Peter ‘Kaos’ Ward took a well-deserved win in the final race of the 2013 UDC V8 Ute Racing Series at the Mike Pero 500 today – making the most of some chaos around him that was not his own to lead home Geoff Spencer and Peter Robb in an action-packed race.
Pole sitter and new UDC V8 Utes champion Chris ‘Hammer Time’ Hanley was handed a Drive Through penalty even before the start – which ruled out any real hopes he would have had of a clean sweep of three wins from three starts. The opinion of the Stewards was that he had undertaken a practice start in a grid slot as he moved towards the pole position box – and this contravened the regulations.
His start was good enough, though he was out-dragged by fellow front row starter Geoff ‘S.O.S’ Spencer into the first corner but as he peeled off into pit lane at the end of lap one – the attention fell on the battle for the lead, with Spencer leading Ward and Kris ‘Killa’ Walton tucked in behind in third. The chance of a first race win of the weekend also eluded Walton on the start of lap three, as the driveshaft on the Multispares Ford gave way and he ground to a halt after Turn 4.
Spencer and Ward then slugged it out for a couple of laps before Ward took the lead down the front straight and immediately established a lead of a few car lengths. Behind the top two Mike Lightfoot was providing plenty of action on and off the track with Lightning speed peppered by a couple of trips off the track which set him back in the pack. The Kernohan duo of father Dave and son Jeff were also fighting hard in the thick of the action of a nice scrap that had developed behind third placed Brett ‘The Scud’ Rudd and fourth placed John Penny led by placed Peter ‘Rocketman’ Robb who was putting up a robust defence of his position on the track that was entirely clean but frustrating for the racers behind.
Action remained frenetic until the Safety Car came out on Lap Eight – which bunched up the field and gave Hanley a fighting chance as he was able to latch onto the train of ten V8 UDC Utes.
Ward made no mistakes however, and drove a great lap on the restart to take a race-winning lead and leave the others to squabble behind for the remaining places on the podium. And what a squabble it was, with Spencer, Rudd, Penny and Robb going hard at it.
With only a few corners to go, Penny – who enjoyed a fantastic first weekend overall in the Utes – gave Rudd enough of a tap to send him into a half spin and gain himself a post-race time penalty.
After the dust had settled, Ward had won, from Spencer, Robb, a remarkable Hanley who simply rocketed through the field after the restart, a disgruntled Rudd, Jeff and Dave Kernohan, a frustrated Mike Lightfoot, Rod Dawson and Penny, who copped a 50 second penalty having run out of laps to do a Drive Through.
Victory for the round went to the new series champion Hanley after a scintillating weekend when the youngster demonstrated he ticks all the boxes for a top line V8 drive or for a solid defence of the title he has now secured. Fast, brave, and with the ability to deliver under the pressure of the title showdown – the 2013 UDC V8 Ute series champion has been the star performer over a long season.
