Hazelwood hits the lead

Todd Hazelwood is now the driver to catch in Trans Am after charging into the championship lead with a near-perfect weekend at Queensland Raceway.

Nathan Herne may had won the battle in Race 1, but Hazelwood won the war, taking the final three races to rise from third to first in the championship with two rounds left.

After getting close to breaking through at The Bend, Hazelwood was delighted to score a maiden round win at a circuit he and the team had circled as a massive opportunity.

“We came here knowing it was our test track and we took full advantage of that, so an amazing effort by the whole team at TFH Racing,” he said.

“We had an absolute rocket ship all weekend and it was almost the dream round.

“Outside of that one second to Nathan (Herne) it would have been a clean sweep.

“Dreamwork makes teamwork so I could not be happier.”

The TFH driver took his earliest opportunity to hit the lead in Race 2 by snatching it off the start line.

With the roles reversed Herne tried to reel in the Hazelwood but ended up 1.2s back with Boys completing the podium again.

Golding and Moffat put in important drives to be in the top five and limit the damage.

All eyes were on Cleary as he soared from last to sixth, while Jackson Rice, Tom Davies and Domain Ramsay all had a DNF.

Hazelwood wrestled the championship lead off Moffat and GRM with victory in Race 3.

He wrestled the lead from Herne after an even start and a strong run down the back straight.

This proved to be the decisive moment as Hazelwood won by just 0.1857s.

Golding suffered a big blow, being stuck in third and drifting down to 20th.

Another fast start pushed Hazelwood to a Sunday sweep while there was drama behind.

Tom Davies and John Holinger collided and took each other into the gravel.

The fight for second was an interesting one with Boys initially holding the high ground before Herne got him after the restart.

Golding fought his way back to sixth, behind Moffat.

But now Hazelwood will be the hunted with a 38-point lead over Moffat with Bathurst the next round in November 8-10.

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