Ford V8 Ute Rivals Step Up Title Fight At Sandown This Weekend

MELBOURNE – Rival Ford Falcon XR8 drivers Damien White and Marcus Zukanovic are expected to go for maximum attack when round five of the 2005 Yokohama V8 Ute Championship opens at Melbourne’s Sandown International Motor Raceway tomorrow.

White, the defending utes champion and current points leader, and his closest challenger Zukanovic head a maximum field of 16 Fords and 16 Holden SS utes entered for three races over the Sandown 500 weekend.

White lost ground to Zukanovic in the points chase after a poor fifth round in South Australia last month and badly needs to regain the winning habit at Sandown, where he clean-swept the round last year.

This season, Zukanovic has had four wins to White’s two but booked less consistent results.

He knows the series lead is within close reach.

“Damien only has to sneeze now and we will be right there in the points,” said Zukanovic, who will enjoy the benefit of a full engine rebuild after discovering a power shortfall at Mallala.

White said: “I am going out there to win. Then I can let Marcus worry about the deficit.”

The pair is separated on the ladder by 47 points - barely the equivalent of a race win – and there are still 360 points available to be won in the remaining 15 races.

But mathematically 31 drivers still are in the hunt after a highly competitive and entertaining season so far in which nine have won races.

White and fellow Ford steerer Allan Simonsen will be two of the busier drivers over the weekend, having signed also with V8 Supercar teams in the Betta Electrical Sandown 500.

White thinks it’s unlikely the double duty will affect his performance.

“It’s been important to prepare myself well for the dual duties and I feel 100 per cent mentally and physically,” he said.

“We have had a look at the timetable and there is enough time to switch from the Fujitsu (V8 Supercar) race suit into the IMB (V8 Utes) one, so I have no reason for complaint.

“Come Sunday night sleep will not be a problem, but right now I’m too excited to be concerned about fatigue.”

While White and Zukanovic are the series front-runners, many other drivers have the form to beat them to the top of the podium.

They include Holden representatives Ryal Harris, Gavin Bullas and Rod Wilson, who are third, fourth and fifth respectively in the points, plus veterans Allan Grice and Kim Jane.

In the Ford camp, those capable of good results include two-time winners Jack Elsegood and Allan Simonsen, along with James Moffat and West Australians Kerry Wade and Grant Johnson.

Fresh talent joins the field this weekend in the form of leading New Zealand touring car competitor John McIntyre.

McIntyre, 27, who contested last year’s Bathurst 1000 with David Besnard in a WPS Racing Falcon, will drive a Holden ute.

The Kiwi’s effort will be backed by the Manfeild Park Trust, which is negotiating with Australian V8 Ute Racing about a New Zealand ute race at Palmerston North next February.

The category’s official testing unit, a Dynapack Dynamometer will be used over the weekend to randomly check power and torque figures of selected utes. The mobile Dynapack unit is set up at all rounds of the Yokohama V8 Ute Championship and is a key tool in ensuring the competitiveness of the series.

Championship pointscore (after Rd 5)
449 Damien White
402 Marcus Zukanovic
367 Ryal Harris
330 Gavin Bullas
325 Rod Wilson
317 Jack Elsegood
315 James Moffat
313 Gary Baxter
306 Kim Jane
288 James Brock
285 Allan Simonsen
280 Chris Pither

Weekend timetable
Friday – 12.55 pm Practice (20 min.)
Saturday – 9.10 am Qualifying (20 min.), 12.30 pm Race 1 (8 laps), 5 pm Race 2 (8 laps)

Sunday – 10.05 am Race 3 (8 laps)
Television
Races from round six of the Yokohama V8 Ute Series will be shown nationally on Network Ten on Sunday 25 September, on the Trackside program between 2 pm and 3.30 pm.
Sandown lap records
Race – Damien White (Holden SS) 1 min. 27.1369 sec. (16/5/04)

Qualifying – Gary Baxter (Holden) 1:26.8959 (15/5/04)

Sandown 2004 results
Pole – Gary Baxter
Race 1 – 1 Damien White (Holden), 2 Benn Wilson (Holden), 3 Marcus Zukanovic (Ford)
Race 2 – 1 White, 2 Baxter, 3 Benn Wilson
Race 3 – White, Charlie Kovacs (Holden), Ben Wilson

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