Hi-Tech Indy Winner, Zeros In On Title

Hi-Tech Motorsport came away from the Gold Coast as a winner, its number one driver Grant Johnson winning the Yokohama V8 Ute Racing Series round, safeguarding second and just 15 points behind the series leader with two rounds to go.

Johnson who drove the Hi-Tech Motorsport fettled Grove Juices Holden Commodore SS was elated with two victories from three starts while the middle event where he started 16th was always going to be difficult on the cramped streets of Surfers Paradise.

“Indy was always going to be difficult for us, as a Holden team needing to succeed on a track dominated by the Fords last year,” Johnson admitted in the buildup.

In qualifying Johnson made sure he had a clear lap first one out, he went for it – and a 2 minutes 14.8 seconds came from his effort. Pressing on, he drove on the edge, scraping the wall with his passenger mirror on occasion to a best of 2 min 14.2. Pole, it had to be. But for only for a lap as Falcon rival and series leader Jack Elsegood pushed his Ford around quicker - by 0.4 seconds.

Starting from the front row he needed a good start. “I laid down some impressive rubber on the practice start, the Grove Juices machine gripped up nicely. Elsegood moved closer with every meter as we sped to the first chicane. I lifted as we approached to let him through but he braked and I was didn’t need a second invitation.” Johnson was able to defend a couple of early challengers and from there the consistency the Hi-Tech Motorsports team had built into the car’s setup took over – and he went onto a comfortable win.

Race two was on late Friday afternoon was not a welcoming sight. A six lap reverse grid race and possible drama as Johnson would be starting from 16th on the grid. “I wasn´t able to even able to see the starting lights so watching the cars up front for the jump was my only option,” he said. Unfortunately he chose to follow a car that missed the jump – and Johnson did too.

Driving conservatively, he moved through to 11th without any risks. On the last lap, he had a good run on one of the quicker Holdens (Gary Baxter) into turn five. But that driver seemed to be having barking problems, as was Elsegood in front of him.

“I dove down the inside passing Baxter as Elsegood was recovering from a moment. I tried to round him up as well on the outside of turn six but ran out of road with the rear tagging a wall, forcing the front across too,” he explained. “The steering went loose due to a damaged bottom control arm but, thankfully I managed to limp home dropping only a few places to 15th.

“With a huge effort from the team, the repairs were done, working late into the night and we rolled out for the last race, pleasantly surprised in starting from 4th.” Even the battle scars of the day before weren´t going to stop Johnson from having a go. He made a brilliant start, moving to 3rd immediately. Then shortly after the two cars in front cars entangled as one.

“I backed off to avoid being involved, and navigated through before putting my head down and managing to make a break - before the safety car came out,” he lamented. “All the good work for nothing!” On the restart Elsegood made a few moves to get past were unsuccessful and the race turned into a re-run of the first.

The Hi-Tech Motorsport team’s second entry of Ben Kavich and the Tip Top Ford Falcon XR8 qualified nineteenth for the first race on Thursday. Yet he fought doggedly to get to fifteenth and the premier position on the front row of the reverse grid second race. In only his second V8 Ute Racing meeting, Kavich executed a slow start but maintained a cool head, not panicking, thus taking a hard fought fourth place. Kavich also secured his fastest lap of the weekend during that race and stayed ahead of the carnage amongst some of the more experienced drivers.

The result of fifteenth and fourth from the previous two races meant an eleventh starting position on the grid for the third and final race – an ideal launch pad for a top ten overall for the weekend.
Contact involving several cars ahead of him into the first corner caused a concertina effect which allowed one of his rival Holdens to get the jump. Kavich struggled to recover his position duelling with it and another Holden, resulting in thirteenth over the weekend. The Tip Top team is now concentrating on a 2008 season with confirmation of plans in the coming months.

The second of the Groves Juices entries, the Ford Falcon XR8 of Greg Willis was also being looked after by John Pachos and his Hi-Tech Motorsports team. Willis practiced 26th and gained a position out of qualifying. Note for his patience and looking after his racing ute, Willis improved another two positions to be 23rd in race one.
In the second outing he found himself having to race against several of the faster competitors who had not faired will or didn’t finish the first race, and he ultimately finished in 27th position. The best result of the weekend came in the third and final race where Willis managed to climb to 18th before finally taking the chequered flag in 29th place.

Hi-Tech Motorsports finished the sixth round of the Yokohama V8 Ute Racing Series in first, ninth and 22nd while in the series standings Hi-Tech Motorsports drivers are currently placed second (Johnson), 23rd (Willis) and 34th (Kavich). Other current drivers either not available for the round or who have moved on from the series include Chris Pither (21st), Matt Moorhead, Scott Fleming, Scott Jennings and Chris Oxley.

The next round of the Yokohama V8 Ute Racing Series Powered by Freightliner takes place at Symmons Plains, Tasmania on November 16–18 with the final, round eight round at Phillip Island, Victoria on November 30-December 2.

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