Young Southlander definitely on the pace during NZ championship debut

Fourteen-year-old Invercargill racing driver Damon Leitch kicked off his 2007-08 MTA Formula Ford Championship in great style at Pukekohe during the weekend.

The year 10 James Hargest College pupil belied his lack of experience by taking maximum points in class two of the Formula Ford fixture.

Even more impressively, he ran ahead of many of the later model class one cars during the three races.

In the second race, the speedy teenager recorded a best lap time just a fraction off the fastest in the field. Leitch posted a time of 1min 3.571sec, while the best lap time in the 10-lap event was 1min 3.116sec.

It was Leitch's first visit to the daunting, ultra-fast Pukekohe Park Raceway, south of Auckland, but he took it all in his stride, describing the track as "fun".

After missing some all-important testing time at the circuit before the meeting, Leitch qualified his distinctive, orange Van Diemen RF92 17th in the large field on Saturday. He then began his campaign with a mature drive in the opening 10-lap race that afternoon, finishing in 10th place.

In yesterday morning's race Leitch started from 16th on the grid.

However, the race was stopped on the second lap after an incident involving four cars.

Leitch was elevated to 11th at the restart and proceeded to pressure Wellington driver Jamie McNee for the remaining laps.

Leitch was set to comfortably claim 11th place until the car ran out of fuel in sight of the finish line.

Two cars passed the young Southlander as he coasted to the line in 13th.

The Van Diemen had a leak in the fuel line, which resulted in the car losing petrol during the race.

Yesterday afternoon's race was staged in wet conditions.

From 14th on the grid, Leitch soon gained another place. However, the race was interrupted by a safety car period after only four laps.

When the action resumed, Leitch impressed with another top drive despite the testing conditions.

He ventured into the top 10 but lost several positions in the final lap at the hairpin at the end of the back straight, crossing the line in 12th spot.

Leitch said conditions were definitely challenging.

"It was very slippery and oily off the racing line in the rain," he said.

He admitted he was "pretty happy" with his debut weekend.

The championship field is rated as an extremely strong one this season, making Leitch's effort in his Class 2 car even more notable.

The next round of the MTA Formula Ford Championship takes place at Powerbuilt Tools Raceway at Ruapuna on November 23-25.

Last month Leitch finished second in the Pre-93 class at the New Zealand Formula Ford Festival at the Christchurch circuit.

His campaign in this year's Formula Ford championship is supported by Toll Tranz Link, Ray White Real Estate, Caltex Invercargill Oil Shop, Advantage Advertising, Kingsford-Smith Motor Painting Ltd, PPG, E H Ball ITM Building Supplies, Macaulay Ford, H W Richardson Group Ltd and Leitch Motorsport.

- © Fairfax NZ News