We headed back to Manawatu for the second time in two weeks with our fingers crossed for good weather which thankfully prevailed. The track was looking great and most of the out of town cars had all made the effort to come down again so things were shaping up for a good night.

First up was time trail. I was the 10th car out which is a pretty good place to be. Unfortunately we had the car a fraction too tight and in both of my flying laps pulled a wheelstand in exactly the same place each lap. I had to roll the brake on slightly to get the wheels down which cost me a few tenths of a second which was the difference between 1st and 7th where I timed in at.

In the heats we did well and made it into the top 6 pole shuffle and in that moved up a spot to start in grid 4 for the feature.

By Feature time the track was very slick and the high line was high – I mean high like a meter of the wall. I got a good start and was in second briefly in the first lap then settled into 3rd spot in front of Allard in 4th. The rest of the race for me was spent mostly side by side with Allard racing for 3rd spot which we eventually won taking the Makita/Wynns machine to the podium again this season. I was very pleased with the result especially at this track as I will never forget snapping two cars in half and breaking my back at this place. Some have said it’s my boogie track but I don’t feel that way. Bruce and Puk the promoters do such an outstanding job hosting our section and making us welcome it’s a track I always look forward to going to.

Next show is Western Springs Boxing night. See you there.

JMAC