Mitre 10 Trade Racing

Richard Moore and the Mitre 10 Trade Racing team take out the New Zealand Championship #1 spot again for a second year in a row 🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁

Well done Champ !!!!

Round 3 of the Porter Group V8 Utes,

Head down tomorrow to support Richard “ Danger “ Moore as he looks to defend his championship

Congrats to Paul Manuell and his team, a good result today to reward all the long hours spent repairing the Super Freight ute over the last few weeks 🏁🏁

MANUELL BACK IN CHAMPIONSHIP CHASE

Paul "Auto' Manuell took out Race 1 in style at the third round of the PORTERGROUP V8 Ute Championship at Hampton Downs today, taking a lights to flag victory and bringing his championship challenge back to life after his dramas at Manfeild in the previous round.

Having secured pole position in his rebuilt Partmaster Super Freight Holden, Manuell made a clean getaway at the lights and was never headed. He will have been very glad of the clean run as there was plenty of drama behind, however.

Championship leader Richard 'Danger' Moore made a phenomenal start in the Mitre 10 Trade Holden, hooking it up and launching himself from fourth up to second place past Andrew 'Hireman' Porter and Glen 'Coyote' Collinson with some ease and even having a look down the inside of Manuell as the field poured into Turn 1. He quickly chose discretion ahead of valour however and focused on his second place as Manuell made good his getaway, building on his points lead ahead in the title race.

Behind Moore it was all action as Porter and Collinson diced for third and a further midfield battle raged behind them. It all ended badly however, with Porter hitting Collinson heavily as the two utes approached Turn 4. Porter carried on with heavy frontal damage, but Collinson was spun out onto the sand instantly and although he got going again with relatively light damage, he was right at the back of the field with his second place in the championship chase looking seriously compromised.

Through it all into a fine third place came Matt 'Stinger' Spratt in the Primogrow Ford Falcon FG, having started from the back after controversially not being timed in qualifying as a result of transponder problems. He calmly passed ute after ute, did it cleanly and was consistently one of the fastest cars, even through traffic. His fist pump at the line was well justified and proof if it was needed that had he undertaken the full championship this year, he would have been a very serious threat.

Alexandra' Skippy' Whitley was another to suffer bad luck in the race. Once again she emerged from the early drama seemingly unscathed to be holding a comfortable third before something went wrong with the LDV Holden prompting 'torque steer that wanted to fire me off the track'. She sensibly opted for the safety of its where a wobbly rear wheel and possible bearing failure were diagnosed.

Behind the top three Brett 'The Scud' Rudd enjoyed another strong race driving to fourth in the Pallet Supplies Holden, while Peter 'Kaos' Ward looked to be recapturing some real form with a solid drive to complete the top five. Chris 'Hammertime' Hanley raced well to sixth, back in a Placemakers Holden for the second half of the championship, while Jason 'Mario' Land provided some compensation for Panorama Motorsport with his best ever drive in the championship to take out seventh.

Team Kernohan locked out the next two places, with 'Dirty' Dave in eighth and Jeff 'Ripples' in ninth, with Geoff 'SOS' Spencer a hobbled tenth after clutch issues during the race. Ripples and SOS will start from the front row in Sunday morning's Reverse Top Ten format encounter.

PORTERGROUP V8 UTE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 3 - Race 1 - Hampton Downs

1. Paul Manuell Super Freight Partmaster Holden
2. Richard Moore Mitre 10 Trade Racing Holden
3. Matthew Spratt Primogrow Ford Falcon FG
4. Brett Rudd Pallet Supplies Racing Holden
5. Peter Ward Ward Demolition Holden
6. Chris Hanley Placemakers Holden
7. Jason Land Panorama Motorsport Ford Falcon BF
8. Dave Kernohan KCH Racing Ford Falcon BF
9. Jeff Kernohan KCH Racing Ford Falcon BF
10. Geoff Spencer Coresteel Buildings Holden
11. Glen Collinson Panorama Motorsport DNA Ford Falcon FG
12. Brent Main Ryco 82C Ford Falcon BF
13. Alexandra Whitley LDV Holden
14. Andrew Porter Porter Hire Holden

Well done to
Richard “Danger”Moore,

2 race wins and the round win in the Mitre 10 Trade Racing team Holden.. 🏁🏁

MOORE WRAPS UP ROUND AND TAKES SERIES LEAD

Richard 'Danger' Moore bagged his second win of the weekend in the second round of the PORTERGROUP V8 Ute Championship at the New Zealand Grand Prix meeting at the Manfeild Chris Amon track after another titanic race.

Moore made the most of pole position to get away in the lead and once again there was a fierce scrap behind him as the rest of leading runners slugged it out to see who could take the challenge to the Mitre 10 Trade Racing Holden.

Initially it looked like it would be either Brett 'The Scud' Rudd or Andrew 'Hireman' Porter, with both of their Holdens looking as nimble as they had done in the first race of the day when they came home 1-2. But looming up through the field after a frustrating weekend was a fired up Matt 'Stinger' Spratt and having dealt with the best of the midfield runners he set after Porter and Rudd, eventually making his way through and steaming up behind Moore to be right on his bumper with one to go. Some fantastic defensive driving saw Moore just make it home, with Spratt having produced the drive of the race to take second.

Porter completed a superb weekend by nipping his Holden inside that of Rudd to take third, with Geoff 'SOS' Spencer completing his solid weekend with fifth. Glen Collinson came through to sixth after a mesmerising battle with Spratt, former champ Chris 'Hammertime' Hanley in the Placemakers Ford and Alexandra Whitley in the LDV Holden.

Hammertime and 'Skippy' Whitley had a fierce battle too, which almost ended in a huge crash when the two touched on the drag race to the line with one to go. Thankfully both kept it on the black stuff to finish seventh and eighth. Ninth was Peter 'Kaos' Ward who put in an eye-catching recovery drive after a lap one clash with Sam 'Sammy' Filmore left him near the back and with a severely wounded Ward Demolition Holden. 'Dirty' Dave Kernohan rounded out the top ten after his own battles in the KCH Ford Falcon.

Paul 'Auto' Manuell's dramatic weekend continued right through to the end of the race and he was lucky to make it to the flag. His crew, and members of Rudd's crew worked frantically between the second and third races to repair the damage to the Super Freight Partmaster Holden, even heading off to the wrecker for some late replacement parts to the steering column. The former champion was making solid progress too, until an enormous flame out through the passenger side front wheel arch signalled a rather large problem. The power steering had exploded leaving Manuell to muscle the car for the rest of the race, and contend with it going into safe mode - both problems almost certainly a result of residual damage from the morning. It was a major achievement for him to make it home in 13th place, and those points could yet prove crucial in what is turning out to be a fantastic PORTERGROUP V8 ute championship.

Race 3

POS NO. DRIVER UTE

1 1 Richard Moore Holden
2 48 Matt Spratt Ford
3 3 Andrew Porter Holden
4 99 Brett Rudd Holden
5 22 Geoff Spencer Holden
6 17 Glen Collinson Ford
7 48 Alexandra Whitley Holden
8 90 Chris Hanley Ford
9 69 Peter Ward Holden
10 12 Dave Kernohan Ford
11 21 Jeff Kernohan Ford
12 94 Simon Ussher Ford
13 15 Paul Manuell Holden
14 23 Sam Fillmore Holden
15 18 Jason Land Ford
16 84 Dave Lowe Ford
17 82 Brent Main Ford

Race 2 , great result from having to start off the back

Race 3 later this afternoon

PORTER TAKES FIRST V8 UTE WIN

Andrew 'The Hireman' Porter excelled in the humidity of Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon this morning to chase down and pass Brett 'The Scud' Rudd to secure a popular first win in the series his company sponsors.

The reverse top ten format produced a dramatic first lap with series leader Paul 'Auto' Manuell suffering a high speed accident on the exit of Higgins and forcing a red flag and a restart.

It was Rudd who made the best getaway at the first start, cutting through from the second row to take the lead. Higher tyre pressures brought his car up to speed quickly and he streaked away before the red flag. And he was able to make the best restart too, getting close to lap record speed, but unable to shake off Porter, who had set up his car for the best speed later in the race. As the laps counted down, Andrew closed in and with two laps remaining, made his move. Rudd was able to hold on, and indeed made a couple of counter attacks late into the race, but was unable to regain the lead and the win went to Porter.

Third, after a very solid performance, was Geoff ‘SOS’ Spencer in his Holden, in easily his best performance of the season so far. Fourth, after a stellar performance in the LDV backed Holden, was Alexandra 'Skippy' Walker, who proved once again she can mix it with the best in some of the country's toughest racing to pop up in fourth, with a clean car and the fastest lap of the race.

Series leader Richard 'Danger' Moore drove a fantastic race too, scything his way from the back to fifth in what was a crucial result for series points, with Glen Collinson having sat ahead of him for much of the race before mechanical gremlins intervened and dropped him to eighth behind Matt 'Stinger' Spratt and Chris 'Hammertime' Hanley.

Pole sitter Sam 'Sammy' Fillmore survived the drama of the midfield battle to claim ninth and Peter 'Kaos' Ward rounded out the top ten in the Ward Demolition Holden.

Race 2

1 3 Andrew Porter Holden
2 99 Brett Rudd Holden
3 22 Geoff Spencer Holden
4 48 Alexandra Whitley Holden
5 1 Richard Moore Holden
6 48 Matt Spratt Ford
7 90 Chris Hanley Ford
8 17 Glen Collinson Ford
9 23 Sam Fillmore Holden
10 69 Peter Ward Holden
11 21 Jeff Kernohan Ford
12 12 David Kernohan Ford
13 94 Simon Ussher Ford
14 18 Jason Land Ford
15 84 David Lowe Ford

DNF

15 Paul Manuell Holden
82 Brent Main Ford