McConville and Walton star in Sandown V8 Ute Wins

Cameron McConville claimed his first round win and second race win (Race 3) at round 7 of the Auto One V8 Ute Racing Series - protected by Armor All, whilst rookie Kris Walton claimed his first V8 Ute Race win on debut in Race 2, Sunday, 20th November at Sandown Raceway, Victoria.  The top 14 reverse grid Race 2 saw Thirsty Camel's Craig Dontas and No Limit Energy backed Sean Carter start on the front row; with Carter under immediate pressure from Gary Baxter on the flag fall. Baxter then overtook Dontas to take the lead while series leader Chris Pither moved through the pack from 8th to second by lap 3. The two held the top spots until an incident on lap 8, which saw Andrew Fisher's Jesus Racing Ford squeezed between Ryal Harris, Pither and Johnson, which turned Fisher's car on its side in mid air facing the traffic on landing. Unable to open the door as it was jammed against the tyre wall, Fisher was forced to sit there until the tow truck came to pull him out. The Sydneysider was ok after the incident however the hit was so hard it burst two tyres on landing. Newcomer Kris Walton had moved through the field from 16th into fifth when the incident occurred and drove well to avoid the carnage and move on to claim his first ever V8 Ute win.  "I felt pretty good at the end of it. To come to my first round and pull out a win on my first meeting is pretty exciting. I would like to come back, but it just comes down to sponsorship from now on but it would be great to come back and race again, I've really enjoyed my time in the Ute," said Walton. Nandi Kiss and David Sieders also went blow for blow with Kiss nailing Sieders three times between Turn 1 and 4. The Holden driver's bonnet flew up as he continued to race, with Kiss finally turning Sieders around, and also ending up in the tyre wall as a result. Race officials excluded Kiss for the remainder of the race meeting. Grant Johnson finished in second ahead of Chris Pither, Gary Baxter in fourth and Craig Dontas in fifth. McConville claimed sixth in front of Carter from Charlie O'Brien and Kim Jane.  Ryan Hansford had a great drive from position 31 to finish in tenth overtaking 20 cars to claim the SS Inductions Hard Charger Award and $500 cash. Nathan Pretty also had a great drive to claim 11th overall and also taking 20 utes on the way, however he missed out on the Hard Charger Award by a count back to the highest finishing result.  McConville started on the front-row for the final race alongside reigning champion Grant Johnson and dominated right from the start to finish 2 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.  "The home track advantage obviously helped us. Our Bundaberg Holden has been getting better at every round. We came third at Townsville and second on the Gold Coast. The main objective this weekend was to come away with a win. It was also nice to focus on one job for the weekend, perhaps that tells me something for next year. Big thanks to Paul, Dave and Rod for their efforts on the car all year," said McConville. Kris Walton moved into second by lap 5 and took the reigning V8 Ute champion on the first turn in lap 6 to move into second, which he held onto for the remainder of the race, gaining on McConville each lap.  "The ute was great. It was really fast, we were slowly gaining on McConville but he had too much of a lead to make much of a dent," said Walton.  Grant Johnson came home in third position, which gave him second for the Round. Series leader Chris Pither drove home in fourth for the race and has increased his Series lead by 46 points and is feeling confident heading into the final round in two weeks time.  "I'm feeling pretty good, my aim for the weekend was to maintain my points lead that we had and we've more than doubled it, so I'm pretty happy. With one more round to go, anything can happen but a bit of the pressure is off and we'll keep driving to take the championship," said Pither.  Kim Jane claimed fifth for his 200th race, which cemented third position for him for the round. Jane ended the round on equal points with Johnson but due to Johnson's higher finish in Race 3 he went home with the Bronze instead.  Gary Baxter claimed sixth in his Sage Automation Ford ahead of David Sieders in seventh, Rhys McNally in eighth, Andrew Fisher in ninth and Ryan Hansford in tenth. Sean Carter drove well to end just outside the top ten in 11th. The V8 Utes will head to the Sydney Telstra 500 for the final round of the 2011 Auto One V8 Ute Racing Series - protected by Armor All, 2nd - 4th December. See below top ten results from Race 2 1 68 Talbrace Steel Fixing /V8 Race Kris Walton Ford Falcon XR8 BF 1:24.83* 2 1 Hi-Tech Motor Sport Grant Johnson Holden SS VE 1:25.05  3 42 Ice Break Racing Chris Pither Holden SS VE 1:24.84  4 3 Sage Automation /Roof Seal Gary Baxter Holden SS VE 1:25.34  5 22 Thirsty Camel Racing Craig Dontas Holden SS VE 1:25.96  6 61 Bundaberg Racing Cameron McConville Holden SS VE 1:25.47  7 28 No Limit Energy Drink Sean Carter Holden SS VE 1:26.55  8 15 Future Assist Group Charlie O'Brien Ford Falcon XR8 BF 1:26.04  9 27 Bob Jane T-Marts Kim Jane Holden SS VE 1:26.38  10 6 Truckline Racing Ryan Hansford Ford Falcon XR8 BF 1:26.15  Click here <http://login.ireach.com.au/ch/16769/2d7y0kq/1561546/01a06jv4x.html to view full results from Race 2.  See below top ten results from Race 3.  1 61 Bundaberg Racing Cameron McConville Holden SS VE 1:25.58  2 68 Talbrace Steel Fixing /V8 Race Kris Walton Ford Falcon XR8 BF 1:25.29  3 1 Hi-Tech Motor Sport Grant Johnson Holden SS VE 1:25.67  4 42 Ice Break Racing Chris Pither Holden SS VE 1:25.98  5 27 Bob Jane T-Marts Kim Jane Holden SS VE 1:26.63  6 3 Sage Automation /Roof Seal Gary Baxter Holden SS VE 1:26.07  7 8 Australian Industrial Supplies David Sieders Ford Falcon XR8 1:25.64  8 26 STRATCO Racing Rhys McNally Holden SS VE 1:26.33  9 9 Jesus Racing Andrew Fisher Ford Falcon XR8 BF 1:26.37  10 6 Truckline Racing Ryan Hansford Ford Falcon XR8 BF 1:26.56  Click here <http://login.ireach.com.au/ch/16769/2d7y0kq/1561547/01a0614qg.html to view full results from Race 3.  See below top five results for the ENZED drivers championship 1 Chris Pither 838  2 Ryal Harris 792  3 David Sieders 783  4 Grant Johnson 776  5 Nathan Pretty 730

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