V.I.P. Petfood's backed Ryal "The Kid" Harris claimed Race 1 today at Round 5 of the Auto One V8 Ute Racing Series - protected by Armor All at the Gold Coast, Saturday, 22nd October.
Harris started on Pole and hit the lead straight off the line and held it for the whole way, making it three poles and three race wins in a row."This is my first win at home and I'm calm and focused. Now I just want to bring it home and stay out of trouble," said Harris.
Cameron McConville had a great race bringing his Bundaberg backed Holden home in second making some great moves from his sixth position start, firstly up the inside of Nathan Pretty at the hairpin on lap 2 into third, then taking Chris Pither and David Sieders on lap 4.
"It's always good when you're going forwards and not backwards. I saw the opportunity with the passes and took them," he said.
Pretty had a fierce battle with Australian Industrial Supplies backed Sieders, who locked up and glanced the wall, dropping behind the Monster Energy Holden."I went in too hot and locked the rears and went into the wall. The steering was out for the rest of the race but hopefully we'll pick up a few spots on the reversed grid race. The car is one of the fastest out there," said Sieders.
Ice Break Racing's Chris Pither didn't have the race he was after and dropped from second to end the race in fifth ahead of Coopers Clear Racing's Jack Elsegood, who was lucky to finish the race after Rookie Ryan Hansford almost cleaned him up on lap 3, when he locked up trying to overtake and ended up in the wall.
Gold Coaster Charlie O'Brien drove his Future Assist Group Ford home in seventh ahead of Ben Dunn, who will start on Pole tomorrow after Harris drew ball number eight out of the Ballot draw for the reverse grid race. This is Dunn's first Pole for the year and he's looking to keep his Hayman's Electrical backed Ford in the front.
"It's my first pole for the season; I haven't had a win since Bathurst last year. I hope to get a clean run off the line, lead into turn one and just get on with it. Hayman's Electrical have 150 people in their box above the Vodafone pits everyday so hopefully I'll give them all something to cheer about," said Dunn.
Reigning Champion Grant Johnson crossed the line in ninth ahead of Stratco Racing's RhysMcNally who had contact from Andrew Fisher on lap 9. Fisher had brake failure causing the contact, but was lucky to put in a fast lap beforehand to claim a new lap record in a time of 1:26.42Peter Burnitt made contact with Kim Jane's Bob Jane T-Marts Holden early in the race, taking the CNW Electrical Ford out for the race with front-end-damage. Gold Coaster, Rohan Barry also hung up the helmet early after he took a run on Auto One Wildcard driver David Besnard, getting off line through the back chicane, and spinning into the wall.
Nandi Kiss broke the fan belt on lap 7 causing it to overheat so he decided to park it for the remainder of the race.
On lap 11 Jake McNally under-steered his NRW Holdings Holden into the wall at Turn 1 and was forced to DNF.
The V8 Utes are back on track tomorrow for the top 8 reversed grid Race 2 at 8:30am followed by Race 3 at 12:30pm, which will be televised live on Network Seven.
Please find below top ten results for Race 1
1 58 VIP Petfoods Ryal Harris Holden SS 1:26.89 2 61 Bundaberg Racing Cameron McConville Holden SS 1:26.7973r 3 56 Monster Energy Nathan Pretty Holden SS 1:27.0287r 4 8 Australian Industrial Supplies David Sieders Ford Falcon XR8 1:26.744 5 42 Ice Break Racing Chris Pither Holden SS 1:28.1209 6 11 Coopers Clear Racing Jack Elsegood Ford Falcon XR8 1:27.785 7 15 Future Assist Group Charlie O'Brien Ford Falcon XR8 1:27.5245r 8 99 Haymans Electrical/RedAss Mex. Ben Dunn Ford Falcon XR8 1:27.9003 9 1 Hi-Tech Motor Sport Grant Johnson Holden SS 1:27.6994 10 26 STRATCO Racing Rhys McNally Holden SS 1:27.6989
