CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand – California’s Buddy Kofoid extended his win streak in New Zealand to three on Saturday with a sweep of the Avon Insurance Brokers Sprint Car Gold Cup at Ruapuna Speedway.
After topping both his heat races, Kofoid led from wire to wire to notch the win in the 25-lap Gold Cup main event, winning by 3.921 seconds over Jamie Duff.
Matt Honeywell completed the podium, followed by Connor Rangi and Caleb Baughan.
Kofoid then, in a fully-inverted lineup, raced from last to first in the 20-lap makeup of the Salute to Goodie feature originally scheduled for Friday at Ruapuna before a rainout.
A timely caution with four laps left brought Kofoid within striking distance of the lead duo of Shaun Ashton and Ben Gilmore, after which he made his move for the victory on the final restart and drove away to his second triumph of the night by 1.371 seconds.
Ashton hung on for second in the Salute to Goodie, followed by Honeywell, Gilmore and Duff.
Kofoid now has three wins in three starts between two tracks during his New Zealand tour. He’ll return to the United States Jan. 13-18 to contest the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals for Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports.
The finishes:
Gold Cup (25 laps): 1. 1NZ – Buddy Kofoid, 2. 19C – Jamie Duff, 3. 64C – Matt Honeywell, 4. 57N – Connor Rangi, 5. 59C – Caleb Baughan, 6. 95C – Ray Baughan, 7. 46E – Paddy North, 8. 32C – Martin Harcourt, 9. 28P – Tony Uhlenberg, 10. 44C – Allan Chapman, 11. 23C – Jacob Brownlees, 12. 84C – Ben Gilmore, 13. 8T – James Robinson, 14. 14T – John Sievwright, 15. 73C – Shaun Ashton, 16. 6N – Alicia Hill, 17. 44T – Daniel Anderson.
Salute to Goodie (20 laps): 1. 1NZ – Buddy Kofoid, 2. 73C – Shaun Ashton, 3. 64C – Matt Honeywell, 4. 84C – Ben Gilmore, 5. 19C – Jamie Duff, 6. 8T – James Robinson, 7. 32C – Martin Harcourt, 8. 28P – Tony Uhlenberg, 9. 46E – Paddy North, 10. 95C – Ray Baughan, 11. 44C – Allan Chapman, 12. 23C – Jacob Brownlees, 13. 59C – Caleb Baughan, 14. 14T – John Sievwright, 15. 44T – Daniel Anderson, 16. 57N – Connor Rangi.