2011 Rnd 6 - Gold Coast

24 Oct 2011 12:04 PM - Round 6 - NEWSLETTER by Cliff Campbell

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Welcome to Surfers Paradise on the sunny Gold Coast.
Talk about a contrast, after a 10 week break between the Townsville & Bathurst rounds, its once again full on with only a 10 day turn around between Bathurst and the Gold Coast. Things have been busy to say the least!

Practice & Qualifying

As the Gold Coast has only one practice session Charlie got his eye in early putting down the 4^th fastest time, the track was very greasy as we were the first category out for the weekend.

Qualifying went okay but it could have been cleaner, 10^th fastest was the best we could do with busy track conditions.

1    58  VIP Petfoods                   Ryal Harris (QLD)        Ford Falcon XR8      5400          9     8 1:26.6643*
2    42  Ice Break Racing               Chris Pither (NZL)       Holden SS            6000          8     4 1:26.8709  0:00.2066
3     6  Truckline Racing               Ryan Hansford (QLD)      Ford Falcon XR8      5400          6     5 1:27.0170  0:00.3527
10   15  Future Assist Group            Charlie O'Brien (NZL)    Ford Falcon XR8      5400          9     9 1:28.0838  0:01.4195

Race 1 Saturday

Starting from position 10 Charlie kept his nose clean and brought the Falcon home in 7^th position, trust me keeping out of trouble for 12 laps around Surfers Paradise is not that easy.

1    58  VIP Petfoods                   Ryal Harris (QLD)        Ford Falcon XR8      5400       12    17:37.5265   7 1:26.8962r
2    61  Bundaberg Racing               Cameron McConville (VIC) Holden SS            6000       12    17:41.0634   6 1:26.7973r
3    56  Monster Energy                 Nathan Pretty (VIC)      Holden SS            6000       12    17:44.2913   8 1:27.0287r

Note who won again, this guy is unstoppable!

Race 2 Sunday Morning

The reverse grid gods have shone on us, as the cars that finished in the top 8 positions were reversed for the start of race 2, giving Charlie a P2 position on the grid. That’s the good news as by ¾ race distance while holding a potential podium position, we received a black flag for mechanical defect (namely oil smoke from split differential tube). Grrrr

1    58  VIP Petfoods                   Ryal Harris (QLD)        Ford Falcon XR8      5400       14    20:36.3716   9 1:26.6065
2    42  Ice Break Racing               Chris Pither (NZL)       Holden SS            6000       14    20:36.6503   9 1:26.9841
3    61  Bundaberg Racing               Cameron McConville (VIC) Holden SS            6000       14    20:37.2471   7 1:27.0638

Ryal Harris again!! From 8^th great car speed.

Race 3 Sunday Afternoon

With the oil leak fixed we headed back to the grid for the final race of the weekend but there will be no fairy tale ending to this one as we weren’t classified as finishing in race 2 (due to black flag). We had to start in grid position 17 & due to an accident the  race was shortened by several laps, which finished off any chance of getting up to the pointy end of the field.  Having got all the bad stuff out of the way I must admit this was a great drive from Charlie who early on set the fastest lap from mid field, even by race end we were only a few tenths off the lap record that was set by Andrew Fisher in Saturdays race.  Charlie finished the race in a credible 9^th place with very little damage.

1    58  VIP Petfoods                   Ryal Harris (QLD)        Ford Falcon XR8      5400       11    18:52.3273   3 1:26.7546
2    61  Bundaberg Racing               Cameron McConville (VIC) Holden SS            6000       11    18:52.4896   7 1:26.9322
3    56  Monster Energy                 Nathan Pretty (VIC)      Holden SS            6000       11    18:52.6730   3 1:26.5647

Couple of V8 Super Car names in the top 3 but Ryal’s Falcon still got home in P1.

Debrief

Was great to see John & Mandy Wilcox (Owners Australian Transmission Components) finally get to a round, Thanks so much for your continued support.

Thanks must also go to Darren from McArthur & Associates

& also a big thanks to Future Assist Group.

Cheers - Clifton Campbell (Cliffy)