Paengaroa’s George Crawford has taken a significant increase in horsepower in his stride.

The speedway driver has stepped up from an entry-level racing class for teenagers into one of the sport’s premiere classes. Up to the end of last season, George competed in the 12-16-year-olds’ youth ministock class, a non-contact class of cars powered by 1200cc motors.

Ageing out of the class during winter, he’s gone straight into the high-powered super saloon class – one of the premiere classes of dirt-track racing in New Zealand. So far he has looked anything but a rookie. That’s perhaps not surprising – he’s been competing on dirt track ovals since he was 10 years old.

A surprise

What is a surprise, though, is the class he chose to graduate to. For many years, the full-contact super stock class was where he saw his future. That, however, changed, almost in the blink of an eye earlier this year at Perth Motorplex in Australia. George was a member of a team of young Kiwi drivers taking on their Australian counterparts. The test races were on the programme for the Australian Late Model Championship meeting. Late models are a similar class to super saloons. He was in awe of one driver, who was to be crowned Australian champion that night.

George Crawford on track at Baypark Speedway’s opening meeting. Photo / Supplied

“Just watching Kye Blight in lapped traffic and then having a 10-second advantage with 20 laps to go was pretty impressive,” George said.

During winter the family bought the CB2 super saloon raced last season by former New Zealand champion Steve Cowling of Tauranga.

“We got in touch with Maurice Cowling and dad [Wayne Crawford] asked if we could take the car to Waharoa [speedway] for a track day and I loved it,” George said.

Power and grip

He said the main differences of the car built by Cowling Motorsport are in the power and the grip, but the driving style isn’t that much of a change. The smooth driving needed in the ministock is also what’s required to pilot the super saloon.

Pre-race set up, though, is very different. “There so much more that you can change in the set-up, especially in the back end, to do with the diff and the stagger [the differential between the size of the left and right rear tyres],” George said.

Also very different is the size of the car, which is much longer and wider than a ministock.

George is registered to the Meeanee track in Napier, partly because that is the venue for New Zealand title meeting this season; and partly because it has a strong field of ministocks, the class young brother Jimmy Crawford still races.

It means there should be more opportunities to attend meetings as a family with both George and Jimmy racing at the same place on the same night.

After two practices, George’s first outing of the season was a Friday night meeting in Napier, where, in his first-ever super saloon feature race, he finished fifth.

George Crawford, 17, has made an impressive start to his first season in the super saloon class. Photo / Supplied

His second was Baypark Family Speedway’s opening night in October, where he came close to beating 2NZ Chris Cowling in one of the heat races and finished second in the feature race, won by Chris Cowling.

“After opening night at Baypark, a lot of people came up to us, including people we don’t really know, to say how well they thought George had gone,” Wayne said.

Favourite track

After many meetings in the ministock at Baypark, George said it was cool to drive the super saloon there.

“It’s my favourite track so far, it’s wicked, it’s full speed, you are hardly lifting off.”

Since then he’d raced at Kihikihi Speedway and in a two-day meeting at Woodford Glen Speedway north of Christchurch, where he qualified for the feature race on both nights among stacked fields. He also raced at Waikaraka Speedway’s season opener last weekend.

George’s goal for the season was to qualify for feature races at every meeting – something he’d achieved so far, and he admits to have surprised himself a little with how well things have gone.

“I thought I’d be getting lapped at the start, but after the first couple of practices I thought, ‘I’m not actually getting that’.

“Coming into the season, I just thought I’d like to go good – and I think I’ve exceeded that goal.”

Tomorrow, December 6, he will be back at Baypark for one of the track’s biggest nights of the season, the South Pacific Super Saloon Championship, with a field of more than 20 cars.

“I can’t wait to get back there,” George said.

Racing starts 6.30pm, with sprint cars, F2 midgets and super stocks also on the programme.