Ryal “The Kid” Harris has made history as the first driver to claim three V8 Ute titles after finishing 10th in Race 2, which was won by Nathan Pretty at the final Round of the 2015 East Coast Bullbars Australian V8 Ute Racing Series at the Coates Hire Sydney 500, Saturday, 5th December.
Harris was leading the ARMOR ALL Drivers Championship by 80 points over teammate George Miedecke heading into the race and just had to remain in front, but when Miedecke suffered a throttle issue putting the Ute into limp mode early in the Race and dropped back to 22nd, Harris just had to finish the race to be crowned the 2015 Champion.
“I’ll be able to sleep now, I haven’t slept too well the past two nights but I’ll have a proper celebration tomorrow as it hasn’t really kicked in yet, but we’ll be able to go out tomorrow now and have a really good crack. I’m unchained now so I’ll just have to make sure not to run in to anyone,” explained an elated three-time V8 Ute Champion Harris.
Nathan Pretty claimed his first Race win for the year after beating Gerard McLeod off the front row; he easily held the lead for the remainder of the Race.
“I can’t believe that’s my first one, It’s pretty tough at this age so I’ll take ‘em anyway I can get ‘em,” he said with a grin. “I had to check out, I had my little friend (Dontas) near me and didn’t want to have a repeat of the Gold Coast, we’ll start on the front row tomorrow and hopefully end with a high,” said Pretty.
Just Car Racing’s Craig Dontas moved into second by the end of the first lap and held off pressure from Gerard McLeod for most of the race to walk away with second, however was hit with a 5 second penalty for a jumped start and moved back to third, with McLeod finishing second overall.
McLeod held off a late assault from Rentco Racing’s Kris Walton who moved up two spots in the race to finish in fourth.
David Sieders bought his Mango Credit Holden home in fifth ahead of Rhys McNally in sixth, Ryan Hansford in seventh, Jesus Racing’s Andrew Fisher in eighth, Kim Jane was ninth in his 350th V8 Ute race start, and Harris claimed tenth to walk away with the Championship.
With Miedecke’s unfortunate finish, he will now have to watch his back to walk away with second in the Series, Kris Walton is only six points behind him and only 44 points separates second to sixth in the Series (Adam Marjoram 3rd), Gerard McLeod (4th) and David Sieders (5th)) and 70 points up for grabs in tomorrow’s final Race of the 2015 East Coast Bullbars Australian V8 Ute Racing Series at 10:35am.
“It was a reoccurrence of our throttle dramas at Townsville so it was an electronic fault. I was racing as normal and then the car just stopped, I was thinking …not again!! It’s such a shame, I’d done a good enough job to be comfortable second in the Series but now I really have to push hard tomorrow. I should start ninth or tenth but Kris (Walton) will be right up there I’ve got an uphill battle unfortunately but I’ll put my head down and go for it,” said Miedecke.
See below top Series Standings in the ARMOR ALL Drivers Championship1 58 Ryal Harris Ticketsandtours.com.au 11402 35 George Miedecke iSeek Racing/ Miedecke Motorgroup 10343 68 Kris Walton Rentco Transport Equipment Rentals 10284 5 Adam Marjoram Auto One Racing / Erebus Motorsport 10215 50 Gerard McLeod Ryco 24-7/ Transco MFG Australia 10136 3 David Sieders Mango Credit 990
