Gold Coasters, Ryal Harris and Jesse Dixon went one/ two in the final race at Round 7 of the 2014 Australian V8 Ute Racing Series – fuelled by Hogs Breath Café at the Gold Coast 600, Sunday, 26th October.
Harris and Dixon started the race side by side, Dixon got an early jump however Harris put his nose in front at Turn 11 and the All Purpose Pest Control Ford went through under brakes into the hard left hander and on to an easy win.
“It’s an amazing feeling and it hasn’t really sunk in yet, I’m really happy for Jesse as it’s his home round as well. If we can win at Homebush we’ll be happy to walk away with three podiums and six race wins for the year, but it was really the DNF’s that have killed me. All of the mechanical failures and a bit of bad luck, that’s what’s really cost me the championship but we’ll move on and get over it and be back next year,” said Harris.
Dixon also drove his own race to come home in second and only missed out on stepping on the top step of the podium by one point, on the weekend of the tenth anniversary of his father’s passing. The young-gun has also moved into third in the Championship.“Fantastic result for everyone involved, I can’t thank the team enough for all their hard work and one point off the top step of the podium, where almost there. Congratulations to Ryal, he raced bloody hard but clean at the same time, it’s very special for me and good to do it at this event in front of family and friends is special. Bring on Sydney, I’m third in the championship now, so hopefully I’ll be on the top step,” said Dixon.
Rhys McNally was third over the line, enough to give him third overall for the Round and the West Aussie was happy to stand on podium two rounds in a row for Stratco Racing.
“I’m very happy, obviously full credit to the team, we were pretty disappointed after qualifying, 7th, so to clean up on the podium is a pretty good save, especially after hitting Jesus (Andrew Fisher) at turn 1 so it’s great to end up on podium,” said McNally.
Adam Marjoram claimed fourth in the race, his best overall round performance and enough to hand Erebus Racing the Team Award for the weekend, he also claimed the ARMOR ALL Best Presented award
David Sieders came home in fifth ahead of his championship rival Kris Walton in six. Walton still remains in the lead of the ARMOR ALL Drivers Championship by 61 points ahead of Sieders.
Ryan Hansford drove his Multispares Ford home in seventh, in front of Jeremy Gray, George Miedecke with Craig Dontas rounding out the top ten in his Thirsty Camel Holden. It was a great comeback for Dontas, who failed to qualify after electrical problems but bounced back from last on the grid to a Top 10 finish.Running top five at the time, Andrew Fisher went into the tyre barrier at turn 11 dropping him to 20th overall for the race, he still managed to pick up the Masters Award and a $100 Hogs Breath voucher.
Cam Wilson received the Hogs Breath Hard Luck Award after his third major incident in a year.
Gerard McLeod claimed the DBA Hard Braker Award and $500 cash for passing 11 Utes in Race 2.
Walton is still leading David Sieders by 61 points, heading into the final Round.
The V8 Utes will be back on track at the Sydney 500 5 – 7 December for the final Round of the 2014 Australian V8 Ute Racing Series – fuelled by Hogs Breath Café.
See below top 5 results for the ARMOR ALL Drivers ChampionshipKris Walton 850David Sieders 789Jesse Dixon 741Rhys McNally 713Ryal Harris 692
