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NZV8s driver John McIntyre - Source: Photosport -
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Hamilton driver Kayne Scott won his second national V8 championship after victory in a thrilling reverse grid race in the series final at Pukekohe on Sunday.
Scott snatched the championship title by just nine points from John McIntyre, the defending champion and series leader coming into this final round.
Craig Baird won the weekend's first two races and despite pressure from Angus Fogg, Andy Booth and Tim Edgell, Scott was able to finish in front of McIntyre in both races, gaining a slim points advantage each time.
Coming into the seventh and final race of the V8 series, McIntyre led Scott by 38 points. But by the time competitors lined up for the final reverse grid race, Scott was only 21 points adrift of McIntyre and starting right behind him in the rolling start.
Amongst the confusion that often reigns in a reverse grid race, Scott drove with great skill and some luck to quickly get past McIntyre and work his way through the field.
The defining moment came on the 19th lap when Scott passed Fogg and Andrew Porter at the hairpin to snatch the lead.
Until then, McIntyre was within two or three places of Scott, holding just enough of a points advantage to keep his championship hopes alive.
But with Scott leaping into the lead as McIntyre held sixth, Scott gained a nine-point lead to take the overall championship title.
"Craig's shown us in other reverse grid races that you've got to go for it in these races, and boy, I've been listening to advice from everyone all weekend that I just had to go for it," Scott said afterwards.
"Going into turn one at the back of the field in this last race with all the grass and dirt flying is pretty scary. Then every time I looked in my rear vision mirror, thinking I'd gained a bit of a gap on John, I'd see John passing another car behind me.
"But I'm pretty happy. I didn't realise I'd won the championship until halfway down the back straight on the last lap when my team got the message through to me on the radio."
McIntyre was philosophical in defeat.
"It's just the way these things work," said the Nelson-based driver who had won the last two V8 championships back-to-back.
"When Kayne had the inside line and got past me in the reverse grid race, I had all the calculations taped to my steering wheel. I got some big passes to stay in touch with Kayne, but in the end it wasn't enough. The gap got too big and the timing was wrong."
Baird finished third in the with 1048 points to Scott's 1179 and McIntyre's 1170. Competing in his first full V8s series, Baird has also wrapped up the Porsche GT3 Cup series this weekend.
