Two from two for Bailey as he wins Ruapuna round

Palmerston North's Ryan Bailey leads the national MINI Challenge racing series, claiming his second round win in as many starts at Ruapuna Park over the weekend.

Things didn't go quite as well for the now Auckland-based 21-year-old in the cold and changeable conditions in the second round as they did in the first at Pukekohe a month ago.

However, second-place finishes behind Team Kiwi Racing team-mate Matthew Hamilton in the first two races, then a fifth in the incident-packed final proved enough to take a second-round win.

"I was gifted it this weekend, absolutely gifted it. Matt [Hamilton] was really on to it, and heading into that last race all I was looking for was enough points to be second for the round," Bailey said.

All that changed on the warm-up lap, however, when Hamilton's engine began missing and went into "limp-home" mode. With starter's orders already given, the multi-time New Zealand kart star and former Toyota Racing Series race winner could only sit and watch as Bailey and co took up their positions on the grid.

But that was just the beginning of the drama.

Having started off the back of the MINI grid courtesy the race's reverse grid format, Bailey got only as far as the second corner when his brakes started playing up.

Despite that, he soldiered on at a much-reduced pace, a distant fifth place finish producing just enough points – the final margin was 183 to 178 – to secure victory from Maddren and Hawke's Bay's Gavin Yortt.

In doing so he extended his series lead, boosting it from 17 points after the first round to 22 heading to the third round at Invercargill's Teretonga Park in mid-January.

The other Palmerston North driver competing at the Big Ben Pies 200 event, 13-year-old Bramwell King, qualified 13th and had a best finish of 10th in the Suzuki Swift Sport Cup class. The class was again dominated by Wanganui driver William Bamber with a clean sweep of qualifying and the three races.

This season's MINI Challenge is part of the New Zealand Production Racing Championship, with further rounds at Invercargill and Timaru in January, Manfeild in February and Taupo in March.

- © Fairfax NZ News