The last time Dave "Sideways" Sieders steered a MangoCredit V8 Ute on the streets of Surfers Paradise he won dominated the round, and it is result he will be looking for in the penultimate round of the 2015 East Coast Bullbars Australian V8 Ute Racing Series on the Gold Coast this weekend, 23-25th October.
After a mechanical failure cost him a shot at a fifth Bathurst podium two weeks ago, the Western Sydneysider is looking to finish the year in the strongest fashion, starting by tapping into his form from the Gold Coast round of the 2012 series, where he topped every session except one.
"Bathurst was really disappointing because we had the pace to be there fighting for the podium and round win, but a fault with the crank angle sensor shut the power down and had us DNF on the last lap," said Sieders, "this is really the first time that a mechanical issue has stopped us in a race in the Utes, which was worse because we had run second in race one and at the time I had a good run on Walton and should have started the last race on the front row".
"The Gold Coast has been a real mixture of results over the years, but we've always been fast here and had three pole positions, so hopefully we can get the same sort of result as we did in 2012, where we took pole, two race wins, set a new lap record, and won the round."
The race two non-finish result at Bathurst has seen Sieders drop from second to sixth on the Series Leaderboard, and with 150 points to the leader, there is a clear focus for the final two rounds of the year.
"I think this year's Championship is only Ryal's [Harris] to lose, and although there's still a mathematical chance we're going out with nothing to lose," said Sieders, "if we can win the next two rounds we'll actually finish the year with the most round wins, so that's what we're working towards".
Rain is predicted over the weekend, which has a real chance of being Championship defining.
"This track takes a lot of commitment, and you can't afford to make a mistake or you'll find a wall," said Sieders, "if it's a wet track, there's also more chance of being taken out by someone else's mistake, which can cut down some of these points gaps quite quickly."
The V8 Utes hit the streets of the Gold Coast for an action packed opening day tomorrow for practice at 8:25am, qualifying at 2:00pm and race one at 4:40pm, with one race on Saturday at 10:30am and the final race at 10:05am on Sunday. All sessions will be live on FoxSports5.
"I'm really keen to get back on track, especially after being in the hunt for the win at Bathurst, and if we can't get to the top for the season, at least we can score a few wins to finish off the year."
