After a shotgun start, Kim “The Assassin” Jane screamed to a top 14 reverse grid Race 2 win, whilst David “Sideways” Sieders claimed Race 3 and Round 3 of the 2014 Australian V8 Ute Racing Series – fueled by Hogs Breath Café at the Sky City Triple Crown, Hidden Valley, Sunday, 22nd June.
Sieders moved within 2 points of ARMOR ALL championship leader Kris Walton, who walked away with second for Race 3 and third overall for the Round. The New South Welshman couldn’t be happier to finally walk away with a Darwin Round win.
“The Darwin Podium has eluded me for four years now and I’ve got it. I’m pretty happy I was 9 points off (the Series lead) coming into the weekend and now it’s 2. Hansford (Ryan) really did have me covered early in the race and looked like he was about to struggle with his tyres so it was going to come to me but I was waiting for my time and it happened with a miss gear, it wasn’t an easy move by any means but I made it stick and then I had “Killa” Kris Walton the worst person you can have behind you. He’s so good at catching a gap and pressing in behind you but I’m happy to say I’ve been able to keep him behind me more than he has passed,” said Sieders.
Race 3 pole sitter, Multispare’s Ryan Hansford, led off the line and held a persistent Sieders off for 6 laps before missing a gear, giving the Sieders Racing driver and his teammate Walton the chance to take the lead. Hansford managed to hold on to third for the Race securing him a seat on the podium in second overall for the round.
“It’s a very good result for the team, myself second and Kris third, I wish I didn’t make a mistake in that race and held Sieders out but I didn’t, but we’ll move on to Townsville and see what we can do there,” said Hansford.
Walton was all over Sieders until the dying seconds of the race, touching up Sieders on the last lap, but the Rentco racer wasn’t able to salvage any state of origin respect for Queensland, handing the win to the New South Welshman.
“I didn’t know how it was all going to turn out then, with Ryal (Harris) up there as well but Ryan made a mistake, he missed a gear so it let Sieders and I by, I gave it all I had but had nothing left to try and get past him but I knew I had to stay by him to get the points for the series but it was probably one of the hardest races I’ve had, it was great to walk out of here still with the lead, congratulations to Sieders and Ryan did a great job too,” said Walton.
Rhys McNally and Kim Jane had lonely races to hold on to their 4th and 5th respective places for Race 3. The battle was on for 6th between Craig Dontas and Jesse Dixon. Andrew Fisher came home in 8th, enough to hand him the Masters Award for the round. Jeremy Gray had a great race to claim 9th toughing out a spectacular battle with debutant Aaron Borg. The young Jesus Racing disciple put in a great top ten finish for the race and 12th overall for the Round.
Race 2 began with mixed results after yesterday’s Race 1. Wayne Wakefield started the race from the rear of the grid after he was excluded from the race for driver conduct and Elliot Barbour was hit with a 5 second penalty for contact with Wakefield.
The reverse grid ballot draw for Race 2 put Andrew “Fishtail” Fisher on Pole, alongside Noel “Sledge” Edge (Edges second front row start in his 10 years of racing in the Series), with Rookie Aaron Borg in P3 and Jane in P4.
Jane blew the front row out of the water and managed to take the lead by the first turn and won by a clear 2 seconds from Fisher in the Jesus Racing Ford.
“We’ve tried just about everything at this track, we finished second here last year and we were confident coming up the highway here. Being able to start from P4 we got an awesome start and that got me out in front, I wasn’t sure how quick Fisher would be and I knew I just needed to look after the tyres and stay out in front,” said Jane.
Fishtail just had to maintain pace in the Jesus Racing Ford to walk away with second for the Race after a mixed start for the New South Welshman.
“I thought I got a good start and next minute I see the yellow monster come up next to me and get in front of me, the race was won at turn 1, we both had similar pace, it was picking up second place from there and lamenting for 12 laps that I’d lost the start,” said Fisher.
Two-time champion Ryal Harris had a great run to finish in third for the race but not so much luck in Race 3 when he had a gearbox failure ending his race in the grass.
Hayman Reese’s Jesse Dixon came home in 4th ahead of Hansford in 6th, Borg in 7th, McNally in 8th and Walton in 9th. Sieders had a great run to move up four positions to round out the top ten.
George “Slick” Miedecke took out the V8 Utes Hard Charger Award for passing 16 Utes in the Race starting from 30th and finishing in 14th overall.
Nathan Pretty and Danny Buzadzic were both hit with a 5 second penalty for unsafe overtaking manoeuvres in Race 2.
Ben Dunn & Gerard McLeod were unfortunate not to finish Race 2, Dunn suffered a broken rim and parked the AUSblue Racing Ford at Turn 7. McLeod ended with tyre issues after contact with another driver.
Race 3 wasn’t incident free after a stellar run in Race 2, Spud Wood had power steering issues ending his race early at Turn 4.
Noel Edge and Michael Almond had a coming together at turn 1 on lap 3, Edge was forced to retire his Australian Conveyer Ford, whilst Almond was hit with a 5 second penalty for the incident and it also ended his race after his brakes caught on fire.
With the series lead now just down to 2 points, the V8 Utes head to Townsville for the next Round July 4-6. To relive the excitement from Darwin’s Hidden Valley, tune in to 7Mate this Saturday, 28th June at 11am.
See below top 10 results from Race 2
1 | 27 Bob Jane T-Marts/Altenzo Tyres | Kim Jane | Holden Commodore VE | 1:23.4262* |
2 | 9 Jesus Racing Team | Andrew Fisher | Ford Falcon FG | 1:23.6504 |
3 | 1 All Purpose Pest Racing | Ryal Harris | Ford Falcon FG | 1:23.4867 |
4 | 49 Hayman Reese Racing (VIC) | Jesse Dixon | Holden Commodore VE | 1:23.9920 |
5 | 6 Multispares | Ryan Hansford | Ford Falcon FG | 1:23.9094 |
6 | 22 Thirsty Camel Bottleshops | Craig Dontas | Holden Commodore VE | 1:23.9326 |
7 | 19 Jesus Racing Team | Aaron Borg | Ford Falcon FG | 1:23.8137 |
8 | 26 STRATCO Racing | Rhys McNally | Holden Commodore VE | 1:23.9209 |
9 | 68 Rentco Transport Equipment Rentals | Kris Walton | Ford Falcon FG | 1:23.6557 |
10 | 8 Sieders Racing Team | David Sieders | Ford Falcon FG | 1:23.9330 |
Click here to view full results from Race 2
See below top 10 results from Race 3
1 | 8 Sieders Racing Team | David Sieders | Ford Falcon FG | 1:23.1582* |
2 | 68 Rentco Transport Equipment Rentals | Kris Walton | Ford Falcon FG | 1:23.3073 |
3 | 6 Multispares | Ryan Hansford | Ford Falcon FG | 1:23.1854 |
4 | 26 STRATCO Racing | Rhys McNally | Holden Commodore VE | 1:23.9205 |
5 | 27 Bob Jane T-Marts/Altenzo Tyres | Kim Jane | Holden Commodore VE | 1:24.1390 |
6 | 22 Thirsty Camel Bottleshops | Craig Dontas | Holden Commodore VE | 1:24.2011 |
7 | 49 Hayman Reese Racing | Jesse Dixon | Holden Commodore VE | 1:24.3450 |
8 | 9 Jesus Racing Team | Andrew Fisher | Ford Falcon FG | 1:24.4561 |
9 | 67 JMG Racing/IXL | Jeremy Gray | Ford Falcon FG | 1:24.3351 |
10 | 19 Jesus Racing Team | Aaron Borg | Ford Falcon FG | 1:24.7203 |
Click here to view full sessions from Race 3
See below top five ARMOR ALL Drivers Championship Results
1 | Rentco Racing | Kris Walton | 366 |
2 | Sieders Racing | David Sieders | 364 |
3 | Jesus Racing | Andrew Fisher | 312 |
4 | Thirsty Camel Racing | Craig Dontas | 302 |
5 | Hayman Reese Racing | Jesse Dixon | 300 |
Click here to view full Series Results
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