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Second Time’s the Charm for Hazelwood’s Maiden Trans Am Win
Todd Hazelwood is a winner in the Trico Trans Am Series – and this time he got to keep it.
Hazelwood jumped Race 1 combatant James Moffat off the start to take the lead of Race 2 at The Bend, then fended off his rival’s advances to take his maiden race win.
It caps a tumultuous day; Hazelwood was first across the line in the opening race of the weekend, only to be demoted to second place post-race for passing Moffat at the very start of a Safety Car period.
“Now that’s a race win! That was fair and square, that one,” Hazelwood said.
“The TFH crew did an amazing job. The #111 car was hooked up then, it’s been hooked up the whole weekend.
“Good battle there with Moff, he was hot on my heels the whole race, I had to drive was flat-out the whole way – that’s what you want in racing.”
The action started on the run to the first corner.
Hazelwood edged ahead of Moffat before they even got to the braking area, at which point third-starting Jackson Rice spun to the inside of the track and across the path of the field.
He ended up beached in the gravel, triggering a Safety Car, while Elliott Cleary was tapped into a spin amid the mid-pack scrum.
James Golding and Elliot Barbour made the most of the chaos to overcome their Race 1 troubles, the former gaining five positions to ninth and the latter six positions to be 11th.
Nash Morris was another big winner, moving past Nathan Herne for third moments before the Safety Car was called, and briefly challenged the leading duo on the restart.
However, the #67 Mustang faded as the race went on; Herne passed him for third a handful of laps later, before Jordan Boys and Golding demoted him to sixth on the final lap.
Tim Slade, Barbour, Ben Grice and Edan Thronburrow rounded out the top 10.
The Trico Trans Am Series has two more races at Race Tailem Bend on Sunday.