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Bolger makes history to win Drift Australia Championship |
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Sunday, 23 September 2007 |
Team VIP Petfoods’ Robbie Bolger has made history by becoming the first
at any level of drift competition in Australia to take a title aboard a
V8-powered machine – claiming the 2007 Toyo Drift Australia
Championship at Oran Park today aboard his Team VIP Petfoods 840
horsepower Holden Monaro.
Placing third in today’s finale was just enough to see him claim the
extremely close battle for the title – ultimately holding down the top
spot over runner-up Christian Pickering by 16 points.
So close was today’s competition that if Bolger had lost in the battle
for third against Nathan Weissel, or if runner-up Christian Pickering
had beaten round winner Fernando Wiehrl in the battle of the final two,
Pickering would have come out the ultimate victor.
It was never going to be easy with only 187 points separating
Bolger and eighth placed Tom Monkhouse following last month’s
Queensland round with 500 points on offer at Oran Park, but Bolger was
able to once again prove that unquestionable skill and plenty of V8
muscle are unstoppable on the drift track.
“The Team VIP Petfoods’ Monaro was just awesome today, it was on fire!” said Bolger.
“We had a few near misses today but we were able to make it through and take the championship.
“Winning the championship is just fantastic - it is what we set out
to do and for it to all come together is just a dream come true for
everyone involved.”
The win caps off a year of firsts for the Gold Coast’s ‘Mad
Irishman’, who led the field to this weekend’s finale round 50 points
ahead in the standings.
The first to introduce V8s to the Japanese born and bred category
in 2005, Bolger quickly silenced his critics with a third in the 2006
championship after a winner-takes-all finale battle with 2006 title
winner Beau Yates.
From there Bolger went on to be the first interstate pilot to take
a round win from local competitors since Winton of 2005 at April’s
Mallala round two earlier this year.
He then went about building his newest V8 gift to the sport – the
first ever drifting Holden Commodore VE to hit Australian race-tracks,
which he will pilot for his 2008 season after taking the championship
aboard the Team VIP Petfoods Monaro this weekend.
Unfortunately for Bolger a fair amount of work will be needed over
the off-season before the VE can be rolled out competitively for next
year’s championship. Since its competitive debut at Eastern Creek’s
round earlier this year, series rookie Christian D’Agostin has piloted
the 970hp Team VIP Petfoods machine on Bolger’s behalf as Bolger has
focused on his championship aspirations aboard the tried and tested
Monaro.
 D’Agostin had been making inroads over the past months, putting
together valuable track time and data for both vehicle and driver,
however it wasn’t to be this weekend – with the car written off in
qualifying today leaving the shell requiring a complete re-build.
D’Agostin was thankfully unhurt.
Robbie Bolger will now prepare to head to Bathurst with his ‘Stunt
Rider’ team, to provide the on-track entertainment at the Bathurst 1000
over October 4-7, with the Team VIP Petfoods’ championship winning
Holden Monaro a star attraction in the show.
2007 Toyo Drift Australia Championship – Final Championship Points
1. Robbie Bolger 2045 – Team VIP Petfoods
2. Christian Pickering 2029
3. Fernando Wiehrl 1984
4. Darren Appleton 1886
5. Adam Trewhella 1859
6. Beau Yates 1842
7. Leighton Fine 1805
8. Nathan Weissel 1768
2007 Toyo Drift Australia Championship – Round Five Results
1. Fernando Wiehrl
2. Christian Pickering
3. Robbie Bolger – Team VIP Petfoods
4. Nathan Weissel
5. Beau Yates
6. Chris Easton
7. Travis Dunstan
8. Josh James
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