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< BACK | Round Seven: Manfeild (29-30 March, 2008)
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What a great successful season it has been in the Suzuki swift sport cup car.
The championship came to an end on the weekend at Manfeild race circuit and what an awesome end to the season it was.
Going into the weekend I had an 132 point lead, so I only had to finish 2 of the 3 races within 5 places of Brock Barrie to win the championship.
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We knew it was going to be hard to win this weekend as we had 70kg of reward ballast in the car and last time in Manfeild we almost struggled with 50Kg.
Qualifying:
Qualifying went well but not as good as we liked where we were 8th fastest but within 1 tenth of a second of grid 3. We were still pretty happy and had no pressure as we only had to finish.
Race 1:
From grid 8 I really just stayed in 8th from start till finish to stay out of trouble and bring the car home nice and straight. With the main objective to rack up some more points.
Race 2:
Once again from grid 8. The track was very wet this time which made things a lot different. I had a great start and got up to 4th place but throughout the race slowly went back to 8th as I was getting past down the outside of the straight where there was nothing I could do about it.(Due to the weight factor) From this result the championship was mine!!! I was so stoked and it was an amazing feeling to have all the pressure taken off me as I had won the first ever Suzuki Swift Cup Championship and did not have to worry at all bout the last race.
Race 3:
I started this from grid 3 and had a good start going straight into 1st place. I lead this race till about lap 6 when I got passed down the straight. I slowly went backwards in this 16 lap race and finished the race in 8th. A lot of competitors were going all out in this last race of the championship and as I had nothing to gain or loose I cruised to bring the car home with no panel damage to my applauding crew.
I was awarded 1st Place for 2007 / 08 Suzuki swift sport cup and also 1st for class A production class. I was also fortunate enough to be awarded rookie of the year.
The season has been awesome and has been a great way to learn all the tracks as well as working with a great group of guys on and off the track.
Thank you so much to Suzuki NZ for giving me this opportunity to drive one of these awesome swifts and I can see that this class is going to take off huge in the future.
Thank you also to Paul Burburough and Simon Elliot from Winger for running me for the season and helping me achieve this Championship win. Darren Stevens from Suzuki NZ for everything hes done. Thanks to my sponsors Hollands Suzuki Cars and Mag and Turbo warehouse for all your help and support for the season and also to series sponsors GE money, Winger and Dunlop. I'd like to make a big thanks to my mum and dad for all their support throughout the season and all the other Suzuki drivers for making it such a great enjoyable season.
I look foward to next season and providing sponsors and supporters with some more great results.
Cody McMaster |
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