Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA

V8SDS: Wakefield Sunday race notes

CANTO'S MISFORTUNE IS MACROW'S GAIN A massive crash at the start of race two has marred what was potentially a successful day of racing for the Queensland based Dick Johnson Racing team and driver Dean Canto. Canto continued the impressive ...

CANTO'S MISFORTUNE IS MACROW'S GAIN

A massive crash at the start of race two has marred what was potentially a successful day of racing for the Queensland based Dick Johnson Racing team and driver Dean Canto.

Canto continued the impressive driving performance which saw him win round one of the HPDC V8 Supercar Series at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide by convincingly winning race one today ahead of Ford's Warren Luff and Holden's Tony D'Alberto.

Canto looked on course for his consecutive round win until an incident on the starting grid in the full reverse grid race with youngster Jay Verdnik ended any chances of both competitors racing for the rest of the afternoon.

The race was red flagged immediately and reduced by three laps when Canto slammed into the back of a stationary Verdnik as the full reverse grid race commenced, the speed of the hit estimated at over 100 kilometres per hour.

"Basically, I got a good jump behind Tony D'Alberto and was pretty much right up against his rear bumper-bar," Dean Canto said.

"Off to my left I saw that Warren Luff had a bit of a nudge with someone and D'Alberto, in-front of me, at the last second steered left to miss the stalled car.

"I didn't have enough time to react. I tried to avoid the car, but there was no time. It's only damaged the front left-hand side of the car, but there was enough damage to keep us out of race three.

"I didn't have enough room and I didn't see the car until the last second and I was too close.

"It was the first full reverse grid I've done. I definitely won't be forgetting it. It's a bit of a shame. It'll make it tough for the remainder of the year; we can't afford to have another result like this."

The race was restarted under Safety Car precaution with Shane Beikoff eventually taking race two honours ahead of Aaron McGill and Dean Wanless.

Canto's misfortune at the commencement of the second race left the door open for Adam Macrow, Luff and D'Alberto to battle it out for the round win.

Luff started from first position and looked to have the final race under his control until a driver error gave Macrow the lead and the Howard Racing Falcon steamed away to take the race and round win, despite finishing on the same amount of points as Luff. V8 Supercar regulations state the driver who finishes higher in the final race is awarded the round win, Macrow taking the honours by winning the third and final race ahead of Luff who finished second.

"Today has been a fantastic day, it is my first ever round win and the first for Howard Racing," Macrow said.

"The first race didn't go the way we planned but we wracked up a reasonable amount of points which put us in a good position for the second race.

"Warren (Luff) and I both made great starts off the front of the grid in the last race and I was just fortunate enough that he made a mistake mid way through the race giving us the opportunity to take the lead."

Brad Jones Racing driver Dale Brede resurrected an engine problem in the first practice session yesterday to finish the round in third position, a positive step for the Albury-based teams after some disappointing results in the previous two rounds of the V8 Supercar Championship Series.

"The car hasn't competed since Andrew (Jones) won the Championship last year and with the engine problem we had at the end of the first practice session yesterday, the team has worked extremely hard to get the car the way it was handling by the final race today."

Brede's next HPDC V8 Supercar Series race will be at Mallala Motorsport Park in Adelaide as he gains valuable mileage for the endurance races with BJR at Sandown and the Super Cheap Auto 1000 at Bathurst.

Luff's second position overall was enough to make amends for a disappointing Adelaide event, pushing him up to fifth position in the Championship points table behind Macrow in first, Gary MacDonald, Phillip Scifleet and Tony D'Alberto who looked to have a competitive weekend until a drive through penalty in race two for a driving infringement ended any chances of a podium finish.

The next round of the HPDC V8 Supercar Series will be held at Eastern Creek International Raceway on July 8 -- 10.

<pre> Round Top Five Results 1. #27 Adam Macrow Howard Racing 174pts 2. #60 Warren Luff Paul Cruickshank Racing 174pts 3. #19 Dale Brede Brad Jones Racing 168pts 4. #31 Mark Porter Hyuandai Construction Racing 160pts 5. #41 Gary MacDonald Kanga Loaders Racing 148pts

Race Three Top Five Results 1. #27 Adam Macrow Howard Racing 30-laps 2. #60 Warren Luff Paul Cruickshank Racing 3. #19 Dale Brede Brad Jones Racing 4. #31 Mark Porter Hyuandai Construction Racing 5. #41 Gary MacDonald Kanga Loaders Racing

Race Two Top Five Results 1. #68 Shane Beikoff Shane Beikoff Racing 14-laps 2. #32 Aaron McGill McGill Motorsport 3. #28 Dean Wanless Matthew White Racing 4. #19 Dale Brede Bard Jones Racing 5. #56 John Henderson Messertech

Race One Top Five Results 1. #71 Dean Canto Dick Johnson Racing 17-laps 2. #60 Warren Luff Paul Cruickshank Racing 3. #99 Tony D'Alberto Tony D'Alberto Racing 4. #41 Gary MacDonald Kanga Loaders Racing 5. #27 Adam Macrow Howard Racing

HPDC V8 Supercar Series Top Ten standings 1. #27 Adam Macrow Howard Racing 360pts 2. #41 Gary MacDonald Kanga Loaders Racing 328pts 3. #65 Phillip Scifleet Paul Cruickshank Racing 322pts 4. #99 Tony D'Alberto Tony D'Alberto Racing 320pts 5. #60 Warren Luff Paul Cruickshank Racing 318pts 6. #32 Aaron McGill McGill Motorsport 271pts 7. #37 Mark Howard Howard Racing 270pts 8. #71 Dean Canto Dick Johnson Racing 256pts 9. #31 Mark Porter Hyuandai Construction Racing 238pts 10. #68 Shane Beikoff Shane Beikoff Racing 213pts

-avesco-

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article V8SDS: Decina Racing Wakefield Saturday notes
Next article APR: Wakefield Sunday race notes

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA