August 13/14th was round 3 of the 2022 Lion Batteries Ute Racing series at Qld Raceway. This brings us to the half way of the 6 round championship.
Qualifying on the Saturday morning in very wet conditions tested out the drivers to see who could make best of the low grip, low visibility session. After a few competitors finding the kitty litter and a safety car in a stop/start session the results ended up as- Production Utes pole went to Peter Clarke in the AU Falcon and in the V8 Utes Pole went to Brendan Exner in the FG Falcon.
Race 1 in wet conditions in the Production class had Danny Ford getting his nose in front and took the win. In 2nd place the brand new entry of Mick McCloud in his AU Ford staying ahead of Peter Clarke also in a AU Falcon. Mick McCloud is a well known face in the paddock having raced in many different series over the years including HQ’s, Saloons , Excels. We all welcome Mick to the series.
In the V8’s Brendan Exner kept in front of Robert McMahon in the Maloo after a very close race, the 2 v8’s fought hard door to door all weekend in some very hard, entertaining racing.
Race 2 – In the V8s the Holden of Robert Mcmahon hit back and took the win after a close battle with the FG Ford of Brendan Exner. The close racing in the this class went on all weekend , there is not much between these two utes , great racing.
In the production class race 2 finished the same as race 1 in the results. A close battle for 2nd and 3rd between Mick and Peter in the AU’s. Back in the field our 2nd new entrant Travis Fink in the ex- Brendan Exner BA falcon was getting his head around racing utes in his very first race weekend ever! Craig Kasper and Matt Mundy fought it out for the minor places.
For the rest of the weekend the V8 Battle went on with Robert Mcmahon taking with round win narrowly from Brendan Exner with it coming down to the very last race of the weekend to split the 2 V8’s. The Holden looking a little stronger in a straight line in the dry on the Sunday, but nothing in it.
In the production class Mick McCloud took the win in race 3 over Danny ford in 2nd and Peter Clarke in 3rd. Mick had a great Saturday however Sunday had a few issues with the new AU entry and was looking for a 2nd place for the round until a power issue forced a DNF in the last race of the day, motor racing is a cruel sport.
At the end of the weekend Danny Ford took the round win, Peter Clarke in 2nd and Craig Kasper taking his first podium finish in 3rd. A great weekend of racing , looking forward to next round back at Lakeside in September.
Categorised in: Uncategorised