Dad and daughter seal series success

Sarah Little may not be eligible to get her driver's licence for another few years but she's already won her first drag racing title.
Family life sure ain't a drag for the Little family of Kamo.
Father Grant and daughter Sarah have just capped off spectacular drag racing seasons by picking up points wins in their respective competitions.
Grant won the New Zealand Drag Racing Association's Top Street series, running in a G Class car and setting a new national record at the same time, while his daughter won the Fram Autolight Junior Points Series at the Fram Dragstrip at Meremere over four meetings.
While drag racing conjures up the image of overpowered cars belting down a quarter-mile strip of track, the reality is sometimes quite different. Sarah's fastest nominated speed during her competition was just 47mph (75.5km/h) - plenty fast enough for an 11-year-old - who was delighted to win her first major prize in the sport she began when she was 7.
"Sarah was happy, a little surprised but definitely happy with how it all turned out on the day - it's the sort of competition that can get away from you pretty quickly," her proud mum Lorinda said.
Drag racing contests aren't always about speed, it comes down to reaction time and how close drivers can get to their self nominated index - that is the time they nominate to drive cross the distance.
Top points go to the contestants who finish as near to the time nominated as possible, without going faster than the nominated time, which would earn disqualification.
Said Grant: "That puts everyone on an even footing - so anyone can win it."
Sarah got into drag racing during one of the family's trips to watch her dad compete.
Lorinda: "Sarah was bored one day and we went over to the juniors and saw a car for sale, and then she went back and we talked to dad and it was all on."
The family might have been accused of being a little obsessive in competition this year - but it paid off in the end.
"We've had a big year with chasing these points, Grant always says we shouldn't go out to chase points but you find yourself doing it anyway - I mean I missed my work Christmas party because we had to go drag racing - everything was about these points, it became our lives," she said.
Grant was delighted with the family's haul.
"We couldn't have done much better this year because we can only fit one vehicle on the trailer at a time - so she ran her series then I had a go at my series and we both won," he said.
Success has bred a sense of purpose about next year's competition and the Littles have bought a trailer to transport Sarah's car. Until now the family has travelled to events one at a time - hauling the competitor's car on the back of the truck.
But now they will be able to transport the two dragsters at the same time.
"No doubt we'll look like the Beverly Hillbillies when we're holding up all the traffic and people want to overtake us, but ... it's always been a family joke but we've always said we've only have one child because we couldn't fit any more in the truck for drag racing," Lorinda said.
There were two further Northland successes in drag racing this season.
Dean Logan, better known for his work with race horses, also won a Fram Auto Light series in the Super Street division - for cars with a warrant of fitness and those slower than 11 seconds over the quarter mile - in his LJ Torana ute.
Kenny West, who runs a T-Bucket and competes in the modified division, came second in the national NZDRA series which is competed for in the North and the South Islands.
With the new trailer giving them extra options, planning for the next series is already underway in the Little household.
Sarah can carry on competing in the juniors for another five years if she wishes, before moving up into the seniors.
"Sarah will probably want to take over Grant's car at some stage, that's what they seem to do they go up to dad's car, but he thinks he'll then get a new one but I'm not so sure - I'm still waiting for my car," Lorinda laughed.