Pither Advances In Title Race

'The Doctor' Chris Pither advanced closer to the 2009/2010 NZV8 Utes Championship title with a good start to the final round at Timaru International Motor Raceway today.

Pither took pole position and then went on to win the first two races of the weekend in his ENZED Falcon, opening his championship lead to 48 points in the process.

Pither and defending champion Caine Lobb arrived at the round with Chris holding a 40 point lead over his rival. Pithers objective was to put together a solid round and he certainly achieved that
today.

Conditions were patchy all day long but Chris put the ENZED Falcon on pole by .785 of a second while Lobb could not get a good run when the conditions were at their driest and consequently qualified down the order.

While Chris was on pole that side of the track at Timaru does not see much traffic and consequently it does not offer a lot of traction. "I used low revs at the start but Simon Beirne (who had qualified second) got the jump and led the field away." Pither dropped into trail Beirne but at the second corner the ENZED Falcon received a huge hit sending Chris onto the grass. However Pither managed to retain second place and set off in pursuit of Beirne. Pither followed until the Christchurch driver ran wide causing damage to his powersteering. Pither was through and cruised to an eight second win over Lobb who had worked his way through to second spot. On the way to victory Chris set a new lap record of 1 minute 13.342 seconds for the V8 Ute category at the twisty 2.4 kilometre circuit.

A marble draw was used to establish the grid for the second race of the round and 'The Doctor' drew marble four. That left him nicely placed and once again he was quickly into the lead,
crossing the line 10.632 seconds ahead of Lobb who again had to drive through from the back of the grid.

Just two races remain in the championship and they will both be fought out tomorrow (Sunday). The ENZED Falcon will be near the back of the grid for the first of these over 10 laps at 11.40am as the start order is based on the reverse of the marble draw race today. The final race of the championship over 8 laps is timed to start at 2.35pm.

Another good day for Pither tomorrow should see him crowned the 2009/2010 NZV8 Utes Champion.

Pither's efforts in the 2009/2010 NZV8 Ute Series are supported by ENZED, KDTraining.com and Cairns Bins.

NZV8 Utes Calendar 2009/2010:

Round 1: Taupo Motorsport Park, Taupo - 23-25 October 2009 "V8 Attack"

Round 2: Pukekohe Park Raceway, Auckland - 4-6 December 2009 "Thunder In The Park"

Round 3: Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, Meremere - 5-7 February 2010 "TRS International"

Round 4: Powerbuilt Tools Raceway, Ruapuna, Christchurch - 19 - 21 March 2010 "Powerbuilt Tools"

Round 5: Timaru International Motor Raceway, Levels, Timaru - 26-28 March 2010 "Truck & Ute Finals"

ENDS

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