Five of the 10 Gisborne cars in the event made the final – Ethan Rees (127G), his brother Asher Rees (126G), father Peter Rees (10G), Josh Prentice (5G) and Tim Ross (144G).
“Josh finished sixth in the 26-car final, Tim seventh, Peter eighth and Asher 19th,” Hughes said.
Ethan Rees placed second from the qualifying rounds on Saturday night.
After the three-heat final he was equal with Brad Uhlenberg from Whanganui, so a run-off over four laps was needed.
Rees had his nose in front until the final turn of the fourth lap when his opponent managed to steer him into the wall from behind and shoot past to the chequered flag.
“I thought Ethan was unlucky,” Hughes said. “His driving was unreal right through the championships. He had the pace and drove with conviction. He wasn’t the top qualifier for nothing.”
William Humphries, from Palmerston North, was third.
Peter Rees has won the coveted title once before while Asher is a three-time champion.
For Ethan Rees it felt great to go one better than three years ago when he was third.
“I’m excited to run this number [2NZ] for the next 12 months,” he said.
He told the Gisborne Herald he was “stoked” to have “made the podium for Gisborne”.
“The meeting was well run by Wellington. It had full-on and quick racing, what you’d expect at the New Zealand championships.”
Rees said it was a good track to race on.
“They’ve done quite [a bit] of work on it, with a bit of banking – not as good as Gizzy’s banking, but still a good track.
“The car went well and there was only a bit of superficial damage to it, which was great.”
The Rees trio are to race in the World 240s superstocks in Rotorua this weekend.
“There will be a good 10 ‘G’ cars in that one, so we are all really looking forward to it.
“We’ve still got the teams racing to come as well for both superstocks and stockcars, and we’re looking forward to that.”
Podium for Gisborne saloon driver Daniel Cook
Waikaraka Park Speedway in Auckland hosted the New Zealand Saloon Car Grand Prix and Gisborne’s Daniel Cook (77G) got on the podium.
It was won by defending champion and reigning New Zealand champ Jarred Fletcher from the Waikato, with Auckland’s Scott Landsdowne second and Cook third.
Landsdowne was driving a car formerly owned by Daniel’s brother Ethan.
“It was great to have two Vulcan Chassis on the podium,” Daniel said. “There were 39 cars competing and I got first and second in the heats to get through to the final.
“It was an awesome result on a very rough track. I was stoked with the night, also to come away with a new lap record in my first heat.”
It was especially pleasing because he had not done a lot of racing so far this season.
“The result probably exceeded my expectations.”