Fogg wins race 1 at Ruapuna
Kayne Scott took his Fujitsu Ford to record beating pole position in the third round of the BNT V8s Championship in Christchurch on Saturday, but it was LG Ford driver Angus Fogg who took the first win of the weekend.
Racing at Powerbuilt Raceway at Ruapuna Park, Hamilton-based Scott was fastest in each of the three qualifying sessions.
The former V8s champion’s – and five-time Tranzam champion – pole-winning time was 1:30.135, more than one hundredth of a second under the V8s class lap record of 1:30.267 set by Paul Pedersen in 2005 for the twisty technical Ruapuna circuit. Although the lap record can only be broken during actual races, Scott’s time is indicative of the increasingly intense pace at the front of the BNT V8s field.
With the second quickest time – also under the lap record – was Angus Fogg in the LG Ford who then got a brilliant start against Scott to lead the 24-strong V8 field into the first corner.
“I was watching for the green light and just went,” said Fogg, who leaps from 16th to 11th in the points’ standings with the 75 points earned for a BNT V8 race win. “It certainly helps with the championship points to get a win or two.”
Chasing Fogg, Scott also had to battle a fast-starting Craig Baird in the United Video Ford, but held on for second while Baird was pleased to get a podium finish in the BNT V8s class after a dominant win in the Porsche GT3 Cup class earlier in the day.
Baird’s swift move down the inside during the rolling start took him passed Andy Booth (Big Ben Pies Holden) and John McIntyre (Talley’s Ford) in the second row. Booth and McIntyre then battled for fourth and fifth place virtually for the entire 12 lap race with McIntyre getting passed Booth at one point, but Booth regaining the advantage on the very next bend.
“That makes three Waikato – or ex-Waikato – boys in the top three,” laughed Fogg who was originally from Cambridge while Baird, who now lives on the Gold Coast, was originally Hamilton.
“It’s nice to be in the lead points-wise,” commented Scott. “Angus had an exceptional start and I’d actually like to do that start all over again!”
Baird said it’s important not to overdrive the V8. “With the Porsche you can push them hard everywhere and these are a good fun car, but you can’t push them so hard. It’s good to be here, having finished third.”
From a relatively well-placed sixth on the grid, Paul Manuell in the Orix Holden suffered a broken throttle cable on the last lap, while Andrew Porter also suffered engine problems in the Hydraulink Ford and Boyd Norwood’s weekend was over after qualifying with a gearbox failure.
Christchurch’s Andy Knight and Eddie Bell finished sixth and seventh respectively with trouble-free races while, in eighth, Tim Edgell had a stronger run that reflected his quick testing times on Friday after changing a problematic gearbox after qualifying. Paul Pedersen bought the Tigercat Ford home in ninth to move from sixth to fourth on the points’ table and another Christchurch driver Adam Brook wrapped up the top ten.
The starting grid for Sunday’s first race of 16 laps is determined by the finishing order of race one. Fogg says he has a gearbox to strip overnight for the LG Ford. “The reshuffle of the grid sees Baird behind me now, so that could change things.”
The weekend’s third race is a full reverse grid battle with the starting order determined by adding together the points from the first two races and then reversing the order. Race two is scheduled to run at 11:30am on Sunday 30 November and the 20-lap reverse grid race at 4:20pm on Sunday afternoon, all with rolling starts.
