Stratco Racing’s Rhys ‘Stormin’ McNally has claimed Race 3 and Round 4 of the 2014 Australian V8 Ute Racing Series – fuelled by Hogs Breath Café, whilst Kris Walton has increased his lead of the ARMOR ALL Drivers Championship at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, Mount Panorama, Sunday, 12th October.
McNally lead from start to finish in the 6 lap affair and had an easy run around the mountain to claim his first V8 Ute Round win.
“This is absolutely awesome, there is no better place to do this than Bathurst and get on the top step is awesome. George applied a bit of pressure, we knew what we had to do, we had to get a good start and get Nathan going up Mountain Straight and we did that. From there I wasn’t too worried at all. It was quite nice enjoying racing up here instead of being in the heat of the battle. Full credit to the Sieders team and my sponsors, Shanes Signs and Stratco so to get a good result and especially at Bathurst is amazing,” said an elated McNally.
McNally’s front row counterpart Nathan Pretty was left to battle for second with mounting pressure from Ryan Hansford and Elliot Barbour. Hansford tapping the Go Pro Holden at Turn 1, pushing Pretty off the track and back into 15th, Hansford was penalised 10 championship points (suspended) for the incident.
The incident allowed George Miedecke to push through into second position, which was enough to give him his first V8 Ute Podium since Sydney 2009 claiming third for the Round.
“We didn’t have the pace until the last race, the car was really really fast and it just didn’t seem to want to use up the new tyres so by the end of the weekend we were coming on, I really enjoyed it, it was just smart racing, just being what the utes could be, racing side-by-side without punting each other off and it has worked really well for me this weekend,” explained Miedecke.
Jesse Dixon had a great race holding on to third after Ryan Hansford ran wide coming down into Murrays Corner. Kris Walton sped home in fourth smashing his own lap record in a time of 2:31.131. The result gave Walton his first Bathurst podium claiming second for the Round and also increasing his lead in the ARMRO ALL Championship by 65 points.
“I turned up here (Bathurst) and was on the pace immediately, then we got pole taken off us and points taken off us in Race 2, I stuffed the start in Race 3 and then everything opened up and everyone started falling off the track. I’m the luckiest person out there today and for Sieders to have had a bad race has opened up championship for us, which is great. But we really need to smarten up our act, so we don’t have race points taken off us in the next round,” said Walton.
There was non-stop action coming into the chase in the second last lap of the race when David Sieders bumped his Sterling Automotive Equipment Ford into the side of Barbour’s Just Car Insurance Holden, Ryal Harris got sideways trying to avoid Sieders but did the opposite coming back onto the track at high speed and tagging the rear of Sieders. Sieders ended with a flat tyre, limping around to the cutting where he ended his race relinquishing valuable championship points in the process.
Barbour came home in 5th and Kim Jane in 6th, ahead of Adam Marjoram who posted one of his best results this year in 7th. JMG Racing’s Jeremy Gray and Sam Barry also posted personal bests for the year, Gray in 8th and New Zealander Barry in 9th.
Harris managed to hold on to 10th spot in his All Purpose Pest Control Ford, however was hit with a 10 championship point penalty for contact with Andrew Fisher on Lap 1, (turn 2 at the Chase) and Fisher later retired with a Broken Shifter half-way up Mountain Straight.
The sting in Fisher’s tail was softened a little however as he didn’t go home empty handed claiming the Masters Award and a $100 Hogs Breath Café Gift Voucher for his trouble.
Phillip Woodbury was running in 10th position when he and Danny Buzadzic made contact at Murray’s Corner. To those that were watching on TV, Buzadzics’ Western General Body Works Ute disappeared into the Supercheap Auto virtual logo; he did return to the track and finished the race in 19th. Woodbury wasn’t so lucky and retired his Wallerawang Engineering Ford in the Pits but went home with the Rookie Award and a $100 Hogs Breath Café Gift Voucher.
Craig Dontas’s luck was finally changing finishing the race just outside the top ten (11th), however the start of his weekend didn’t go so well with radiator problems and he earned himself the Hogs Breath Café Hard Luck Award.
With two of their drivers finishing in the top ten, Jeremy Gray and Rhys McNally, Sieders Racing claimed the Team Award for the weekend.
Andrew Nickolls walked away with the ARMOR ALL Best Presented Award with his Team Kleen Racing Holden.
Walton now has a comfortable lead over David Sieders by 65 points Nathan Pretty remains in third position on 615 points only 3 points ahead of Jesse Dixon and Rhys McNally has moved back into the top 5.
The V8 Utes will head to the Castrol Edge Gold Coast 600 on the Streets of Surfers Paradise for the penultimate round of the 2014 Australian V8 Ute Racing Series – fuelled by Hogs Breath Café.
See below top ten results from Race 3
1 26 STRATCO Racing Rhys McNally Holden VE 2:31.61072 88 iSeek Racing/Wake Up George Miedecke Holden VE 2:31.66463 49 Hayman Reese Racing Jesse Dixon Holden VE 2:32.24064 68 Rentco Transport Equipment Rentals Kris Walton Ford FG 2:31.1318R5 57 Just Car Insurance Elliot Barbour Holden VE 2:32.24436 27 Bob Jane T-Marts/Altenzo Tyres Kim Jane Holden VE 2:32.51987 5 Auto One Adam Marjoram Holden VE 2:32.89138 8 67 JMG Racing/IXL Jeremy Gray Ford FG 2:32.00579 13 Peters Motorsport/BEL Group Sam Barry Ford FG 2:32.437210 1 All Purpose Pest Racing Ryal Harris Ford FG 2:31.9509
See below top 5 ARMOR ALL Championship Results1 Kris Walton 7402 David Sieders 6753 Nathan Pretty 6154 Jesse Dixon 6125 Rhys McNally 598
