Gary Baxter cruised to an all the way win in the Sage Automation Holden to victory in Round Six of the Yokohama V8 Ute Racing Series at Winton Raceway.
Baxter had another painless win in Race One and did well to finish in fifth position after a number 16 start off the reversed grid in Race Two.
“We set the car up for fast early laps. We try to go as fast as we can and where we end up, we end up,” said Baxter.
The South Aussie had a great start in the third race and beat WPR Racing driver Colin Corkery off the pole position in the drag race to turn one.
Corkery, who was in good spirits after his relaxed Race Two win didn’t lose too much ground and finished third overall and has pushed himself up to fifth position in the Series overall. “I knew I just had to get in front of (Kim) Jane but I wasn’t able to catch Layton,” said the pint size Kiwi hard charger.Series leader Layton Crambrook was one step behind Baxter all day coming in 6th in Race Two and had a comfortable second place result in race three and overall for the weekend despite battling the effects of salmonella for several days.
“Layton did a great job considering he was crook. He certainly is an up and coming super star,” said Baxter, who teamed with Crambrook in a V8 Supercar at Bathurst back in 2000.
2008 star Rookie, Glenn McNally did well in race two to keep Kim Jane at bay to pull off a second place finish in his immaculate SS Holden.
Jane showed trademark consistent driving as he tailed Rhys Hansford to gain third place in the dying stages of Race Two. The Queensland rookie displayed some skilled driving but was no match in the end and was overtaken in the last corner, bumping him to fourth as the chequers fell. “The weekend’s been good, I had a goal to finish in the top 16 and it has been achieved but unfortunately I had an incident on the first turn and on my own I spun Justin Van Twest. That’s the only disappointing thing that happened this weekend. Overall I’m very happy and the Wilson Brothers Racing Team have been great,” Rhys said.
There were bumps and bruises all over the track in both races as a result of some hard charging competition.
In Race Two George Miedecke continued to have no luck in the 10th corner of the track when Ryal Harris tried to pass him and the two made contact, which resulted in Miedecke swerving off the track and ending with a 27th place finish.
Miedecke’s first race dance partner, Jack Elsegood was pushed back to a 17th position Grid Start after the race one incident but managed to work his way up five places to end in 12th position.
Elsegood was lucky to make it out of the first turn in the bustling first lap of race three, which saw Gary Macdonald, Peter Burnitt, Robert Jarvis and Warren Millet in a bumper to bumper collision fight to make it through. Ryal Harris became friendly with a sponsor sign that he drove straight through – apologies to XXXX.
The top ten were glued together for the first few laps of the race until the top three split away with spots five to seven becoming a tail-gating game. Andrew Fisher who moved up six positions in the race was unable to climb past Jane in the last lap and had to contend with a 6th place finish. Meanwhile back in the track office tension built as Category Manager Craig Denyer kept a phone vigil awaiting the birth of his first grandchild from Grant Denyer’s sister, Courtney.
Sonax Premium Car Care Award for best presented car went to the Glenn McNally NRW VE SS Holden.
SS Inductions Hard Charger Award for passing the most Utes in race three went to Ryal Harris who passed 16 cars in the Global Trader Technologies Holden.
Clutch Industries Hole Shot Award for the best race start went to Steve Robinson in the Air Vanuatu XR8.
Make sure you watch all the highlights on Channel Seven from Round Five, on Saturday, September, 6th 1:30pm – 2:30pm and Round Six on, Saturday, 12th September, 2pm- 3pm.
Current Top Ten Series StandingsPos Name Car Team Points1 Layton Crambrook Ford Lamont Constructions Racing 5322 Kim Jane Holden Kim Jane Motorsport 4943 Grant Johnson Holden Grove Juice Racing 4684 Gary Baxter Holden Sage Automation Racing 4225 Colin Corkery Ford WPR Racing 3896 Ryal Harris Holden Harris Motorsport 3867 Jack Elsegood Ford Coopers Pale Ale Racing 3808 George Miedecke Ford Miedecke Motorsport 3779 Stephen Robinson Ford Howard Racing 36610 Craig Dontas Ford Roaring Lion Energy Drink Racing 346
Top Ten Race Two ResultsColin Corkery WPR Racing Ford 1:41.0341Glenn McNally Hi Tech Motorsport Holden 1:41.26Kim Jane Kim Jane Motorsport Holden 1:40.66Rhys Hansford Charlie O'Brien Motorsport Ford 1:41.19Gary Baxter Sage Automation Racing Holden 1:40.30Layton Crambrook Lamont Constructions Racing Ford 1:40.10Craig Dontas Roaring Lion Energy Drink Racing Ford 1:41.51Robert Jarvis B.V.C Racing Ford 1:41.58Justin Van Twest Big Gun Racing Ford 1:41.43Grant Johnson Grove Juice Racing Holden 1:41.56
Top Ten Race Three Results:Gary Baxter Sage Automation Racing Holden 1:40.06Layton Crambrook Lamont Constructions Racing Ford 1:40.05Colin Corkery WPR Racing Ford 1:40.04Grant Johnson Grove Juice Racing Holden 1:40.51Jack Elsegood Coopers Pale Ale Racing Ford 1:39.90Glenn McNally Hi Tech Motorsport Holden 1:40.77Stephen Robinson Howard Racing Ford 1:40.10Craig Dontas Roaring Lion Energy Drink Racing Ford 1:41.30Kim Jane Kim Jane Motorsport Holden 1:41.00Andrew Fisher Jesus. All about life Racing Ford 1:40.31
