Year 9 student Deegan Broker took part in his first NZ Youth Mini Stock Championships event at Oxford Speedway and came home with a first placing in the New Zealand Development Group.

Not only was it the first time for Deegan attending the NZ Youth Mini Stock Championships, it was also his first season being involved in Speedway here in Nelson, which makes his win even more significant and encouraging, especially given there was very little practice time leading up to the championships. Deegan is pretty happy with the stash of prizes he got to bring home too!

While Deegan is only in his first season of Speedway, it isn't at all surprising that he chose racing as his preferred sport, given that it's in his blood. "My Dad's always done Speedway and he wanted to get me doing it so we bought a car and then we started racing," Deegan said. "We bought the car; it wasn't running but we got it running and we've done some stuff to it." 

When asked more about mini stock cars Deegan said the advantage for young people is that "it's not a real fast car engine, just a car that we can drive."

The NZ Youth Mini Stock Championships have been running at Oxford Speedway near Christchurch for the past 17 years, drawing young people and families from around the whole of New Zealand for the two day event. For Deegan, coming away with 1st NZ in the Development Group feels really good and mini stock car racing is something he wants to continue doing. The season has ended now and he will take a break over winter but is looking forward to getting back into it towards the end of the year when the season starts up again. 

When asked what he would say to anyone interested in getting involved in mini stock car racing he replied, "Yeah, it's an easy sport, a good sport to get into because it teaches you how to drive and stuff like that."

Congratulations Deegan!