It was a strong round of hometown racing for the Sprague brothers as both extended leads at the top of their respective series.
Competing at Levels Raceway in Timaru, Corban and Alex Sprague both picked up where they left off last year.
Racing in the Mazda Pro8 New Zealand Championship, Corban initially found himself in the unfamiliar position of qualifying P2.
Not letting the small setback faze him he was quick off the line and picked up a win in the round’s first race.
After a marble draw, Corban started race two in P7 but fought hard to finish the race P4.
He then picked up his second win of the weekend in race three and held P1 in race four to wrap up another successful round of racing.
Corban said he was pleased with his efforts.
‘‘I wasn’t super happy with a second in qualifying as it had been a strong point for me this season but I think it was good to get a bit of fire in me which I used to push me forward in the races.
‘‘The pace was super strong in the races, I’m pretty happy to get three wins and break the lap record I set last year three times. I couldn’t have asked for much more in what is such a big home meeting for myself.
‘‘It’s always great to race on home soil, definitely helps having a home crowd and racing your home track.’’
Heading into the final round at the Euromarque Motorsport Park in Christchurch, Corban leads the championship by 228 points but is not taking anything for granted.
‘‘It’s a big lead but that doesn’t mean much in this sport. Anything can happen at any time. We found that out last season, breaking the axle first race.
‘‘So I’m not getting too far ahead of myself, just going to treat it race by race, do the best job I can and hopefully end up on top.’’
The final round of the Mazda Pro8 New Zealand Championship takes place on March 7-8.
Racing in the 2K Cup South Island Championship, Alex Sprague opened his weekend at Levels with a P1 in qualifying which he then converted in a win in race one.
A marble draw had the 16-year-old start race two in P13 but a strong drive saw him make up 10 places to cross the line in P3.
His most impressive result of the weekend came in race three where the young driver started P14 on the grid.
Through a combination of smart decisions and overtakes, he blitzed his way through the pack to claim his second race win of the round and secure the overall round win by a sole point.
Alex said it was an awesome weekend of racing.
‘‘It was a really good weekend, we had really good pace, managed to score some valuable points and have some good race results.
‘‘It’s always nice racing at your home track, it’s definitely a bit of an advantage to have already done quite a few laps around here [Levels].’’
Like Corban he will next head up to Christchurch for the penultimate round of the 2K Cup South Island before heading back to Levels for the sixth and final round at the end of March.
He said while he was confident of his championship chances he was not looking to get complacent.
‘‘We’ll see what happens, I don’t want to be too confident, anything can go wrong at any point. I’ve just got to try and reset each round, refocus and do the best job that I can.’’
Both brothers wished to thank all their sponsors and supporters.
