Reece Hendl-Cox’s five-race winning streak has come to an end in the 2018/19 Hi-Q Components NZ Formula First Championship. Billy Frazer crafted a race win in a thrilling race which saw a four-wide drag to the flag.
Championship leader Reece Hendl-Cox fell agonisingly short of victory, finishing just 0.085s behind Frazer while Liam Foster took the final spot on the podium, just 0.015s behind Hendl-Cox. The battle for the lead saw some incredibly close and dynamic racing. Four-wide entries into corners become standard while multi-car tows had drivers thinking strategically for the best position in the drag to the flag.
Brody McConkey looked like the favourite to win the race in the early part of the race but he found himself at the back of the lead pack come the drop of the flag and finished fourth ahead of Amy Smith in fifth.
The next battle trio had SpeedSport Scholarship driver Ronan Murphy, Championship hopefull Chris Symon and Sunset leader Ron Carter fighting for sixth position. They crossed the line nose-to-tail finishing in sixth, seventh and eighth respectively.
A first lap incident for Thomas Boniface saw him off the road at the hairpin, while Nathan Sudiono joined him in sympathy. The young guns were then left to fight for the final two spots in the top ten, with Boniface trumping Sudiono by 0.071s.
Craig Greenwood and Louis Redshaw finished 11th and 12th after a close battle while Andrew Tierney and Kyan Davie finished 13th and 14th. Liam Nicholson and Rob Baker were the last of the runners after Taylor Hurst retired on the opening lap and Darren Henderson and Flynn Mullany were involved in an incident that ended their races.