Continuing from his hoodoo-breaking run at Darwin, Dave "Sideways" Sieders has taken out his first pole position in Townsville, to close out the opening day of competition for round four of the Australian V8 Ute Racing Series - fuelled by Hogs Breath Cafe this afternoon, 4th July 2014.
In a week that started with indoor sky diving for his 30th birthday, the Londonderry (NSW) resident was certainly flying out on the track to claim his 16th V8 Ute Series pole position, snatching it from his strongest rival, Kris Walton, with the pair now tied for the lead of the Series on 399 points each.
"It's great to finally get a pole here, especially since we haven't qualified very well here in the past," said Sieders, "qualifying has definitely been one of my strongest hunting grounds, and it's awesome to now be able to tick off another track".
"We got caught out by traffic pretty bad in 'Q1' today and used up our tyres more than we'd like to, so to grab that pole from Kris right at the end and tie up the Championship was definitely a great way to finish the day and start the round."
With a broken steering rack leaving Sieders without a time in the opening practice session of the day, he fought back to be second fastest in the second session, just 0.02s behind Holden teammate Rhys McNally, and was mid pack for the first two of the three qualifying runs in the Formula One inspired format, before clinching pole with two fast times.
"The day started off pretty bad, with the car struggling to turn to the right, so it was a bit of a task for the guys this morning, but they certainly turned it around," said Sieders, "this qualifying format makes progressing without burning your tyres so critical, and grabbing pole at the end with your tyres fading so quickly means you really have to line everything up".
This weekend also sees a few local businesses getting involved with the team, including a long-standing partnership with education and vocational training facility Tec-NQ, and new support from Sundown Group Security that has heads turning with a uniquely indigenous-inspired livery for this round.
"We've been partnering with Tec-NQ pretty much since this event started, including the use of their facilities prior to the round, and we have a couple of the students joining us for some hands on training," said Sieders, "we've also got new support from Sundown Group Security, which is heavily involved in the local indigenous community and has given us a great looking car this weekend".
There are three races to be run for the V8 Ute Racing Series this weekend, with two on Saturday at 8.15am and 12.35pm and the final on Sunday at 10.15am, with race broadcasts on 7Mate at 12.00pm Saturday, and 12.30pm Sunday.
"It's going to be a tough weekend, and will definitely come down to getting off the line strong tomorrow, racing hard, and avoiding any drama in the reverse grid."
