In Darwin
Round Four of the Yokohama V8 Ute Racing Series was taken out by local Darwin driver, Layton Crambrook at Hidden Valley Raceway today. Crambrook ended the round with 109 points after winning races one and three of the event.
The former V8 Supercar star began the race from pole position and never looked back as he drove to chequered flag glory. His rivals, both Holden steerers Glenn McNally and Grant Johnson on the other hand weren’t fortunate enough to hold out their battle for the podium positions. With what looked sure to be a happy ending for both drivers, resulted in devastation after McNally t-boned his Hi-Tech Motorsport team mate Johnson on the 10th lap. Johnson returned to the track in 8th position whilst McNally was forced to retire. McNally was charged for the incident and stewards penalised him 30 points. “I got off to a good start and ran with Grant and had a really good pace with him, he was chasing hard and going into turn one - he was going to have a go so I moved over to block and in the process locked up and took out Grant. It was disappointing but at least I know I have the pace to run with the fast guys,” Mcnally said. Seeing the opportunity, Bob Jane T-marts, #27 Kim Jane, moved into second followed closely by New South Welshman Ford BF, George Miedecke in third position. Miedecke’s third overall resulted from a great start to his day after taking out the second race from the reversed 16 car grid start. The second race was action-packed with Clipsal Electrical driver Brad Patton running into his team-mate and father in law -, Peter Burnitt, which led to #14 retiring from the race and unable to compete in the final race of the day. Grove Fruit Juice Ford driver Greg Willis had his most consistent round so far, finishing comfortably in the top 20. Ford hero Jack Elsegood headed to Darwin with a fresh engine however a persistent misfire all weekend kept the Coopers Ford off the pace. “The only session we had no issue was Practise 3, when the Coopers Ute was flying and set the fastest time, however the misfire returned in qualifying and the ute was 1.5 seconds a lap slower – and stayed that way for all 3 races. We changed everything we could, however couldn’t solve the problem which is very disappointing.” Craig Dontas had a spectacular second race, which won him the “SS Inductions Drive of the Day” $500 cash for passing 18 Utes in the one race after starting at the back of the grid following a incident yesterday. Charlie Kovacs won the Sonax Premium Car Care Best Presented Award and Gary Baxter won the Clutch Industries “Hole Shot Award” for the best race start. Round Five is at QLD Raceway in Ipswich, 18th – 20th July, 2008 and looks to be an exciting Round with Crambrook leading the series on 360 points followed closely by Jane on 313 points and Johnson on 291. Make sure you watch the coverage from Round Four this Saturday, 12th July at 1:30pm on the Seven Network.
Race Three Top Ten Results1 Layton Crambrook Ford2 Kim Jane Holden3 George Miedecke Ford4 Gary Baxter Holden5 Ryal Harris Holden6 Charlie Kovacs Holden7 Jack Elsegood Ford8 Grant Johnson Holden9 Andrew Fisher Ford10 Stephen Robinson Ford
Race Two Top Ten Results1 George Miedecke Ford2 Glenn McNally Holden3 Layton Cramrbook Ford4 Charlie Kovacs Holden5 Andrew Fisher Ford6 Jack Elsegood Ford7 Ben Dunn Ford8 Grant Johnson Holden9 Kim Jane Holden10 Simon Wills Holden
Top Ten Overall Series Standings1 Layton Crambrook 3602 Kim Jane 3133 Grant Johnson 2914 Andrew Fisher 2695 Ryal Harris 2666 George Miedecke 2577 Colin Corkery 2438 Yanis Derums 2249 Gary Baxter 22410 Gary MacDonald 223
