Matt Podjursky has shot up the championship order to second and within striking distance of the points lead following a near perfect performance at Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon. Bramwell King slipped to third after he was unable to convincingly strike back in the opening two races before winning the final race.
A slow get away from Symon in race one, off pole, saw him immediately on the back foot as Podjursky took the lead ahead of Arran Crighton. Callum Crawley’s impressive second-row start was put to waste when he got boxed in behind Symon after the later’s slow getaway.
In a stark contrast to Symon, Liam Foster and Billy Fraser both started their races early and subsequently received ten-second jump start penalties.
At the half way point, the front six cars of Podjursky, Symon, Crighton, Bramwell King, Hendl-Cox, and Crawley split in two with the top three pulling a gap on the remaining three. At the commencement of lap seven, it appeared as though the two groups would merge again to make it a six car fight for the win on the final lap.
The drama kicked off 50 meters from the chequered flag when Dylan Smith and Liam Foster made contact, resulting in Smith’s car getting airborne briefly. Smith was later awarded a post-race exclusion for the incident while another incident between the two after the chequered flag saw Foster excluded as well.
While Podjursky and Symon claimed the top two spots, Hendl-Cox stole a final corner podium from to further extend his rookie championship lead.
Bramwell King set a fast enough lap in the opening race to knock Chris Symon off pole for race two. Callum Crawley improved on his time from qualifying too, putting him alongside King on the front row.
King used his pole to get an early advantage on Crawley, leading him into turn one before Reece Hendl-Cox got underneath Crawley on the exit of turn one. Matt Podjursky soon got in on the action with a manoeuvre that seemed to come from nowhere into splash which put him into second.
The top three pack of King, Podjursky, and Hendl-Cox soon took off again while Crighton, Symon, Ngatoa and Crawley dropped back. As the final laps approached, the two groups merged together again and Podjursky created a small gap to King.
Once the inevitable drafting took place down the back straight on the final lap, Arran Crighton emerged in second just behind Podjursky while a committed pass that was as close as you will ever see by Hendl-Cox forced King wide and off the podium.
Chris Symon finished fifth ahead of Kaleb Ngatoa, Callum Crawley and Travis Day. Dylan Smith narrowly cleared Alex Hawley to claim ninth at this great little race track.
Matt Podjursky got another great start in race three, clearing the front row of Arran Crighton and Chris Symon from grid four to take the lead at turn one. Crighton slotted into second ahead of Bramwell King while Symon dropped to fourth.
The top five soon broke away from the rest with Podjursky and King swapping the lead until the end. Behind them, Kaleb Ngatoa, Travis Day and Callum Crawley had a great fight for sixth. Crawley moved his Sabre Motorsport machine through the pair of them on the last lap to claim sixth.
Podjursky looked set to complete the clean sweep until an on-the-limit move by King put the latter ahead of him coming off the final corner. On the run to the line, Podjursky used the tow to get a run and pull up alongside King, but it was not enough finishing a narrow 0.030s behind King while Reece Hendl-Cox came across the line third.