Nexen Tyre NZ Mazda Racing Series action resumes this weekend as competitors contest Round 3 of their North Island Series at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park in North Waikato.

The series will be part of the programme at the latest round of the Repco NextGen NZ Championship, the Alliance Services Hampton Downs International.

Series leader Rex Edwards of Tauranga faces the first challenge of the weekend even before racing begins as he awaits clutch parts from Japan to enable him to compete.

Edwards has a 27-point lead in the series after finishing third overall at the opening round at Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon before winning the second round at Taupō in November.

Should Edwards, the champion in 2022/2023, not be able to make the startline that would allow the chasing pack a great chance to overtake him in the points.

Second overall heading into Round 3 is Karl Gaines of Auckland, also the leading Masters (Over 50) driver in the series.

Gaines has been consistent thus far finishing fourth and third respectively at the opening two rounds. Just 10 points behind him is fellow Aucklander Callum Pratt who scored his debut win last time out at Taupō.

Stuart Lawton of Paraparaumu is next up, currently fourth on points. Lawton had a great run at the series’ opener but the second round was the complete opposite for him.

He had an ECU problem in the first race at that round and borrowed a car for the second day of racing coming through from the back of the grid to snare a couple of top-10 finishes.

Despite those issues he is still just 44 points off the series lead. Close behind Lawton are Aucklanders Lance Gerlach and Sam Dashfield while the current top 10 is completed by Mark Oudney, Nigel Edger (Hamilton), Leo Bult and Alex Canty.

Others to watch will be South Islander Mac Templeton of Prebbleton in Canterbury and Aucklander Steve Brown.

Templeton is contesting both the North and South Island titles this season and has been quick but has suffered setbacks at the opening rounds as has Brown.

After three practice sessions on Friday, competitors will have a 15-minute qualifying session on Saturday morning to establish grid positions for Race 1 over 10 laps that afternoon.

On Sunday, a 12-lap race with a reverse top 10 grid based on Saturday’s race result takes place at 8.30am with the finale over 10 laps with a grid based on weekend points timed to start at 1.53pm.

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For point standings in our various series go to Season Points / | Mazda Racing Series

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