Two Podiums, Top-Fives for Sellers, Allmendinger at Pukekohe

Jan 20, 2002
Pukekohe, New Zealand — Team USA Scholarship winners Bryan Sellers and A.J. Allmendinger put up another solid showing in today’s pair of Talley’s New Zealand Formula Ford Championship races at Pukekohe Park Raceway.
Local driver Fabian Coulthard’s Van Diemen/Stealth was in a class of its own as the young New Zealander padded his championship lead with two utterly dominant victories, but the action behind was of classic Formula Ford quality as seven drivers battled for supremacy on the fast and demanding track which encircles a popular horse race facility some 45 minutes south of Auckland.

Race One this morning saw Brady Kennett edge out Sellers, 19, from Centerville, Ohio, for the runner-up position, with veteran Ken Smith, Allmendinger, Nick Ross, Simon Gamble and Nelson Hartley blanketed by less than a second in fourth through eighth after a 10-lap thriller.

Race Two, fought over 15 laps for the coveted Ron Frost Memorial Trophy, saw Sellers pass Coulthard with a bold out-braking maneuver into the hairpin on lap four. Coulthard, however, motored past Sellers on the next lap before romping away to victory. In his wake, Sellers, Ross, Hartley, Allmendinger and Kennett were embroiled in another enthralling drafting contest.

“I went by Fabian, but then we went back past me and he was gone,” said Sellers. “After that it was just a cat-fight.”

Positions were exchanged almost constantly before Ross made second place his own with a banzai move down to the inside — with two wheels on the grass — at the hairpin on the final lap.

“It was one of those things,” said Sellers. “I could either finish third or crash. I thought, man, I want to take this car to Manfeild [in two weeks’ time], so I took third.”

Hartley, 16, impressed in taking fourth place from Allmendinger, with Kennett also within one second of Ross as the second-through-sixth-placed cars were covered by a scant 0.944sec at the checkered flag.

“I didn’t have enough for them at the end of the straightaway,” declared Allmendinger, 20, from Hollister, Calif., who was fighting off the effects of a heavy cold. “Every lap I would get slaughtered and then blocked, so there wasn’t much I could do.”

Even so, Allmendinger pulled off one of the moves of the day as he passed Kennett around the outside at the almost-flat-out Turn One.

“Fifth, honestly, I’m not happy, but I think that’s the best I’ve driven since I’ve been here [in New Zealand], so, hopefully, I can carry that [form] into Manfeild and finish off on the right note,” he said.

Among the large crowd enjoying an action-packed schedule at Pukekohe today were staunch Team USA Scholarship supporters and former Tasman Motorsports Group principals Steve Horne, who was raised in New Zealand before pursuing his career in Europe and then North America, and his wife Christine.

“It was fun to come back to Pukekohe — a track where I grew up in motor racing — and see Team USA perform so impressively,” said Horne.

Race One results (10 laps): 1. Fabian Coulthard (NZ), Van Diemen/Stealth, 10:42.466; 2. Brady Kennett (NZ), Van Diemen, 10:45.346; 3. Bryan Sellers (USA), Van Diemen, 10:45.445; 4. Ken Smith (NZ), Van Diemen/Stealth, 10:48.035; 5. A.J. Allmendinger (USA), Van Diemen, 10:48.074; 6. Nicholas Ross (NZ), Van Diemen, 10:48.380; etc. Fastest lap: Coulthard, 1:03.261.

Race Two — for the Ron Frost Memorial Trophy (15 laps): 1. Coulthard, 16:01.444; 2. Ross, 16:06.456; 3. Sellers, 16:06.473; 4. Nelson Hartley (NZ), Van Diemen, 16:06.555; 5. Allmendinger, 16:06.785; 6. Kennett, 16:07.400; etc. Fastest lap: Coulthard, 1:03.171.