Brad Johnston
"NZ Production Saloon Champion"

The blood, the sweat, the tears, the hours spent in the garage, the time away from the loved ones. The sacrifices everyone makes to compete in this sport are immense. With the ups come the downs as this sport takes you on an emotional rollercoaster each and every night and it’s fair to say we experienced every single bit of it this weekend.
So it was off to Cromwell for the NZ Production Saloon title knowing that Brad in the 9c was as good a chance as anyone of taking the title. With three races off the back on day one bagging as many points as possible was the key. Race one Brad used all of his local knowledge blasting round the track to finish 7th, race two finished 3rd and third race of the day finishing 5th job done, good haul of points and made quite a few people stand up and take notice, when the Super Saloon boys start talking about you, you know you doing something right!
Day two and two qualifying races with starts at the pointy end things were looking promising. Race one Brad was on pole and blitzed the field to take the chequered flag, confidence was running high but we were about to be brought back to earth when on the dummy grid for the next race Brad could smell fuel. A quick check found a leaking injector! After checking with officials that it was okay to touch the car we quickly got to work and identified the issue as a split o ring. Thanks to Whetu loaning us a new one, plus the super boys having a few yellow flags, meant we had enough time to sort the issue and get Brad on the track, starting 6th finishing 3rd it was smiles all round. Qualifying 3rd for the title race we were quietly optimistic of getting the job done.
After a long delay once cars went onto the track as protests were sorted out the race finally got underway. Dropping back to fifth Brad finally woke up after clipping the wall twice coming off turn two putting the foot down to start passing cars, a couple of laps later he was holding a descent lead. A yellow flag bunched the field up but Brad was in the zone and soon the gap was opening up again. Driving as high a line as possible, just inch’s off the wall, no one could catch him. White flag out and the crowd was roaring, chequered flag and the new 1nz.... Brad Johnston!!!
What an awesome race and just an awesome weekend all round. The support not just from the spectators but fellow competitors and drivers was nothing short of amazing, the fact that a lot of the Super Saloon drivers were up on the fence cheering the drivers on says a lot for the respect they have for the sport.
This is just reward for all the hard work that Brad and Greig have put into their racing and the support they have given each other over the years and for Ken and Judy who have encouraged their boys every step of the way. It’s fair to say there were a few tears and a few beers at the end of the night.
Big thanks the amazing crew especially Casey, Dee, Dylan, Tayla, Bert, Noeline, Daisy and Shane for the help and support, it was immense and for all of us to be able to share this was something special.

About Johnston Brothers Racing