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Craig Baird racing in the NZ V8s - Source: SportProMedia -
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Aucklander Andy Booth dominated the fifth round of the New
Zealand V8 motor racing championship series in Invercargill on
Sunday.
The Holden driver earned a race win, a second and a ninth to score
more points than anyone else and take the round win at Teretonga,
although Hamilton's Kayne Scott still holds the overall
championship lead with two rounds remaining.
"It's been a long time since we've had a round win," two-time
series champion Booth said.
"We came here hoping to be fast and the car's been fantastic.
"It's especially good to see us in third and Baird (Craig Baird) in
fourth closing the gap to Kayne Scott and Johnny Mac (John
McIntyre) at the top of the points table."
Scott leads the series with 829 points, 32 ahead of McIntyre, with
Booth in third on 709, followed by Baird on 693.
Weather, mechanical failures and technical regulations created
issues for the entire V8s field.
The rain-delayed first race on Saturday was actually won by
Nelson's McIntyre, who was then excluded from the results due to a
technical infringement regarding the width of his wheel
track.
Second-placed Booth benefited from McIntyre's disappointment to
take the maximum 75 points for a race win.
The mandrel - a pulley on the front of the engine - on Kayne
Scott's Ford broke, meaning first the power steering and then the
water pump failed in the first race.
Despite the increasing engine temperature, Scott managed to keep
the car running long enough to cross the line and score points for
13th place.
The second race was won by Gold Coast-based expatatriate New
Zealander Craig Baird in a convincing manner, just minutes after he
won a Porsche GT3 race.
"With just six more races in the championship, things are certainly
getting closer on the leaderboard," said Baird, who was in the
unique situation of starting a race with only nine
competitors actually on the grid after the other 13 competitors
were caught in pit lane after a late change to wet tyres as rain
started to fall during the warm-up laps.
The reverse grid race was won by Auckland's Angus Fogg, the victory
providing the Ford driver with some consolation after he
suffered an alternator failure in the first race and failed to
finish.
