A high horsepower battle is looming, as the Southern Sprintcar Series brings some of the nation’s top sprintcar drivers to Cromwell this weekend. Saturday will see drivers contest Round Two of the series at Cromwell’s Central Motor Speedway – and local talent is tipped for the podium.

Sporting distinctive wings front and rear, sprintcars are the world’s fastest speedway cars. Spectators can expect to see these cars achieve speeds over 160kph on Saturday. Andy Erskine is one of our local sprintcar drivers, having previously achieved top ten national placings. We asked Andy about this Saturday’s top contenders.

“After Round One in Beachlands Speedway last weekend, we've got some exciting racing ahead. A number of drivers are right on the pace from the get-go.

“Nelson’s Connor Rangi won the A-grid feature, he’ll be out to repeat that success. However, some of our local ‘T’ drivers might upset that plan.

“Jayden Dodge 7T will be fierce competition. He came second last weekend, with Connor only passing him in the very last corner.

“Josh Buchanan 43T is a young Cromwell driver. A real success story, he started in youth ministocks, progressing through to sprintcars. Last season he showed us his true talent, and he’s achieved third place in the A-grid in his first race this season.

“The youngest in the field is 19-year-old Adam Evans 98T, in his first season as a sprintcar driver. He started in the B-grid at Beachlands, won, and has been promoted to the A-grid for Cromwell this Saturday. He’s another success story emerging from our young driver programme, showing what hard work and perserverance can achieve, and he’s one of our future stars.

“One more driver to note: Steve Duff Jr from Christchurch rolled his car at Beachlands, but he’s building a new car to race here at Cromwell on Saturday – that shows his commitment to the sport. He’s an aggressive driver, and when it goes right, there’s no stopping him.

“On Saturday people will see top sprintcar drivers in action, and can encourage our local drivers who rank among the best. It’ll be exciting racing.”

Article added: Wednesday 19 October 2022