2019-2020
Ryco 24.7 V8 ute Championship
Round 1 Pukekohe Park Raceway - 29 Nov thru 01 Dec 2019
Initially the first serious outing for our 811 V8 Ute seemed miles away but then all of a sudden race weekend was upon us!
Kevy and I started setting the ute up in his Tauranga workshop on Thurs night. We concentrated on a few jobs to make trailer loading a little easier. Plus after completing a wheel alignment we loaded up late on thursday night then daybreak on Friday it was off to Pukekohe. I didn't really have any idea what to expect and was pleasantly surprised on how helpful everyone was around the paddock. This was great especially since I was there without any crew whatsoever.
So Friday consisted of two practice sessions and apart from straightlining Pukekohe's notorius turn 5 on the back straight I did okay. Then in the second session I had a spin when entering the same corner too fast, limit found lol.
Then onto Saturday it was qualifying and then Race 1. I was absolutely stoked to have Shannon and Cam on hand to help out for the day which I think gave me a little more confidence, "Thanks Team!". I qualified 16th out of 17 utes with a 1:21.926 which I was told was really good for a first time out. Even had some other teams patting me on the back, WOW! It's here I wanna mention on how welcoming the whole paddock is, especially other drivers and pit crews. Awesome stuff :)
From there it was onto the start grid for Race 1. I virtually had to pinch myself because there I was lining up on the grid for my first ever hard track race and it was a Motorsport NZ sanctioned National Championship Event! We got the light sequence and I promptly launched the ute off the line and overtook several cars before turn 1. I guess I surprised myself a bit cos I slowed too early for the corner and lost those places as quickly as I'd gained them haha. Upon completing the race and returning to our pit I was pumped and really surprised that we had gained a couple of places even though my lap times were still 6secs slower than the top drivers.
Onto Sunday's racing and Race 2 for the weekend was a reverse grid deal for the top 10 while 811 was leaving from grid 14. Again I nailed the start and managed to race between two utes ahead of me, then there was all manner of carnage breaking out ahead so I backed off only to lose those spots again. Other than that the race was trouble free for us and I was amazed to discover we had scored an 11th place finish.
Onto Race 3 being the final race for the weekend starting grids are determined by points from previous races. So 13th out of 17 starters had us leaving from grid 13. For some reason I nailed the start again and immediately passed Joe "The Yank" before turn 1 then he got me again into the turn. I really have to sort that shit out! lol. Had a fantastic dice in this race with Greg "Kroefy" who is another newcomer to the V8 Ute category. He eventually got past me when I slowed too early for that damned turn 5 so back to 14th place finish. Gotta tell ya I just didn't care cos I'd just had the uttermost fun in ages. Just check out the smiles on our faces as Kroefy and I got out of the race seats :)
On checking lap times I discovered that I had reached the goal of getting into a 1:20 sec lap around Pukekohe which was 2secs faster than when I started the weekend and now only 4secs off the pace of the guns up front.
Although I'm not bothered about immediate results this is very encouraging for such a short time in the seat. We now look forward to Round 2 of the Ryco 24.7 V8 Ute Championship which is 31st Jan thru 2nd Feb at Hampton Downs.
I can't wait cos I'm still buzzin! Thanks so much to the staff at Pukekohe, the Ryco 24.7 team and to our category manager Cherie, Top Job everyone!
Thanks so much to Cam and Shannon for making time to help out on Saturday. I will never forget that first race :)
Till Round 2, Cheers ... Flash
