David “Sideways” Sieders has lead home a double podium for the Sieders Racing Team, with Second Outright for Round Four of the Auto One V8 Ute Series – protected by Armor All at Hidden Valley Raceway this weekend, 15-17th June 2012.
Collecting his second Pole Position for 2012, and two Race Wins in his Buttsworth Industrial Supplies-backed FG Ute, Sieders was equal on points for the round with Ryal Harris, but relegated to second place overall, with Jesus Racing’s Andrew Fisher (also prepared by Sieders Racing) coming in third.
“It’s great to be back on the podium,” said Sieders, “we haven’t had a double podium for the Team since Adelaide in 2010, so that’s made this one that little more special”.
“Now we just have to keep the consistency going and bag a few more results like this one,” said Sieders, “the ‘Buttsworth Bullet’ was awesome this weekend, and we picked up a great bag of Championship points”.
Coming into the round, Sieders was in Eighth Position and trailed the Championship lead of Nathan Pretty by 72 points, but after securing maximum points in three sessions, Sieders has now moved into Fourth Position, and cut the gap down to 47 points.
“Our goal ultimately is to get that number one Championship position,” said Sieders, “we cut the gap to [Nathan] Pretty by over a third in two days, so we’re pretty happy about that”.
Starting on the front row for the second time this this weekend, Sieders’ poor start in Race Three this morning had him trailing Ryal Harris into the first turn.
With two Safety Car periods, including one when Kim Jane ended up on his roof at Turn One, the race was effectively three one-lap sprints.
“I got a pretty poor start in Race Three, and there wasn’t a lot of time to get it back before we were under the Safety Car,” said Sieders, “there’s not a lot you can do when you only get three laps to get something done”.
On the second restart, for the final lap, Sieders was tight on Ryal Harris, and opted to go around the outside at Turn One.
The two ran side-by-side from turn one up to the run into Turn Four, when Harris yielded the lead, and was unable to get it back, giving Sieders his second Race Win of the round, and a two point advantage into the final race.
“I actually expected to come out of Turn One in second, but we stuck with Harris through [Turns] Two and Three, and with the better line into Four, we were able to grab the lead and get another Race Win for the year.”
Sieders was on Pole for the final race, but Harris was able to get him off the line again, and the two pulled away from the field, opening up an 8 second lead over Andrew Fisher in third.
However, with oil dropped on the track, Sieders slipped off the back of Harris with five laps to go, and with no chance of making up the 2.5 second he lost, Sieders maintained consistent pace to come home in Second Position.
“I was right on Harris, and generally recording quicker laps until that oil was dropped on the track,” said Sieders, “after I fell off his tail, there was no way I was going to make it back, so I concentrated on getting consistent laps in and take second”.
With Sieders and Harris tied on points for the weekend, Harris was given the Round Win based upon their comparative finishing positions in Race Four.
“It’s really frustrating to take two Race Wins and Pole Positions, but lose the overall Round Win,” said Sieders, “I guess next time we’ll have to take any question out of the equation”.
The Auto One V8 Ute Series next race is now not for another 16 weeks, when they return to Mount Panorama in support of the 50th Anniversary of the Bathurst 1000, 4 – 7th October 2012.
“We’ve been pretty strong at Bathurst, having won the round in 2010 and coming second last year, so we’ll be making sure we do everything possible to keep this run going and stand on that top step of the podium again.”
