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Hi-tech Finishes On A High |
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Tuesday, 05 September 2006 |
Round six of the Yokohama V8 Ute racing series finished on something of a high for the Hi-Tech Motorsport operation, headed by John “Barrell” Pachos. With five cars to fettle on race day, HTM was kept
pretty much on its toes from dawn to sundown at Queensland Raceway on
September 3, Fathers’ Day.
“Yes, we are pretty happy with the outcome of this round as it could
have been much worse,” Pachos admitted. “We started the day with one
car on the front row, and one off the back after some problems in
practice.”
“Race one wasn’t so good for Grant (Johnson) who broke an axle while
leading, yet Kerry (Wade) came off the back of the grid to eighth – so
that was good. Scott (Jennings) had some troubles early but fought
back, Matt (Moorhead) has to get his head around starting and Greg
(Willis) ran cleanly.
“At the end of the day though we had three cars in the top ten of the
last race, Greg had his best result (17th) every and Matt limped around
with a broken gearbox.
“We will have Allan Letcher in Graham Hunt’s new Ford by the next
round...and that will have us running six cars before the year is out,”
Pachos concluded.
Kerry Wade set a new lap record on his charge from the back of
the grid in the first outing. The Wakefield Park round winner was up to
tenth when the safety car appeared on lap eleven, and despite being
ordered to maintain that place for a reverse top ten start on pole for
race two, picked up another two spots in the two lap sprint to the
flag. Starting from third in the second race, Wade was fractionally
ahead of Ryal Harris’s Commodore and second by the end of the initial
lap. He took the lead of Ashley Cooper on the third lap and comfortably
showed the way for rest of the race. In the hustle of the opening
stanza of the final conflict, Wade was shuffled back a spot from his
starting position on the outside of the front row. He fought doggedly
with the leaders right through to the race stoppage at lap 12 and
claimed third in the race and overall for the round.
Grant Johnson raced side by side off the start of race one with
pole sitter Baxter before sitting in behind the leading Commodore until
lap seven where he executed an audacious and successful
around-the-outside move at turn three. Johnson then led the event up
until a late safety car period. From the restart, Johnson was confident
that he would hold the lead for the remaining two laps but a driveshalf
broke with a little over a lap to go. Race two produced the drive of
the meeting. From the back of the grid he made up a swag of places on
the opening lap, ultimately forging his way to third by the end.
Johnson started the last race out of position eleven. He was fifth when
a safety car emerged at half distance and maintain that spot when the
race was stopped four laps later. There was some satisfaction in
claiming equal seventh overall for the round.
Scott Jennings found himself in 23rd position at the end of the
first lap of race one, and with some fairly savage battle scars down
the side of his Ford. “I was hit from behind at turn four and cannoned
into the side of Yanis Derums,” he said. Jennings then put his head
down and picked up ten places before race’s end. He started the second
event out of position 13 and progressed to eighth by race’s end.
Jennings started race three out of eighth spot, and retained it
throughout while maintaining close proximity to the leaders.
Matt Moorhead had a shocker of a first race start after
qualifying in the top ten, and was placed 14th at the end of the
opening lap. “I had not started one of these cars with this type of
transmission before. I had loads of wheel spin and lost four places
straight away. Then I tried to go around someone and ran wide, losing
more places,” he said after eventually finishing 16th. Moorhead
continued to have gearbox problems throughout race two, ultimately
jamming up and relegating the relative V8 Ute novice to 24th. The
weekend finished on a low note for Moorhead as he trailed the field for
20th in the final fling.
Greg Willis continued to show good form, running a clean first
race and placed 22nd at the end of lap one. The Grove Juices Falcon
driver continued to run steadily and picked up another position before
the race culminated. In the second, he was 25th at the end of the
opening charge, but contact soon after with another car pushed a front
guard onto the tyre which he continued with for the duration, finally
placed in 25th position. Willis finished the weekend off with a fine
17th, staying away from the trouble that afflicted those around him.
YOKOHAMA V8 UTE RACING SERIES ROUND SIX RESULTS Race One (15 laps)
| Pos. |
Driver |
State |
Car |
Time |
| 1 |
Gary Baxter |
SA |
Holden Commodore VY SS |
24:56.6429 |
| 2 |
Jack Elsegood |
NSW |
Ford Falcon BF XR8 |
24:58.2662 |
| 3 |
Marcus Zukanovic |
VIC |
Ford Falcon BF XR8 |
24:58.7920 |
| 4 |
Matt Kingsley |
QLD |
Holden Commodore VY SS |
24:58.9940 |
| 5 |
Damien White |
NSW |
Ford Falcon BF XR8 |
24:59.6713 |
| 6 |
Benn Dunn |
NSW |
Ford Falcon BF XR8 |
24:59.9366 |
| 7 |
Ryal Harris |
VIC |
Holden Commodore VY SS |
25:00.3243 |
| 8 |
Kerry Wade |
WA |
Ford Falcon BF XR8 |
25:00.7590 |
| 9 |
James Brock |
VIC |
Holden Commodore VY SS |
25:02.3685 |
| 10 |
Ashley Cooper |
NSW |
Ford Falcon BF XR8 |
25:04.0325 |
| 13 |
Scott Jennings |
NSW |
Ford Falcon BF XR8 |
25:04.6989 |
| 16 |
Matt Moorehead |
NSW |
Ford Falcon BF XRB |
25:06.1149 |
| 21 |
Greg Willis |
QLD |
Ford Falcon BF XR8 |
25:12.9028 |
| DNF |
Grant Johnson |
WA |
Holden Commodore VY SS |
25:06.8443 |
| Fastest Lap: Kerry Wade 1:25.6080 (Lap Record). |
Race Two (15 laps)
| Pos. |
Driver |
Time |
| 1 |
Wade |
25:12.8262 |
| 2 |
Baxter |
25:13.5744 |
| 3 |
Johnson |
25:15.9492 |
| 4 |
Cooper |
25:19.9095 |
| 5 |
Kingsley |
25:20.2078 |
| 6 |
Elsegood |
25:20.9934 |
| 7 |
Zukanovic |
25:22.3235 |
| 8 |
Jennings |
25:23.2794 |
| 9 |
Brock |
25:24.0442 |
| 10 |
Dunn |
25:25.8902 |
| 24 |
Moorehead |
25:46.7336 |
| 25 |
Willis |
26:24.6650
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Race Three (11 laps) Red Flagged
| Pos. |
Driver |
Time |
| 1 |
Baxter |
18:32.4555 |
| 2 |
Elsegood |
18:33.5659 |
| 3 |
Wade |
18:33.7943 |
| 4 |
Zukanovic |
18:34.0478 |
| 5 |
Johnson |
18:34.2923 |
| 6 |
Brock |
18:34.6355 |
| 7 |
Cooper |
18:35.4720 |
| 8 |
Jennings |
18:35.7319 |
| 9 |
Jane |
18:36.5938 |
| 10 |
Harris |
18:37.8483 |
| 17 |
Willis |
18:44.9371 |
| 20 |
Moorehead |
19:07.1745 |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 04 January 2007 )
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