APR: CVW Manta Racing Oran Park preview

CRAMP READY FOR TOUBLE FREE WEEKEND AT ORAN PARK

Afterenduring one of the toughest racing weekend's of his long and successful career, CVW Manta Racing driver Steve Cramp will be looking for a change of luck when he jumps behind the wheel this weekend.

Preparing for the fifth round of the Donut King Australian Performance Car Championship at Oran Park Raceway, Cramp will be looking for a consistent weekend in his CVW Engineering backed HSV VZ GTS Commodore after enduring one mechanical drama after another when the series last raced over a month ago in the Northern Territory.

The bad weekend dropped the Adelaide based driver outside the tightly contested top ten Performance Car points for the first time this season, Cramp's current tally of 111 leaving him trailing fellow HSV Driver Barrie Nesbitt by just four points.

Just 22 points cover 7th to 11th in the championship, giving Cramp plenty to aim at when he takes to the 2.6km Oran Park layout this weekend in what is essentially a completely rebuilt car.

On a list completed since Hidden Valley that includes rebuild components such as the heads, gearbox, shock absorbers, drive shafts, hub bearings and the diff, Cramp's team have also completely replaced the clutch and front disc brakes in the hiatus - meaning the car is like new heading into the weekend.

"We have changed so much it will be like driving a brand new car," said Cramp. "We're heading into this weekend just aiming to put Darwin behind us and have a good, consistent and strong weekend to score some points in the championship, make up for lost ground, in essence."

In what is expected to be a meeting predominantly suited to the Four Wheel Drive turbo cars that make up a large portion of the field, Cramp's expectations were guarded when it came to results.

"To put it bluntly, we don't think we can win this weekend," He explained. "There are more four wheel drive cars than ever here this weekend and I think we'll struggle against them at this circuit. Having said that, we are definitely aiming to be around the 6th position mark in the races because we think we have a good package for the weekend ahead.

"We tested here (Oran Park) last week and it was fantastic, really promising," he said of a day that saw the team complete over 70 laps. "I think we set our third best time around here ever in this class, so we should be close to the money."

The undulating circuit -- located in the outer Western Suburbs of Sydney -- is something of a happy hunting ground for Cramp, having tasted success in open wheelers at the track in the past.

"I really enjoy the track and I've been fortunate enough to have a couple of wins here in Open Wheelers. It's never been very kind to me in cars with roves, though, but it's a challenging layout and lots of fun.

"We're going to get some good, solid results in Sydney before attacking harder when we get to the tracks that will really suit us at the end of the year -- Tasmania and Phillip Island."

-cvw-