Heading to the opposite side of the country has produced a frustrating fifth placing for Dave "Sideways" Sieders for the second round of the Australian V8 Ute Racing Series at Barbagallo Raceway (WA) this past weekend, 16-18th May 2014.
Having won the Perth round in 2013, and the opening round this year at Adelaide, the 29 year old from Londonderry in Sydney's West struggled to get his Alspec / Invis-Gard FG V8 Ute to the front of the field in the cross-country challenge, dropping 31 points to round winner, Kris Walton, who also picked up the Championship lead from Sieders.
"Most people probably wouldn't call it a 'bad' weekend, but we set ourselves pretty high expectations and aspirations for this year, so to only come away in fifth is definitely disappointing," said Sieders, "we had pace to pole and win the round last year, but we just didn't seem to have it from the start this weekend".
"There were a few issues this weekend, and we dropped too many points sorting those out, so yeah, definitely disappointed with the result for the round, and no one ever likes losing the Championship lead."
Last year's Perth round of the V8 Utes saw Sieders snare his 10th championship pole position, with the introduction of a 'Formula One inspired' three-part qualifying session, however, the three-time top series qualifier couldn't match the quickest times set in the final part and would start race one from fifth position.
"We came out of the second practice session with the fastest three sectors of any driver, although we didn't line them up, but in qualifying, we just didn't have the outright speed, and I unusually locked the right front a few times."
Starting from the third row, Sieders continued to lack the pace to progress up the field, but managed to maintain his position despite coming under attack former Barbagallo Raceway lap record holder, Kim Jane, having narrowly avoided catastrophe with a car stopped on track over a blind crest into 'the bowl'.
"Eight laps into the first race we came over turn five in a tight train, and somehow I missed [Matt] Nolan's parked car, by centimetres, unfortunately, George [Miedecke] wasn't quite so lucky behind us," said Sieders, "we're still lacking the pace we believe we should have, but held out Kim Jane later in the race to finish where we started".
A reverse grid of 19 saw Sieders starting the second race in 15th position, and having found a little more pace, he was able to work his way inside the top ten, staying ahead of three of the four cars inverted (from race one) behind him.
"We definitely found some better pace for the second race, and found our way up six places to finish ninth," said Sieders, "it also felt good to move up further than Ryal [Harris], Ryan Hansford and [Andrew] Fisher after race one".
The final race of the weekend had Sieders starting in the same position he started the weekend, and had found himself pushing for a podium position for the race and round, however, a missed gear on lap four saw him slip from fourth to seventh, and losing a final spot on the final lap to finish eighth.
"We went into the last race equal third for the round, and I was pushing hard to get past Dixon to cement that podium," said Sieders, "after getting the job done around the outside on the final turn, I missed a gear coming onto the straight and ended up dropping that spot and two more by turn one."
Sieders' 105 points had him finish the round in fifth place, however, Kris Walton's dominating 136 point haul was enough to take the top spot in the Championship by nine points.
"We took too long to find our pace, and it sort of became one of those 'Championship defining' weekends, when how you perform when you're not at the front can play a big part at the end of the year, and we're still within 10 points."
The V8 Ute Racing Series will head to Hidden Valley Raceway in the Northern Territory for the next round on 20-22 June 2014, where Sieders will be pushing to grab the Championship lead back.
"Darwin is a track that we have traditionally been strong at, so after this weekend, all I can say is, 'bring it on'."
