Media Information

For Immediate Release

*  TradeZone/BankLink Race Teams

    Rnd 1

    2008/09 MTA New Zealand Formula Ford Championship

    Taupo Motorsport Park

    Taupo

    Sat-Sun

    October 04-05

    2008

01-10-08 

EVENT PREVIEW

VETERAN JOINS YOUNG GUNS FOR FIRST FORMULA FORD ROUND

Veteran New Zealand racing driver Ken Smith returns to the Formula Ford class at Taupo this weekend at the opening round of the MTA-backed 2008/09 New Zealand championship

Ken Smith
Photo: Fast Company/SportProMedia

Smith, 66 and beginning his 51st consecutive season of competition in this country, joins young guns Simon and Mitch Evans for the weekend in a new three-car team put together by the boys' father Owen Evans and fellow Auckland businessman Gary Periam.

He will drive one of the combined teams' two BankLink-backed Stealth cars.

Smith, who has been competing in the Toyota Racing Series for the past four years, was a stalwart of the Formula Ford class for many years, winning the New Zealand Formula Ford Festival in 2001 and his third New Zealand Grand Prix title (when it was contested as part of the New Zealand Formula Ford championship) in 2004.

This year he was going to step back and focus on the upcoming MSC F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series for classic Formula 5000 cars, but the opportunity for a - at the moment - one-off return to the Formula Ford class was too good, he says, to miss.

"To be honest with you it was an honour to be asked. I've always loved driving these wee cars and it will be good to get my eye in before I get back in the 5000s later in the year."

This year is the second that Evans and Periam have run a team in the MTA New Zealand Formula Ford championship. Last year they ran two cars with support from BankLink and this year they will run three, two with major support from BankLink, Giltrap Prestige and Evans European Panel & Paint and a third with support from the TradeZone Group, Giltrap Prestige, GVI Vechicles and Evans European Panel & Paint.

The number one BankLink-backed car will be driven by the elder of the two Evans brothers, 17-year-old Simon, while the TradeZone car will be driven by 14-year-old Mitch.

Both brothers raced karts successfully before moving to cars, and both have already enjoyed success behind the wheel of a Formula Ford car.

Last season Simon won the first race at the second round of the 2007/08 New Zealand Formula Ford championship and went on to finish seventh overall and over the winter Mitch dominated the annual winter Formula Ford series at the Manfeild circuit, prompting comparisons with a young Scott Dixon as he won all three races at the first round and went on to win the series outright.

Mitch Evans' 2008/09 MTA New Zealand Formula Ford championship campaign is being backed by TradeZone Industrial, Genuine Vehicle Imports. Giltrap Group & Giltrap Prestige, Fuller, Hitachi Power Tools, Bahco, Webdesign, Evans European Panel & Paint, Elf Oils and Chicane racewear.

Simon Evans's 2008/09 MTA New Zealand Formula Ford championship campaign is being backed by BankLink, Executive Taskforce, Cook & Galloway, Darien Rush Security and Standox.

 

Ends

 

2008/09 MTA New Zealand Formula Ford Championship

Rnd 1 Oct 04-05 2008 Taupo Motorsport Park Taupo

Rnd 2 Nov 08-09 2008 Pukekohe Park Raceway Pukekohe

Rnd 3 Nov 29-30 2008 Powerbuilt Tools Raceway Christchurch

Rnd 4 Jan 24-25 2009 Timaru International Motor Raceway Timaru

Rnd 5 Jan 31-Feb 01 2009 Teretonga Park Invercargill

Rnd 6 Feb 28-Mar 01 2009 Manfeild Feilding

Rnd 7 Mar 21-22 2009 Pukekohe Park Raceway Pukekohe.

 

Prepared by FAST COMPANY on behalf of the TradeZone and BankLink teams. To find out more about the teams contact Ross MacKay on 021 677 919 or via e-mail on ross@fastcompany.co.nz To find out more about Mitch Evans go to www.mitchracing.com