Christchurch drivers Ryan Yardley and Jack Milligan have handed CareVets team owner Keith Houston the perfect championship result.
The team-mates dominated the latter part of the championship and at Hampton Downs today. CareVets Scholarship driver Milligan won the rookie title with a race spare and helped Yardley in his unstoppable run to the 2016-2017 Toyota 86 Championship.
A wing-man but never less than a racer, Milligan led the early laps of the final race in a CareVets one-two before being overtaken by another former Cantabrian, Tom Alexander, who went on to win the race. A former TR 86 champion, Alexander was making a one-off ‘cameo’ return to the series.
Yardley had come to the weekend firmly focussed on the championship title and was making sure Albany driver Reid Harker did not get an opportunity to steal the crown.
“Coming into the weekend I was clear: we race for the championship, not for individual race wins. There was too much at stake. When I qualified on the front row for race one there was a little temptation to go out and race for a win, but the title is important to me and to the CareVets team, who have supported Jack and I all the way,” he said.
Harker did everything he could to upset Yardley’s charge, but a 74 point deficit coming to the weekend was in the end simply too much to overcome. Though he won this morning’s partial reverse grid race, and fought through to third place in the final 15 lapper this afternoon, it was not enough. Yardley showed his championship-winning form and racing pedigree with a finely judged run to second behind Alexander to keep Harker at bay.
The championship’s youngest driver was another Cantabrian, Jaden Ransley. Fresh out of karting, he capped two top ten finishes with a fifth in the final race.
The final round of the six round championship was part of the Speedworks summer series finale at Hampton Downs in the north Waikato.
In total, 20 drivers raced in the Toyota 86 Championship for a share of the $100,000 prize purse.
