Fast Paced Driver Faces Racing Blues At Taupo

Personal best times in practice and beating last season's lap record for the qualification sesssion on Saturday morning had Wellington driver Marty Hunt feeling very enthusiastic about the weekend's racing at Taupo Motorsport Park in the New Zealand Mini Challenge.

Hunt had been increasing his experience over the off season in the winter series held at the Manfeild Autocourse and the time in the car had indeed paid dividends with him showing some impressive speed leading up to the first of three races on Saturday afternoon.

"I was really happy with the way things were after Friday practice, I was third quickest and every time I got in the car I was setting new personal bests. My best time was only 0.4 seconds off pole so things were looking good." said Hunt.

Marty Hunt eventually made only sixth on the grid after an error on new rubber but was still looking for a sizzling, fast paced first race of the new season.

All went awry in the opener when coming around the first corner amidst the tightly packed field of minis Hunt was clipped by another driver spinning him onto the grass leaving him way back of the bunch.

Hunt quickly regained composure and went after the feild finding himself tucked in behind another driver, Mark Maddren, who had also been pushed off in the rush through the first two corners on the first lap.

The madness of the season's first NZ Mini Challenge race had found two early victims but this in fact led to an epic battle between Auckland driver Maddren and Wellington's Hunt.

The motorsport fans at Taupo were about to be treated to a match where perhaps the question of which city is New Zealand's real main town was to be answered through an exciting mini duel.

"Getting back on the track I saw that Mark Maddren had also been shunted from the track on turn two and despite only racing for 7 and 8 place we had an awesome tussle. It was neck and neck close racing throughout the race." said Hunt.

The two were exchanging places through to the end with Maddren holding the upper hand in the lead entering the final lap with Hunt thinking fast over how to get his car over the finish line first.

"My thinking was to stay on his tail until the top corner before the long straight then use the slip steam to out drag him into the last corner. Coming into the 90 degree left hander at the end of the straight where speeds were in excess of 200kms we were side by side, I had the inside so duly took the racing line and we went through a corner made for one car side by side... neither of us were going to back out!"

Maddren on the outside was forced to go wide and ended up on the grass leaving Hunt to cross the finish line ahead of him.

On Sunday morning there was more drama with the Mini driver suffering problems with the ABS brakes in race two where the pack were to race under very trying circumstances on a very wet track.

"We were given two sighting laps by the officials to acclimatise to the conditions. On the second of the laps, the car developed a brake fault, as I hit the pedal into turn seven, it was like stamping on a brick! There was no power assistance and very limited braking ability." he said.

The concern over the intermittent fault was put to one side as the MoneyWorks-Typeface Mini Cooper S driver decided he would have to deal with it the best he could as the field were already under race conditions.

Getting away off the line well Hunt moved from sixth to fourth but again approaching turn seven the brakes failed with Hunt just managing to keep the car from overshooting the corner.

Deciding to safeguard himself and the car he drove a conservative race keeping it on the track to finish and return it to the garage in one piece ready to go again in the afternoon.

"The team did all they could to rectify the problem with the brakes but in the end it turned out to be the booster, a part which was unavailable at the track." said Hunt.

For the final race Marty Hunt was on grid three and looking for a last chance at mixing it with the fast drivers who he had been closing in on over the practice sessions on Friday.

It was however a case of bad things come in threes for the driver from Capital City and once more coming out of turn one on the opening lap he found himself being put into a spin although the reason was unclear.

Getting back on the circuit things were obviously not right and after another spin Hunt retired the car for the day and weekend with right rear suspension damage.

"I must admit to feeling more than a little flat, the weekend started so promisingly, and ended with such disappointment. It's a shame because the team worked so hard, we had a good car set some fast times and I couldn't pay back their efforts with a good result." he said.

Marty Hunt will be shaking off his racing blues from Taupo before jumping back into the MoneyWorks-TypeFace Mini Cooper S for round two at Pukekohe Park Raceway on the 7-9th of November 2008 where he plans to be a strong contender on the fast paced track.