Breakthrough wins for rising star Mitch Sparrow

Mitch Sparrow won Race Two, was 2nd in Race Three and scored enough points to win the round

While Glen Collinson won Race Three, the weekend accolades belonged to Mitch Sparrow. As the youngest driver in the series at just 19 years old, winning Race Two of the Core V8 Utes was a standout drive for Mitch Sparrow. He then backed that up with a 2^nd in Race Three giving him enough series points to seal the Round Three win. Even more outstanding, he held off the massively-talented Glen Collinson in Race Two. Here’s how Sunday’s racing at NZIGP’s March Madness unfolded.

Race Two Sunday morning was a reverse grid format

In the reverse grid Race Two on Sunday morning, Mitch Sparrow took the lead early on. But current series champion Glen Collinson wasn’t taking it easy, moving up quickly from his 4^th starting position into 2^nd early in the race. Glen threw everything at it, including setting the fastest lap in pursuit of the flying Sparrow. But Mitch kept extending his lead, lap after lap. Come the chequered flag, a jubilant Mitch Sparrow relished that winning feeling, finishing more than 4 seconds ahead of Glen Collinson.

Mitch modestly admitted after the race, “It’s easy when you’ve got a fast race car.”

Behind the lead duo, Brad Kroef stormed through to 4^th after starting a lowly 11^th – a mere 8 thousandths of a second ahead of Blair Gribble-Bowring in 3^rd. Not to be outshone by his son, Greg Kroef finished 5^th ahead of Dan Ludlam. Sadly a mid-race spin sent Paul ‘Smokey’ Fougere into a spin and tumbling down the order to 12^th.

For Race Three, Mitch Sparrow and Brad Kroef started on the front row, with Greg Kroef and Glen Collinson breathing down their necks at 3^rd & 4^th on the grid. Mitch Sparrow held his lead off the line, but Brad Kroef soon overtook Mitch late in the first lap.

Glen Collinson overtook Brad Kroef early in Race Two

It wasn’t long before Brad had concerns of his own. Glen Collinson had found a way past Mitch and by the 3^rd lap Glen overtook Brad. From there Glen proceeded to stretch his lead.

But Mitch Sparrow wasn’t done. Just 1.2 seconds behind Brad mid-race, Mitch saw an opportunity coming into the hairpin on the 7^th lap. Brad Kroef’s Heron / P & I Pascoe Ford developed front brake issues hampering his progress and Mitch Sparrow pounced.

Behind the lead trio, Greg Kroef kept on his game to finish 3^rd, Daniel Ludlam improved on his 6^th start position to finish 4^th. Phill Ross ran a clean composed race to finish 5^th improving on his 8^th place starting moving ahead of a wounded Brad Kroef. So close was the racing that after 10 laps, the field was stretch out be just 20 seconds.

That’s how the weekend finished for the Core V8 Utes, leaving Brad Kroef on top of the series, Daniel Ludlam 2^nd and Greg Kroef 3^rd. Next round is Taupo the final weekend of March.

RACE TWO		UTE	MARGIN
1st	Mitch Sparrow	Holden
2nd	Glen Collinson	Ford	+4.102
3rd	Blair Gribble-Bowring	Ford	+7.508
4th	Brad Kroef	Ford	+7.516
5th	Greg Kroef	Ford	+9.007
6th	Daniel Ludlam	Holden	+15.380
7th	Geoff Spencer	Holden	+17.365
8th	Phill Ross	Holden	+17.936
9th	Tyler Ward	Holden	+18.600
10TH	Stu Monteith	Holden	+20.812
11TH	David Lowe	Ford	+29.412
12TH	Paul Fougere	Holden	+37.539

RACE THREE		UTE	MARGIN
1st	Glen Collinson	Ford
2nd	Mitch Sparrow	Holden	+2.486
3rd	Greg Kroef	Ford	+7.415
4th	Daniel Ludlam	Holden	+7.569
5th	Phill Ross	Holden	+7.725
6th	Brad Kroef	Ford	+11.237
7th	Blair Gribble-Bowing	Ford	+11.596
8th	Geoff Spencer	Holden	+17.259
9th	Tyler Ward	Holden	+17.745
10TH	Paul Fougere	Holden	+18.133
11TH	Stu Monteith	Holden	+19.639
12TH	David Lowe	Ford	+20.494