Zac Barless stopped a hard chagering Cody Pullen-Burry from winning the third round of the Demon Energy D1NZ National Drifting Championship Pro-Sport Series, as he took home victory at Tauranga’s ASB Baypark Stadium.
The top-32 brought a number of surprise knockouts as second place qualifier John O’Gorman bowed out of competition as he led Martyn Davies. The Link ECU backed Nissan Silvia S15 slider couldn’t make the switch into turn two, which saw him spin onto the inside of the circuit.
Another one of the shock dropouts was Mitch Gibbs, who was knocked out by D1NZ rookie Edmand Chan in his Nissan Skyline R34. The crowd cheered as Chan banged the roof of his car
The focus shifted towards the batter between pole sitter Clarke who took on second place points sitter Kyle Jackways in his top-16 battle. Each led strongly in their respective runs, but the judges deemed the chase run to be the deciding factor.
Clarke was deemed to have run the stronger chase between the pair, whilst Jackway couldn’t kept a shallow line by comparison to Clarke’s.
Cody Pullen-Burry began his recovery from a poor qualifying outing with a top-16 victory over Jordy Cole. Pullen-Burry initially qualified 22nd.
Chan and Guy Graham-Bagrie battled hard in their top-16 tussle. Each made mistakes, which in turn saw the pair sent to a one-more-time. Unfortunately Chan continued to make unforced errors, allowing Graham-Bagrie to take the pass into the top-eight.
Bruce Tannock and Tully Puckey’s top-16 battle went to a one-more-time after a fairly balanced duel over their chase and lead runs. Tannock won convincingly as he stretched his legs in his lead run and ran close on the rear of Puckey’s Nissan Skyline R33.
Tannock battled Clarke in the top-eight and appeared to have the advantage over the two runs with a solid chase and an even better lead. However, Tannock spun as he crossed the line, so the judges determined a one-more-time was due.
The pair made unforced errors, initially Clarke was given a deduction for his shallow entry, but he made up for his initial drop in pace by catching up to Tannock. As the run was coming to an end the Achilles Radial drifter hit the final clipping point, which flipped the barrell over. The judges deemed Tannock to have dropped a wheel, which ultimately gave Clarke the win.
The first of the top-four battled began with a tinge of drama. Michael Thorley battled Cody Pullen-Burry and looked strong on his lead. However, Thorley dropped a wheel off through the final corner handing Pullen-Burry the win.
Calvin Clarke’s hot run of form came to an abrupt end when he spun versing Zac Barless. A string of quiet victories for Barless kept him in the game throughout the top-32 battles, having defeated Blair Gribble-Bowring earier. The victory over Clarke handed him his first finals battle against Cody Pullen-Burry.
Pullen-Burry’s hot run of form came to an end in the finals battle against Barless as he made two unforced errors. The Nissan Silvia S15 drifter spun on his lead run against Barless, which handed him the overall win.
The series now moves to the North Waikato’s Hampton Downs Motorsport Park to compete on the newly built club circuit. For more information visit D1NZ.com.
