McIntyre wins first NZV8 Championship in a nail biting Finale
John McIntyre won his first Parker ENZED NZV8s Championship in the final flame-filled, action-packed race of the season.
In front of a record-breading crowd at the PlaceMakers V8 Supercar event at Pukekohe, the NZV8 title went down to the wire with McIntyre holding just a 13 point advantage over defending NZV8 champion Kayne Scott before the final race.
In the reverse grid format for this third race of each round, McIntyre held slot 27 in the BP Ultimate Ford with Scott immediately behind him in slot 29 in the Fujitsu Holden. McIntyre needed to finish within a couple of places of Scott to take the championship, but first he had to navigate 20 laps where anything could happen.
Hobsonville youngster Colin Corkery, in the Supercharge Battery Holden, had the honour of pole position for what was the last ever race on the Supercar race-card at Pukekohe. Down the back, Scott and McIntyre were surrounded by the equally hard-charging Andy Booth in the Tasman Motorsport Holden, Angus Fogg in the Star Mart Ford and David Besnard, who was back with a new engine in the Hydraulink Ford, all focused on getting to the front of the pack.
Corkery controlled the rolling start perfectly. Behind him, bold and well-executed – and some not so well-executed – passing moves were taking place, amongst them, Scott who got past McIntyre. A fourth-lap clash between John Penny and Cam Hardy turned sour when Hardy’s Holden burst into flames beside the Armco, causing officials to red flag the race until the flames were bought under control and the track cleared.
Corkery led the field away at the restart only to succumb to relentless pressure from Dean Perkins, in the GT Radial Ford, who surged into the lead and looked set to run away with the win.
However Fogg had different ideas. Having started originally in 28th, Fogg was up to 16th by the red flag. Another four laps and he was up to ninth and going strong. Fogg picked off one car after another until he loomed large in Perkin’s rear vision mirror and then finally snatching the lead from Perkins on the 15th lap.
However Fogg wasn’t celebrating as he crossed the line. “Luke Youlden was way in front of me, so I hadn’t realised I won! Just metres later my engine expired – I just couldn’t look at the gauges for the last couple of laps – the oil pressure was zero...â€Â
The many thousands of fans were cheering for both Holden and Ford as first Scott would pass a slower car, then McIntyre would repeat the move, keeping just metres from Scott’s rear bumper lap after lap. Baulked by Paul Pedersen in the Caltex Vavoline Ford for some time, Scott was admirable under pressure, attacking again and again, eventually securing a clear inside line past Pedersen at the hairpin. McIntyre also made it past Pedersen to ensure he followed Scott over the finish line, the pair finishing fifth and sixth respectively. This left McIntyre with a nine point lead over Scott, more than enough to win the championship – his first-ever NZV8 title and a particularly pleasing achievement with this being McIntyre’s first season as a team owner as well as driver.
Behind Fogg, Perkins maintained his position for a strong second place – his best result of the season, while Corkery scored the best result of his career with a fine third place. Paul Manuell was fourth in the Orix Holden, while behind Scott and McIntyre, Pak N Save Holden driver Gene Rollinson, Pedersen, Metalman Ford driver Clark Proctor and Ambi Pur Ford driver Simon Richards rounded out the top ten of the final race of the NZV8 season.
In the weekend’s second race, Scott made it another start-to-finish victory, the defending champion under varying degrees of pressure from McIntyre for the majority of the 16-lapper.
Dicing furiously behind Scott and McIntyre, Booth, Fogg, Besnard, Proctor and Pedersen had the Pukekohe V8 Supercars’ crowd cheering, until Besnard’s Ford expired in a cloud of white smoke on the fourth lap.
At times, Booth and Fogg’s attacks on McIntyre for second place gave Scott some breathing space and their, and Pedersen’s, late-breaking manoeuvres coming into Pukekohe’s first-gear hairpin showed that passing opportunities amongst these leading NZV8 drivers required a bold approach.
Fogg took third place from Booth during one of these super-heated hairpin moves and repeated the exercise to snatch second place from McIntyre, thwarting McIntyre’s desire to maintain the largest-possible points advantage over Scott before the season’s last race. Booth finished fourth, with Altherm Ford driver Andrew Fawcet, Radio Sport Holden driver Darryn Henderson, Manuell, Power Horse Holden driver Andrew Anderson and Proctor making up the top ten.
The final, provisional points tally sees McIntyre score 1104 points, Scott 1095, Fogg 1006, Besnard 917 – officially this season’s leading NZV8 rookie – and Proctor 715 points for his best series result.
The 2007-08 NZV8 calendar is expected to be released in May this year and will include seven rounds at New Zealand’s main motor racing circuits, including Pukekohe.
http://www.nzv8s.co.nz/news-inner#16
In front of a record-breading crowd at the PlaceMakers V8 Supercar event at Pukekohe, the NZV8 title went down to the wire with McIntyre holding just a 13 point advantage over defending NZV8 champion Kayne Scott before the final race.
In the reverse grid format for this third race of each round, McIntyre held slot 27 in the BP Ultimate Ford with Scott immediately behind him in slot 29 in the Fujitsu Holden. McIntyre needed to finish within a couple of places of Scott to take the championship, but first he had to navigate 20 laps where anything could happen.
Hobsonville youngster Colin Corkery, in the Supercharge Battery Holden, had the honour of pole position for what was the last ever race on the Supercar race-card at Pukekohe. Down the back, Scott and McIntyre were surrounded by the equally hard-charging Andy Booth in the Tasman Motorsport Holden, Angus Fogg in the Star Mart Ford and David Besnard, who was back with a new engine in the Hydraulink Ford, all focused on getting to the front of the pack.
Corkery controlled the rolling start perfectly. Behind him, bold and well-executed – and some not so well-executed – passing moves were taking place, amongst them, Scott who got past McIntyre. A fourth-lap clash between John Penny and Cam Hardy turned sour when Hardy’s Holden burst into flames beside the Armco, causing officials to red flag the race until the flames were bought under control and the track cleared.
Corkery led the field away at the restart only to succumb to relentless pressure from Dean Perkins, in the GT Radial Ford, who surged into the lead and looked set to run away with the win.
However Fogg had different ideas. Having started originally in 28th, Fogg was up to 16th by the red flag. Another four laps and he was up to ninth and going strong. Fogg picked off one car after another until he loomed large in Perkin’s rear vision mirror and then finally snatching the lead from Perkins on the 15th lap.
However Fogg wasn’t celebrating as he crossed the line. “Luke Youlden was way in front of me, so I hadn’t realised I won! Just metres later my engine expired – I just couldn’t look at the gauges for the last couple of laps – the oil pressure was zero...â€Â
The many thousands of fans were cheering for both Holden and Ford as first Scott would pass a slower car, then McIntyre would repeat the move, keeping just metres from Scott’s rear bumper lap after lap. Baulked by Paul Pedersen in the Caltex Vavoline Ford for some time, Scott was admirable under pressure, attacking again and again, eventually securing a clear inside line past Pedersen at the hairpin. McIntyre also made it past Pedersen to ensure he followed Scott over the finish line, the pair finishing fifth and sixth respectively. This left McIntyre with a nine point lead over Scott, more than enough to win the championship – his first-ever NZV8 title and a particularly pleasing achievement with this being McIntyre’s first season as a team owner as well as driver.
Behind Fogg, Perkins maintained his position for a strong second place – his best result of the season, while Corkery scored the best result of his career with a fine third place. Paul Manuell was fourth in the Orix Holden, while behind Scott and McIntyre, Pak N Save Holden driver Gene Rollinson, Pedersen, Metalman Ford driver Clark Proctor and Ambi Pur Ford driver Simon Richards rounded out the top ten of the final race of the NZV8 season.
In the weekend’s second race, Scott made it another start-to-finish victory, the defending champion under varying degrees of pressure from McIntyre for the majority of the 16-lapper.
Dicing furiously behind Scott and McIntyre, Booth, Fogg, Besnard, Proctor and Pedersen had the Pukekohe V8 Supercars’ crowd cheering, until Besnard’s Ford expired in a cloud of white smoke on the fourth lap.
At times, Booth and Fogg’s attacks on McIntyre for second place gave Scott some breathing space and their, and Pedersen’s, late-breaking manoeuvres coming into Pukekohe’s first-gear hairpin showed that passing opportunities amongst these leading NZV8 drivers required a bold approach.
Fogg took third place from Booth during one of these super-heated hairpin moves and repeated the exercise to snatch second place from McIntyre, thwarting McIntyre’s desire to maintain the largest-possible points advantage over Scott before the season’s last race. Booth finished fourth, with Altherm Ford driver Andrew Fawcet, Radio Sport Holden driver Darryn Henderson, Manuell, Power Horse Holden driver Andrew Anderson and Proctor making up the top ten.
The final, provisional points tally sees McIntyre score 1104 points, Scott 1095, Fogg 1006, Besnard 917 – officially this season’s leading NZV8 rookie – and Proctor 715 points for his best series result.
The 2007-08 NZV8 calendar is expected to be released in May this year and will include seven rounds at New Zealand’s main motor racing circuits, including Pukekohe.
http://www.nzv8s.co.nz/news-inner#16