Jason Long during his previous stint as 2NZ after finishing runner-up at the 2016 New Zealand Superstock Championship. Photo / File
Jason Long during his previous stint as 2NZ after finishing runner-up at the 2016 New Zealand Superstock Championship. Photo / File
While Hawke's Bay superstock driver Jason Long is "obviously stoked" with his second-place finish at the New Zealand Championship, he can't help but feel he could have taken the national title himself.
Long finished just two points short of winner Asher Rees after the three championship heats on Wednesday night at Paradise Valley Speedway in Rotorua.
"What could have been if you passed a couple of extra cars?" Long said.
The 2019 national champion won the first heat, and headed into the third and final race two points behind leader Ethan Rees.
Long said his experience, including that 2019 title and another second place result in the 2016 nationals, meant he was calm and relaxed despite having to start at the back of the grid.
"A couple years ago when I won it, I wasn't," he laughed.
"I kind of thought that because I had been there before and done it there was no real pressure on me, because a lot of the guys that were up there on points have never been on the podium before."
That experience would have helped in the lead-up to the two race nights as well, which were supposed to take place on Saturday and Sunday.
Heavy rain in Rotorua saw those two days washed out, and Long said on the Monday they finally got through the parade and were just about to start racing when it bucketed down again.
"While all the cars were out on the track it absolutely poured down for about half an hour," he said.
"The pits turned into a river, the terraces turned into a big waterfall and the track turned into a lake."
Long and his team had to move to a new motel with the event dragging out so much longer than expected.
"Long week sitting around waiting but we got there in the end," he said.
When racing eventually did get under way on Tuesday, Long and his fellow Hawke's Bay drivers quickly established themselves among the competition favourites.
Hawke's Bay driver Quinn Ryan finished seventh overall at the nationals in Rotorua. Photo / Paul Taylor
2020 New Zealand Superstock Championship winner Randal Tarrant and Quinn Ryan both made it through to Wednesday's title-deciding heats and eventually finished in fourth equal and seventh respectively.
"We've had a bit of success in the superstock class over the last few years and I think that's just because we're all pretty good mates, get on really well and tend to look after each other out on the track," Jason Long said of his fellow Hawke's Bay drivers.
They'll all team up for Hawke's Bay Hawkeyes, the two-time defending champions of the national Superstock Teams Champs, which will be held in Palmerston North on February 6 and 7 this year.
