Cambridge V8 driver, Nick Ross, has finished fifth at round five of the BNT V8s Championship held at Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon near Feilding in an up and down weekend for the racer.
Ross qualified his Total Lubricants Nissan Altima in second position for the weekend’s opening race where he immediately took the lead from pole sitter and Championship leader Jack Smith.
Smith looked to have speed and performance on Ross under brakes and into turn one, Smith almost made a passing move stick on lap ten, until Ross fought back and held the position.
For the rest of the 14-lap race the two raced hard before the flag eventually fell, with Ross holding on for the win.
Race two played out in similar fashion, with Ross and Smith battling for the lead all race, before a passing move by Smith stuck, giving him the win and Ross second place.
Unfortunately the luck changed for Ross in the third race with his Nissan’s radiator failing on the formation lap.
“We split the radiator on the formation lap. I noticed the temperature rising. It’s just one of those random things that happens in motorsport,” said Ross.
“I tried to keep it going and maybe finish the race and get some points, but it was easier to just park the car and not damage the engine.
“We’ll take it apart when we get home and see if there is any further damage.”
Despite the misfortune, Ross says he can take away plenty of positives from the weekend.
“It’s nice to win a race with Jack on the track behind us. He’s still got a bit of pace and we’ve still got a bit of work to do to keep this championship alive.”
“The car is getting better and better all the time.”
“We’ve had this situation before. When I won the Championship in 2013/14 Jason Bargwanna was leading going into into the final round, he had two blown engines and two DNF’s. We won.”
“We generally have good pace at Hampton Downs and anything can happen in motorsport.”
Ross still holds second place in the Championship with 904 points while Smith leads on 1018.
The sixth and final round of the BNT V8s will be held at Hampton Downs, March 8-10.