At the Speedway season finale, local stockcar driver, Kyle Rowe, has taken out the title of Manawatu Stockcar Champion for the second consecutive year in a season of racing that can only be described as brilliant.
This win comes straight off the back of Kyle taking out the ‘King of the Arena’ title just the week previous; a win that he first achieved back in 2020 and an event that attracts a large number of cars, making this win pretty special.
Kyle began speedway racing first in ministocks for four and a half years before stepping into his stockcar in 2019. Originally built in the 2003/2004 season, the car has had many changes made to it over the five years that Kyle has been racing it, upgrading it regularly to all the new technology. Together with his father, Alistair, he works on the car each week between race meetings. This season has been full on, putting in many hours in the shed, due to racing at 28 meetings over New Zealand.
Kyle said they did not make massive changes to the car in the previous off season. The focus was more on fine tuning what they had and that has made quite a difference during this 2023/2024 racing season. “We keep tinkering with it as people bring out new ideas each year, so you always make changes to try and keep up with that,” said Kyle.
The highlight of this season for Kyle was winning the 1NZ title in January. “It is a childhood dream come true,” said Kyle. “All the way through ministock driving, you look up to the guys racing in those adult classes with the numbers, and that is what you dream of and inspire to be.”
For a number of years now, Kyle has focused on taking a professional approach to everything Speedway related and dedicates a fair bit of time to that. He has been involved with the Pumas squad this season and enjoys the teams racing side of things.
“It is very enjoyable and a change up from normal racing,” said Kyle.
Kyle has the support of many sponsors and is very grateful for that. He has been able to achieve some amazing results this season. “No big changes this year, we just had a bit of luck fall our way,” Kyle said.
“To wrap up the season on a positive note was pretty special,” he said. “It has been a memorable one for a lot of different reasons so to win the Manawatu Championship on the final night was pretty cool.”
