Pither breaks the ice to win the first Ute Race in Perth
Ice Break Racing's Chris Pither has claimed race one honors in Perth for round two of the Auto One V8 Ute Racing Series - protected by Armor All. Earlier in the day Cameron McConville had taken out the Armor All Pole Position Award, his first pole position since joining the category.
In a competitive qualifying session, McConville driving the Bundaberg Rum Commodore, showed his true talent behind the wheel taking pole position by less than one tenth of a second over New Zealand V8 Ute Champion Chris Pither. It was a nervous final few minutes for McConville as his Ute suffered a mechanical issue forcing him to sit out the final part of Qualifying.
Both Pither and local driver Rick Gill in the Rick Gill Motorcycles Ford were unable to match McConville's pace with Championship leader David Sieders in the Australian Industrial Supplies Falcon rounding out the top four. However a broken timing chain meant that McConville's team couldn't do an engine change in time, forcing him to sit out the first race.
"We were well and truly behind the eight ball at Clipsal but when the car rolled out of the truck here, it was so good. I told the boys it was like a different car. We were confident of getting onto the first two or three rows of the grid after practice but it was like a second faster as track conditions were perfect this morning and we got a good lap in before the timing chain broke. I love this place and have raced here for a long, long time so we'll just try and carve our way through as they say."
Less than a second separated the fastest 19 utes, with 8 Fords and 8 Holdens in the top 16 grid positions. Before the race had even started, the STRATCO Team were forced to rush to the aid of driver Rhys McNally after a tool box was left inside the rear tray as he went out on the warm up lap. Thankfully it was retrieved and Rhys was able to start the race. Pither, being the only man on the front row, leapt to an early lead as Grant Johnson showed his Barbagallo form instantly taking second position off Rick Gill into the final corner only to run wide on the exit. Nathan Callaghan, Andrew Fisher and Ryal Harris in the VIP Petfoods Falcon ran three wide managing to make it cleanly through turn one. Western Australian local Allan Letcher spun at V8 Race Corner miraculously avoiding the oncoming traffic.
The action continued when Brad Patton entered the front straight sideways showing some great car control to continue on racing without losing position. Nathan Callaghan's great race at the front came to end when he ran into the sand at the back of the circuit after the rear of the Calmack Smash Repairs Holden stepped out. Noel Edge also entered the pits with engine failure on lap 4.
A superb race for fourth between David Sieders and Kim Jane in the Bob Jane T-Marts Holden featured the two fighting for the entire race with Sieders eventually holding on to the position. Truckline Racing's Ryan Hansford spun into the sand at the final corner late in the race, after hitting coolant dropped from the Ryal Harris Ford.
Auto One wildcard driver Marcus Marshall also locked up on the coolant, and narrowly avoided bunkering the Ford. Jake McNally also spun on the exit of the final corner resulting in a black flag for spinning under yellow.
The final few laps saw a great battle between Craig Dontas in the Thirst Camel Commodore, Rhys McNally and the Coopers Clear Falcon of Jack Elsegood. With just two laps remaining Peter Burnitt had a spectacular loose on the exit of turn one after contact with Charlie Kovacs, eventually spinning to the infield and demolishing a foam sponsor board much to the delight of the big crowd. At the flag, Chris Pither was too good for local favorites Grant Johnson and Rick Gill with the Ice Break Holden taking its first victory of the year by over a second.
Pither was obviously pleased with the win. "I was looking forward to the race, as Cam was obviously pretty fast in qualifying, and it was shaping up to be a great battle. I haven't raced here before, and it's quite a unique track with some pretty cool elevation changes. It's a short lap but it's pretty busy the whole way around.
The Ice Break Holden has been hooked up since the word go and I'm just out there having fun." A Ballot draw was held to determine how many positions would be reversed for Race two, with Race one winner Chris Pither drawing the number 22 meaning the Ice Break Holden will start 22nd. Race two and three will be held on Sunday with both being telecast on Network Seven in the coming weeks.
The 2011 Auto One V8 Ute Racing Series - protected by Armor All features 32 Ford and Holden production based V8 racing utes - covering 8 championship rounds, and 25 races through five states of Australia.
The series is televised nationally on the SEVEN Network, through Fox Sports, TV3 New Zealand, Motors TV Europe and over 40 countries worldwide.
