test session. This young-gun will be a force to be reckoned with in this class, he was setting times identical to class leader Zac Christensen in a car he had never driven before.
Unfortunately, a broken gear lever in race one and a broken axle in race three denied him the success he was looking for. However, the highlight of his racing was the intense battle he had in race one with Kenny Smith who claimed he thoroughly enjoyed the battle with Hayden.
Of the others, Sam Mac Neill started the first race third on the grid behind Sceats and Kaden Probst and finished race one in the same position with Zac Christiansen a well-deserved and hard fought fourth place. These four were followed home by Kenny Smith, James Watson, Gary Rush, Leo Francis, Geoff Harriman and Fraser Windleburn, DNF’s for Fergus Crabb and Hayden Bakkerus.
Race two once again saw Liam Sceats lead off and chased hard by Kaden Probst who hung on to finish just 2.3 seconds behind with a further 5.6 back to Watson with Sam Mac Neill challenging him for the position on the line. By this stage we had lost Garry Rush with another engine failure in the Swift DB4 with Zac Christensen the first of the Jim Palmer cup cars holding out Kenny Smith, Fergus Crabb who started last in front of Hayden Bakkerus with Francis, Harriman and Windleburn following.
Race three, the feature race, was ten laps and once again young Sceats made it his own and setting the new class lap record of 60.9 seconds in the process. This time however Sam Mac Neill got the best of Kaden Probst to finish second with James Watson in fourth and seriously suffering from fatigue.
Zac Christensen finished in fifth and thereby almost securing the Jim Palmer Black Fox Electrical cup. The only way he can lose it is if he does not show up at the final round. Fergus Crabb rounded out the top six.
Next is the final round at Taupo International Motorsport Park, 15 April, for the Promains Formula Open NZ Series and hopefully it will see the return of Tom Alexander with the Black Bull Markets Tatuus FT50. Liam Sceats will need to bring his absolute A game to this one as the twisting nature of the Taupo track suits the ground effect Formula Atlantics and puts the ex TRS cars at a disadvantage.
In particular James Watson in the black Swift DB4 goes in as hot favourite. On FONZ’s last visit to the track in January for the Historic GP meeting, Watson wiped the floor with the entire field being just over two seconds a lap faster than Kaleb Ngatoa also Swift DB4 mounted albeit running with fuel starvation problems, but even with these problems he was two seconds a lap faster than the first of the ex TRS Tatuus FT50’s.
Up for grabs is the Black Fox Electrical Graeme Lawrence cup with Sam Mac Neill, James Watson or Liam Sceats in with a chance of winning it.
The Fitness Portal Jim Palmer cup is virtually in the possession of Zac Christensen and only a no show will stop him winning it. Of course the big one is the Howden Ganley cup for the Promains Formula Open New Zealand title. Christensen has a slender lead over James Watson with Liam Sceats a mathematical chance to win it. Everyone has to drop their lowest scoring round so it is all to play for at Taupo. FONZ has had three different winners over the last three seasons, who will it be this time?
It will certainly be a meeting worth attending if you want to see really exciting Wings and Slicks single seater racing and with young Bakkerus likely to be joined by Toyota Gazoo driver Harry Mac Donald the fight for the Jim Palmer Cup class will be epic with Zac Christiansen trying to keep his winning record intact. If Liam Sceats can get the Tatuus FT50 close to James Watson in the Swift DB4 it could be an epic battle and will have the fans on their feet.
Qualifying and racing are only on Saturday the 15 April 2023.
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