Taranaki Modified competitor John Jackson left the other competitors in his dust when he won the Fern Lodge New Zealand Grand Prix that was held at Stratford Speedway on Saturday night.
Thirteen competitors fronted to race for the title including New Zealand No 3 Jamie Fox from Auckland. New Zealand No 1 Luke Brown had entered the event but he trashed his car on Friday night in Auckland so was unable to make it.
Running over two heats and then a final, competitors were rewarded for good movement in the heats with the top points scorer starting on the front row for the final.
The first heat was filled with drama after a first lap incident saw several cars retire to the infield before Shaun Bloeman was added to the retiree list a few laps later when he was pushed into the back straight wall.
Jackson made the most of the heat one carnage to finish fifth from a grid 12 start. He then won heat two from grid two, the combined results earning him a front row start in the final from which he never looked back and held a commanding lead for the duration of the 25 lap race.
Auckland driver Jamie Fox was second while Brad Lane came home third after a late race pass on Carl Hinton who had held position three for most of the race after starting alongside Jackson on the front row.
Recently crowned New Zealand Stockcar champion Tyler Walker proved to be too quick for the competition when he won the King of the Mountain Stockcar champs. Walker placed second in the first two races before winning the third to win the title with near maximum points. William Hughes was second after recording first, fourth and sixth placings while Hamish Booker, who was driving Damien Hiestand's car, was third.
The Streetstock class raced for their Best Pairs trophy. After the three races, Matt Blinkhorne and Wayne Barron were the winners ahead of Anthony Washer and Steve Reed while John Young and Darron Jeffery were third.
Supporting classes on the night were Minisprints and Adult Ministocks. Minisprint races were won by Lydia Dickinson (2) and Daniel Nickel while Adult Ministock race winners were Zane Riddick, Malissa Alexander and Bradley Korff.
The next meeting at Stratford Speedway is this coming Saturday with the feature events being the Demolition Derby teams champs along with the Taranaki Champs and Ginge Hayward Memorial for the Modified class.