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< BACK | Round Six: Invercargill (8-9 March, 2008)
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Yet another great race weekend.
Only a week after collecting the round win at Timaru we were down to Invercargill to try and do it again, I wasn't expecting it to be a good round for us as Teretonga has such a long straight which you come onto in 2nd gear. And as I was carrying a massive 70kg of reward ballast, the long straight was going to make the weekend hard.
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Qualifying:
Qualifying was on a dry track and I managed to put in some great times to have me starting of Grid 2 with Dane Fisher on pole and Jason West on P3. So this gave us alot of confidence for the weekend and it all went good from here.
Race 1:
I had an excellent start and managed to get in behind Dane who started on pole. I sat behind him for a couple of laps which we both together put in some great times to gap the rest of the Suzuki's. On lap 3 Dane ran wide into turn 1 and left a gap on the inside which I dived into. I made the pass and led Dane for the next 2 laps. On lap 6 Dane came in pretty hot up the inside of me into the Elbow (final turn) which I backed off and was happily enough to just sit behind him to the finish. We were happy with this race as we only wanted to be consistent this weekend.
Race 2:
I once again had a great start from grid 2 beside Dane and managed to get passed him by turn 1. At this stage the track was still damp and I was able to put together some very fast lap times in these conditions and pull away to a 4 second gap to the rest of the field. I was able to cruise for the rest of the race and I won this race very comfortably. Dane was 2nd with Paul Hinton 3rd.
Race 3:
Starting from grid 10 and with my straight line speed I really did think I was going to struggle in this race. It was all go at the start with cars going everywhere, this saw Paul Hinton spearing of the track backwards and into the tyre wall. Very unfortunate for him. I had a clean race and made my way to 5th. Brock Barrie took the race win from grid 6, Dane 2nd, Joel Thrupp 3rd, Mark Whyte 4th and me in 5th.
It was a very successful weekend for the team as we were 2nd for the round, I have also extended my championship lead to 132 points over Brock Barrie with Mark Whyte still in 3rd.
With 70Kg of weight in the car we are still proving we can win races and be ultra competitive, a big thank you to the team for the great handling car and all the hard work you all put in over the race weekends.
With 1 round left in 3 weeks time at Manfeild we are looking pretty good for the championship as long as we keep it on the track. We look forward to it!
Until then I have next weekend off where I will do some final kart testing as I have the NZ kart championships on at Easter weekend, the week before Manfeild. With the current karting results and times I have been doing lately I should have a good shot at this title and will keep everyone updated.
Thanks very much to Hollands Suzuki Cars for supplying a new Vitara for the weekend and there ongoing support.
Also thanks to Mag and Turbo Warehouse, Hollands Suzuki Cars, Winger, Suzuki NZ and GE money.
Cody McMaster
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