It was a challenging round that produced a good result. Chris Pither 'The Doctor' took victory at Round 3 of the 2009/2010 NZV8 Ute Series at Hampton Downs this weekend in the closest round of the series to date. In fact it could not have been any closer with the series rules resolving a points tie with defending champion Caine Lobb in favour of Pither due to his placing in the final race.
After Pither dominated qualifying and the first race of the round on Saturday he and Lobb had a great tussle for overall round honours during Sunday's three races at the new circuit in North Waikato.
The duo ended the round tied on points, Chris gaining his third successive round victory by virtue of his win in the fourth and final race. A series rule states that in the event of a tie the higher placed driver in the final race will take the round.
Pither began the round strongly on Saturday taking pole by almost a second ahead of Lobb and then winning the first race and setting a lap record after passing Lobb who had beaten him off the startline.
The second race on Sunday saw 'The Doctor' sixth on the grid in the ENZED Falcon. Lobb was on pole and led away. Meanwhile Chris took a heavy hit at the first corner of the race. Once clear of trouble Pither chased Lobb down and they launched into a full scale battle. On the run to the flag the ENZED Falcon nosed in front but Lobb's Holden won the sprint to the line with Pither second, just .045 of a second in arrears. After setting a lap record for the category in Saturday's race Pither improved it further on Sunday morning, recording a time of 1 minute 17.680 seconds.
The ENZED Falcon suffered another heavy hit at the first corner of the third race as Pither started in the midfield in the reverse marble draw grid start. However it was an incident during the race at Turn 5 on the new circuit that could have cost Pither dearly. Chris went into the corner three wide and was driven off the circuit. A protest was lodged against him and Pither received a 60 second penalty, dropping him to 12th place in the results. The protest surprised the team as the ENZED Falcon had lost out in the incident. An appeal was lodged and the penalty was rescinded and Chris regained second place in the results.
As the two highest point scorers of the round Pither and Lobb shared the front row for the final race over 10 laps with Lobb on pole. Lobb got the best start but Pither soon had the ENZED Falcon in the lead. The race featured a compulsory pitstop and Pither's was clean. Once back on track he kept his nose clean and pushed on, crossing the line 14.364 seconds ahead of Lobb who had problems during his pitstop.
At the conclusion of four races Pither had taken two wins along with two second placings as had Lobb. The tie was broken due to the finishing positions in the finale, extending Pither's unbroken sequence of round wins this season.
Pither maintained his 40 point lead in the series after his roller coaster weekend. He now has 456 points to Lobb's 416.
The next round of the championship is at Powerbuilt Tools Raceway at Ruapuna, Christchurch over the weekend of 20/21 March with the final round just one week later at Timaru International Motor Raceway.
