Radisich and Scott lead after round1
Paul Radisich and Kayne Scott are tied at the top of the BNT V8s championship points table following the series’ opener in Taupo.
Radisich, the Melbourne-based Kiwi racing star contesting his second season in the BNT V8s Championship, is credited with the round win courtesy of a count-back system which considers actual race placings in addition to the points.
Radisich’s win, second and seventh place give him the edge on Scott’s win, third and fifth places.
In an action-packed three-race round at the Taupo Motorsport Park, the BNT V8s delivered highly competitive racing with defending champion John McIntyre fastest in official qualifying. Former V8s champion Scott took the first race win while McIntyre set a new lap record after losing track position early in the race.
Radisich won the second rain-effected contest then Angus Fogg, in his first season with his own LG Electronics-backed team, crossed the line first in the demanding reverse grid 20-lapper. However Fogg was then disqualifed for a technical infringement. Fogg is appealing the officials’ decision, but the provisional results stand with Paul Pedersen being credited with the race win.
After the Fogg decision, Andy Booth and John McIntyre are also tied on 165 points for third place. McIntyre’s higher placings in the three races give him third overall for the Taupo round. Michael Bristow holds fifth on the points’ table.
So, one driver on pole and three different race winners after three intense races all point towards the BNT V8s’ 2008-09 championship being one of the best yet.
“We’ve had a very pleasing weekend,” said Radisich. “I think we’re about a second off the outright pace we can achieve and you have to be mechanically sympathetic to these cars compared to a V8 Supercar, but it’s good and we’re in the right place at the top of the points’ table.”
McIntyre was optimistic about the pace his brand-new Castrol Ford has, despite not being able finish higher than second. “Less than 20 points to the top of the table is nothing. We had the pace, we just didn’t have the luck at times [McIntyre came out of two opening laps further down the field than where he’d started],” said the Nelson-based 31-year-old who’s aiming for a record-breaking three consecutive New Zealand V8 titles this season.
Scott complimented other drivers on their racing behaviour, particularly during the reverse grid race which can often involve a lot of panel damage. “We have a lot of past champions – even the rookies like Baird, Williams and Bristow. They have a lot of experience and you just can’t drag away from anyone when you get past in that reverse grid race – it was incredibly hard to get past Baird and [David] Besnard too.”
A two-time V8 champion Booth was also pleased with his brand-new Big Ben Pies Holden. “For the first meeting, the car’s shown its potential. We’ve taken some big guesses with the set-up so two third places and a seventh is all good for the championship points. We’re aiming on a good day’s testing at Pukekohe before the next round.”
The rookie drivers in this season’s BNT V8s can be duly pleased with their opening round efforts. Pukekohe’s Michael Bristow is lying fifth, the 21-year-old former V8s development series champion in his first full season in the top V8 series with the Tex Onsite Ford. He’s a champion many times over, but Gold Coast-based Kiwi Craig Baird hasn’t driven a New Zealand-specification V8 for a full season before. Baird has taken over the United Video Ford run by father-in-law Garry Pedersen and came through an eventful weekend to lie eighth on the points’ table. Former Production Racing Series champion Dale Williams finished a very credible sixth in race two in the SCG Stabicraft Ford. Christchurch’s Eddie Bell is another contesting his first full V8s season; he’s now seventh ahead of the vastly-experienced Baird after the revisions to race three results which promoted Bell to second in the Metalman Ford.
