Porsche Carrera Cup Australia regular Clay Osborne triggered the crash after shoving Daynom Templeman at the start of the reverse top 10 race.
Templeman’s Dodge Challenger veered right onto the grass verge before swerving left and into the path of several other cars.
Multiple cars were damaged in the fracas, including Osborne’s. Andrew Turner and Templeman were DNFs as a result of the crash. Elton Wichman and Maurice Shapley were able to continue despite the crash.
Templeman pointed the blame squarely at Osborne for pushing him into a spin.
“Just coming off the start, I just got shunted from behind from the car behind,” said Templeman.
“It just turned me around into the grass, hard into the wall, and then I was just a passenger from there.
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“I was just getting shunted into. The car that started behind me was the real main instigator and caused a lot of damage.
“It’s a long race and it’s a reverse top 10 and just a real silly mistake on his behalf, I feel. We just had nowhere to go, just getting punted up the arse that hard I just turned into the fence.
“Disappointing. It’s a leased car, so that will take care of us ever competing again. Pretty hugely disappointing.”
Osborne won the weekend’s first race over Dylan Grant and Caleb Byers and backed that up with another win in race two, beating Byers and Grant again.
The reverse top 10 race three was won by Grant, who headed Byers and Toby Elmiger.
Just 0.817s covered the top three in a thrilling contest. Grant pulled off an epic, race-winning double pass into turn one on the final lap before putting on a defensive masterclass.
“What a race. That was a bit of a drive back to the front, but we got there in the end,” said Grant.
“Just tried to manage my tyres for as long as I could before the end and managed to get there in the end.
“Far out, that was a tiring race. Sitting on the grid for half an hour in the boiling heat doesn’t really help, but at least we got to race in the end.
“It’s great to have a V8 category like this back in New Zealand.”
The TA2 New Zealand Championship returns to Hampton Downs on November 22-23 where the series will use the smaller, national circuit.
The NextGen NZ Championship resumes on January 9-11, headlined by Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Trophy.
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