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Hazelwood building confidence after Townsville sweep

11 Jul 2017
South Aussie surged to championship lead after back-to-back wins
3 mins by James Pavey
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Todd Hazelwood is hoping to build further momentum in the Dunlop Super2 Series after dominating the Watpac Townsville 400 and claiming his first career round win.

The South Aussie, who debuted into the Series in Homebush 2013, says the hard work is all starting to come together for a championship push.

Hazelwood scored his first Super2 win in front of a home crowd at the Clipsal 500 Adelaide earlier this year and has proven consistency and hunger for continued success since. 

“It was a pretty wild weekend and from my point of view it was almost perfect we had two front row starts and two race wins,” said Hazelwood.

“I am absolutely rapt to get that first round win. I have been trying pretty hard the last few years to achieve this moment.

“I knew the pace was pretty good in the BigMate Racing Commodore… coming out of the last corner the emotions were pretty real and I was fist pumping like no tomorrow, so it was a pretty cool moment. I wont forget that, that’s for sure.”

The 21-year-old now heads the Series by 69 points over veteran Paul Dumbrell in the lead up to the Red Rooster Sydney SuperSprint in August.

Hazelwood emphasised the hard work the team at Matt Stone Racing put in behind the scenes to prepare for Townsville after a tough run last round at the WD-40 Phillip Island 500 in April.

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“We have been working really hard the past couple of months, it’s been a long gap since Phillip Island where we had a pretty tough run and we put a lot of preparation in for this weekend to ensure the car rolled out of the truck on the money and it did exactly that,” Hazelwood added.

“It was faultless all weekend and it had awesome pace. It just shows the preparation that goes in behind the scenes.

“I know myself I have been working really hard mentally for this event because I knew it was probably one of the more crucial events with the two-race format where you get 150 points each race.”

Each Super2 Series round has 300 points up for grabs over the entire weekend.

The Watpac Townsville 400 granted 150 points per race in a two-race format. The regular four race format awards 75 points per race over the course of a race weekend.

Last month it was announced Todd Hazelwood would pair with Tim Blanchard this year for his maiden Pirtek Enduro Cup campaign.

“It’s the dream come true to be honest to announce being with Tim Blanchard in the Cooldrive team. That was a goal for us this year to get my first crack at the Bathurst 1000,” Hazelwood said.

“I think in this game you thrive on confidence and to get a couple of race wins a season and to have that announced I think its helped me mentally prepare… although you don’t try and think of it too much, in small ways it does help and I think its proved this weekend its all coming together.”

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