It wasn’t quite the weekend that Invercargill driver Liam MacDonald would have wished for when the BNT V8’s Championship visited his home circuit, Teretonga Park near Invercargill, this weekend.
MacDonald, the defending Class 2 BNT V8’s Champion, had a difficult day on Saturday as he damaged a wheel on a kerb early in the first race of the weekend, battling to bring his Speedy Signs Ford Falcon home in third place. He did however nearly grab second off Chelsea Herbert of Albany on the run to the flag, just missing out in a drag race to the line. However worse was to come after the race when he was excluded from the results for a technical infringement when a carburettor insulator plate was found to be too thick by a margin of .34 of a millimetre.
Sunday was a better day as MacDonald bounced back strongly in the Speedy Signs Falcon to win Sunday morning’s race convincingly from Brock Timperly of Albany and Herbert before finishing second behind Timperly in Sunday afternoon’s reverse grid race.
MacDonald was disappointed at the end of the round saying “the penalty ruined our weekend. We had a good race on Sunday morning and overall Sunday wasn’t too bad but the penalty on Saturday cost us.”
After leading the championship since the beginning of the season MacDonald is now second in the points just one point behind Chelsea Herbert. Two rounds now remain with the next at Manfeild Park in Feilding in the Manawatu over the weekend of 10/11 February.
MacDonald’s campaign in the 2017/2018 BNT V8’s Championship is supported by Speedy Signs, EmbroidMe, Southern Automobiles, Castrol NZ, GT Radial NZ, Million Dollar Cruise Queenstown, Marsh Motorsport, Classic Car Warehouse Invercargill, Advanti Racing and YHI NZ, Ideal Electrical, BNT NZ, Auto Windscreen Replacement Ltd, Southern Bolts & Fasteners, Auto Fab, Ralston Sheetmetal, Invercargill; NAC Insurance, CS Auto Refinishing, Invercargill, Dave Loudon Photography, Discount Tyres Invercargill and a Sport Scholarship with the Community Trust of Southland.