Christchurch racer Ryan Yardley has taken the lead in to 2016-2017 Toyota 86 Championship.The 18-year old races in the two-car CareVets team alongside current scholarship driver Jack Milligan, also of Christchurch.
Over two days of alternately wet and dry racing at Taupo's Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park, Yardley harried race winners John Penny and Matt Lockwood, making sure at every flag fall he was consistently banking points for his championship tally.
On Saturday, John Penny became the third winner in four races in the 2016-2017 Toyota 86 Championship when he won the first race of the weekend. After a race-long duel on a wet track with old V8-category foe Matt Lockwood that saw the race lead change a half dozen times, both sliding off the track and rejoining, before Lockwood had the mother of all spins on the last lap and Penny swept through to victory.
"That was the best duel I've had in ages. Matt's a great racer and we have run hard against each other in the NZV8s for years so we both knew what we needed to do - and he was determined to score the win," Penny said afterward. Fastest lap in the race was a 1:48.860 set by Matt Lockwood.
Then for the partial reverse grid race on Sunday morning Penny drew the number eight marble, putting Matt Lockwood on pole with Brody McConkey beside him.
