Dave Sideways Sieders has missed out on his eighth podium in nine rounds with a final race incident in the Auto One V8 Ute Seriesprotected by Armor All at Townsville this past weekend, 5-7 July 2013.
The 29 year-old, from Londonderry in Sydneys West, entered the last race in third place for the round, but was turned around in the opening lap and his last place finish left him in eighth for the round.Its just really disappointing, said Sieders, we had such great pace out there, but weve come away with nothing to really show for it.I really enjoy this track, it flows really well, and also has some really technical aspects, but itd just be nice to get a good result from a weekend here.
Entering the round 29 points off the lead of Ryal Harris, Sieders had the gap down to 25 points entering the last race, however, has now left Townsville in third place in the ENZED Drivers Leaderboard, two points out of second and 47 away from the lead.The Championship chase has become a bit harder, and its definitely more frustrating when youre on a charge and get turned around, said Sieders, but its not too bad at this point, we are only at the half way point, so theres plenty of racing to go before anyone can really start celebrating.
Topping the opening practice session, Sieders was happy with the set-up of the car out of the truck, and qualified third in the three-part session, with an error costing him a likely pole position.We had a good think about set-up before we left Sydney, and didnt touch it right through to race one, said Sieders, I had a bit of a moment on my best lap in the final qualifying session, which cost me four-tenths, and only missed pole by less than five-hundredths.The opening races were largely uneventful for the two-time Series Runner-up, with Sieders finishing both sessions in his starting positions of third and ninth (with the top 11 finishers inverted for race two).
We suffered a bit of brake fade in the first two races, which almost had me in the wall at one point, and couldnt stick with the [Kim] Jane and [Nathan] Pretty in the first one, said Sieders, I cooked the fronts on the restart in race two, which allowed Ryal [Harris] through, and was almost able to capitalise with dramas ahead of me at the end of the race, but had to settle for ninth.In the final, Sieders started from sixth position, ahead of Ryal Harris and Craig Dontas who were the two behind him for the weekend, but going into turn two he was turned around by Dontas and hit by Phonsey Mullen, which dropped him to the rear of the field.I felt the first tap on the rear and thought that it was the usual nose-to-tail into turn two, but then [Dontas] tried to squeeze down my side and spun me out in front of other cars.
Sieders was able to push himself back up to 17th, but was given a mechanical black flag for loose skirting that saw him fall to the back again and determined to at least entertain the crowd back on the track.I was lighting up the tyres and definitely living up to my nickname and getting sideways on most of the corners. I figured that if I cant entertain them with a result, Id give them something to cheer about.
The next round of the Australian V8 Ute Series isnt until 13th September 2013 at Sandown Raceway.We have a pretty decent break now, and its a good time to give everything a good going over, reset, and come back for the second half fully focussed and motivated.
