Andy Booth and co-driver Shae Davis’ V8 SuperTourer endurance campaign got off to a quick, yet rocky start at Hampton Downs over the weekend with unlucky incidents forcing the pair to the rear of the field despite setting top five times all weekend.
The newly-formed pair, from Birkenhead, Auckland and Gold Coast, Queensland respectively, made a promising start but ran into trouble during race two and spent the rest of the day fighting back from the major disappointment.
Saturday’s first race of 38 laps saw the Woodstock Racing duo fight from the rear of the field after starting down in 15th due to a complicated qualifying format for the endurance rounds, before moving forward to finish seventh.
“Having started race two [Sunday’s first 56-lapper] fifth, it was all pretty much running to plan as I was sitting in fourth through most of my stint. But with only one lap to go before the driver change planned for lap 27, I got hit from behind by another car, spun around and things just got worse from there,” explained Booth.
“I reversed off the circuit but when I tried to get going, my foot slipped off the clutch and I went straight into Eddie Bell, doing a reasonable amount of damage to his car and lots to ours. I got back to the pits but our race was over. It was incredibly disappointing as we were on for a top four or five finish.”
With the weekend’s final 56-lap race quickly looming, the Woodstock Racing crew went to work on repairing the damage to the front of the Woodstock Racing Commodore, discovering that the gearbox had also been damaged during the race two incident in the process.
“I thought it was unlikely that we’d get back out. But the team did an amazing job rebuilding the gearbox and repairing the whole front end of the car which meant we were able to get back out there for the final race,” said Booth.
Davies started the race from pit lane, meaning the Woodstock Racing crew were at an instant disadvantage, beginning in the very last spot out of an 18 car field.
“It was a big fight back. From several hundred meters behind in dead last, to eighth place at the end of the race was a massive achievement. It just shows Shae [Davies] and I are working well and the car is very quick.”
Co-driver Davies also eased himself into the Woodstock Racing team without any difficulties and Booth says the dynamic is working well which certainly aided the competiveness of the team during the weekend.
“Shae just fitted into the team so well from both a driving and personality perspective. He gets on well with everyone and even with the little amount of time he had in the car, he was very competitive. We’re absolutely rapt with his performance today.
“We’re both itching to get back out there and build on what we had this weekend in terms of pace. If we can start from the front, I know we have the speed to stay there.”
