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V8SDS: Decina Racing Clipsal race two notes

LUCK NOT WITH LUFF AFTER DEBRIS STRIKES AGAIN In an amazing run of bad luck, Decina Racing's Warren Luff suffered his second puncture of the weekend while running strongly in race two of this weekend's opening round of the HPDC V8 Supercar ...

LUCK NOT WITH LUFF AFTER DEBRIS STRIKES AGAIN

In an amazing run of bad luck, Decina Racing's Warren Luff suffered his second puncture of the weekend while running strongly in race two of this weekend's opening round of the HPDC V8 Supercar Series.

Despite the setbacks, Luff again finished ninth securing 144 points from the weekend and leaving him just 48 points behind round winner and current championship leader DJR's Dean Canto.

Luff, who has been racing for more than a decade, said he could only remember ever getting one puncture during a race and two in a weekend has left him in complete disbelief.

But the 28 year old hasn't let the bad luck get to him, although he did say he will be staying away from black cats and ladders before the next round at Wakefield Park.

The Decina Falcon, which started from ninth after suffering a puncture in last night's twilight race, made a lighting start with Luff finding himself in fourth position by the end of the first lap.

However, a self confessed mistake going into turn three on lap three saw Luff drop back to 13th leaving him with it all to do again.

With good pace Luff moved to sixth and was pushing to pass Gary MacDonald in the Kanga Loaders AU Falcon on lap 16 when debris again robbed him of a strong placing.

"I jumped off the start well and made up quite a few places but at the beginning of lap three went into turn three a bit too deep and lost a lot of places. The safety car came out after that which helped a bit," said Luff.

"The car had good speed and I was making up lost ground and then we had a puncture and I am very disappointed."

Luff said he noticed the Decina Falcon going "squirmy" just before passing pit lane going into lap 16.

"I thought there is no way that we could have such bad luck but I went past the pits and the boys had a look and confirmed it. So I had to do another lap and back right off."

However, Luff has put it down to experience and is now focusing on the next round at his "home" track Wakefield Park in NSW.

"It is a long championship and there are a lot of races and everyone gets bad luck and it seems we have had a fair share of ours this weekend.

"But I'm looking forward to going to Wakefield and it should be good as I enjoy the track and it will be good to get back home to Sydney in front of the home crowd and we can set about making up lost ground."

Despite the circumstances Decina Racing Team Manager Jim Morton said it was good to have the 144 points in the bank and that the team would continue working to improve the car leading into the second round.

"Warren started well but a mistake on the third put us back a bit. From there Warren put his head down and was making good progress getting as high as sixth before getting another puncture which was confirmed by the Dunlop guys soon after the race finished," Morton said.

"Two punctures in a weekend is pretty unlucky but there is nothing we can do about that.

"We are still not entirely happy with the balance and we will have another test soon to have a bit of a play and see what we can do with the set up before heading off to Wakefield.

While obviously disappointed, PCR principal, Paul Cruickshank, was philosophical about the weekend's events.

"Of course we are really disappointed that we can have two punctures over the weekend when the car was going well. And being the same tyre both times you wonder how does it happen twice.

"But it was definitely another puncture, which at least means that it is nothing to do with the chassis.

"So now we have a bit of work to do with the speed but overall the rest of the team has done a good job this weekend and at least we have a bit of time before the next round at Wakefield to regroup and catch up."

In a positive for the Paul Cruickshank Racing team, Luff's team mate Phillip Scifleet had a strong weekend finishing just off the podium in both races leaving him currently fourth in the championship on 174 points.

<pre> RACE 2 - RESULTS 1: Dean Canto Ford 27 Laps 2: Adam Macrow Ford 3: Tony D'Alberto Holden 4: Phillip Scifleet Ford 5: Gary MacDonald Ford 6: Adam Wallis Ford 7: Jose Fernandez Ford 8: Mark Howard Ford 9: Warren Luff Ford 10: Aaron McGill Holden 26 laps 11: Dean Wanless Ford 12: Shane Beikoff Ford 13: Mark Pependell Holden 14: Greg Smith Ford 25 laps 15: Scott Loadsman Holden 24 laps DNF Gary Deane Ford DNF Jay Verdnik Holden DNF Grant Elliott Holden DNF John Henderson Ford DNF Mark Porter Ford

-dr-

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