Harris Leads All The Way To V8 Utes Win At Indy

SURFERS PARADISE – Teenage ace Ryal Harris edged closer to the front of the Yokohama V8 Utes Championship with an all-the-way win aboard his DBA Holden SS in race two of round seven on the Lexmark Indy 300 street circuit tonight.

Harris, 19, from the Gold Coast, started from the front row beside pole-sitter Allan Grice (Ford Falcon XR8) in the reverse-grid, seven-lap race and was never headed.

Victorian James Moffat (Ford) made a lightning start from eighth on the grid to be in second before the end of the first lap, a position he held to the flag.

Gavin Bullas came third in a Holden.

Harris did as he had predicted before this weekend, high on confidence after winning two of three races in round six at Sandown International circuit last month.

“After Sandown there can be no excuses for failing to win. I’m at my home event and will have all my friends and fans there to support me,” he said.

In contrast to yesterday’s chaotic, rain-soaked first heat, the first-ever night race for the utes was a clean affair with only two non-finishers among the 30-car field.

But while Harris collected maximum points to consolidate his third place in the championship pointscore, current leader and defending champion Damien White failed to complete a single lap in his Falcon and scored no points.

Marcus Zukanovic, running second in the series, came home 12th tonight, some compensation for having crashed out of race one.

Teams did an impressive job to return to action all but one of 11 cars that were taken off-track for repairs after race one. Robert Jarvis’s Falcon was the only non-starter, suffering terminal engine problems.

One of the biggest repair jobs involved the Kanga Loaders Holden of 18-year-old New Zealander Chris Pither.

Heavy damage included two bent front chassis rails and his crew had doubted they could fix it in time, but Pither rewarded their efforts with fourth place tonight.

RESULTS

Race 2 (7 laps, reverse grid)
1 Ryal Harris (Qld) DBA Holden SS
2 James Moffat (Vic.) Trend Windows Ford Falcon XR8
3 Gavin Bullas (Vic.) Rain City Holden
4 Chris Pither (NZ) Kanga Loaders Holden
5 James Brock (Vic.) Revetec Holden
6 Gary Baxter (SA) Sage Automation Holden
7 Allan Simonsen (Vic.) Coopers Ale Ford
8 Dave Griffin (NSW) Pedigree Ford
9 Allan Grice (Qld) Autobarn Holden
10 Jack Elsegood (NSW) Coopers Ale Ford
Fastest lap – Harris, 2 min. 19.37 sec.

Qualifying
1. Rod Wilson 2 min. 17.41 sec.
2. Marcus Zukanovic (Vic.) Fujitsu Ford 2:17.52
3. Allan Simonsen 2:17.57
4. Jack Elsegood 2:18.03
5. Kim Jane 2:18.05
6. Gary Baxter 2:18.08
7. Damien White 2:18.28
8. James Moffat 2:18.32
9. James Brock 2:18.58
10. Dave Griffin (NSW) Pedigree Ford 2:18.66

Weekend timetable

Friday
8 pm Race 2 (7 laps, reverse grid)

Saturday
11.30 am Race 3 (6 laps)
12 midday Media conference (media centre)

Surfers Paradise lap records
Race – Warren Luff (Ford Falcon XR8) 2 min. 18.65 sec. (24/10/03)
Qualifying – Luff 2:18.92 (23/10/03)

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