Round 2 - Ruapuna - Race 3

Race 3. An epic, is probably the best way to describe it. A last minute panic to change to a wet setup, the rain was a positive sign for the team, as Dale drives well in the wet. And once again we started off great. Better than great. Dale went from 6th on the grid to 1st place in the 1st corner. Unfortunately his front-running time was numbered when he overbreaked a couple of corners on letting two cars past, slipping back to 3rd. Dale kept his 3rd place spot for a couple of laps, but took a big hit from Angus Fogg which sent him off at the 1st corner where it had all started so well. Fogg had to undertake a drive through penalty, but that was small consolation for Dale & the team.

So back on the track, but in last place Dale started working back up through the pack. When Andy Booth went off in to the wall the race was red-flagged and the grid re-formed for a while. Booth was taken away in an Ambulance but we think he was OK (his car, on the other hand...).

Dale drove well from the re-start but was penalized for contact on Simon Richards. And that was about the race. Dale finished in 17th place overall, but at least he finished. It was just one of those weekends when everything was looking so good, but went so wrong.

Official Results are here.

MyLaps Results are split into two parts, here and here.

Rayglass Ford Falcon V8 after Race 3 at Ruapuna

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1m-JL7sD04

Rayglass Ford Falcon V8 Leaving Pits at Ruapuna

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s-NVmLt6EM

Round 2 - Ruapuna - Race 2

The high's and low's of motor sport. Dale had an awesome start to Race 2, but another unfortunate finish. After starting in 14th position on the grid, Dale made a great jump up to 10th spot in the first corner. The car seemed to perform really well and Dale held position in 10th spot for most of the race. But then disaster struck once again, the brakes locked up, and the front-right tyre blew. Dale crawled back to the pits for a quick tyre change (off-road some of the way), but when he re-joined the race he was at the back of the pack.

So not a great way to finish to the race, quite a disappointment for Dale and the rest of the crew. We think we know what's causing the brakes to lock up, so with any luck we'll be able to avoid a repeat later on. This track is always pretty hard on the brakes, so the 3rd and final race of the weekend this afternoon will be an interesting one, the longest at 22 laps.

Official Race Results and times are here.

MyLaps Results are here.

Round 2 - Ruapuna - Race 1

With the weather a little warmer today than yesterday, and no rain in sight, the atmosphere at the track is generally more positive. The crew started the morning with the usual brake & spanner checks, along with a little custom remoulding of the fibreglass air scoop in front of the radiator (before breakfast).

Race 1 was pretty uneventful for Dale, although some of the other drivers out on the track weren't as lucky. They had their fair share of spin-off's, blown engines etc. so the field finished a little lighter than it started. After starting 17th on the grid Dale finished in 14th place. The car wasn't handling as well as expected, so coming out of the corners was a bit of a struggle, which made it hard for Dale to gain any ground. So in the lead up to race 2 the crew is looking at the suspension & setup to see what (if anything) can be done to improve things in the short term.

Official race results are here - from the Motorsport NZ Website.

The MyLaps.com results are here - from the Mylaps.com Event page.

NZV8s 2009-2010 - Round 2 - Ruapuna

A mixed day of results today at Ruapuna, Christchurch, for Round 2 of the NZV8s Championship. Performing really well in testing, driving in the wet where Dale is always comfortable, his times were comfortably in the Top 10.

After the track dried up later in the day, qualifying didn't go as well for the team, with Dale finally qualifying in 17th position. A bit further back than we want to be. Dale's best lap time was 1:32.648 (The top 10 qualifying time was 1:31.746).

Hopefully things will go a little better on the track tomorrow, with Race 1 scheduled for 10AM Sunday morning, and two more races later in the day. We hope to see you there!

Official Results Page

All Qualifying times

Top20 Qualifying times

Round 1 - Pukekohe - Race 3

A bit of excitement in the third race to round out the weekend at Pukekohe. There was a pileup on the hairpin, but thankfully Dale was able to avoid it, going wide around them. That meant he dropped a few places, which he was able to make up.

Unfortunately though somehow Dale managed to pick something up which caused a tyre to blow. After pitting, Dale drove well, with good speed, but ended up finishing the race in 22nd place.

It wasn't the way the team wanted to finish the weekend, but overall there's a pretty good feeling about the way the car is performing on the track, and the team is putting in a lot of effort to make sure we
build from here.

Bring on Ruapuna!

Race times are available here:
http://www.mylaps.com/results/showrun.jsp?id=1364168

Round 1 - Pukekohe - Race 2

Race 2 finished pretty well for Dale and the team. After starting
11th, the 12th place finish was a good result (about .5s off 11th and
2s off 10th). A little more power would be nice, but a clean race with
only a couple of rubs is good at Pukekohe.

The race results and times are available here:
http://www.mylaps.com/results/showrun.jsp?id=1364105

And the racing should be on TV later this afternoon too, so keep an
eye on TV3 for the action. Next up the reverse grid at 4:00pm.

Round 1 - Pukekohe - Race 1

Dale started in 12th position off the grid, and drove well to finish in 11th place.

With no major racing incidents, the car performed well although maybe a little down on horse power from the front-runners.

The team's pretty happy with how the car's performing. All-in-all a good start to the season, looking forward to the second race this afternoon.

Race times are available here:
http://www.mylaps.com/results/showrun.jsp?id=1363960

NZV8s 2009-2010 - Round 1 - Pukekohe

Dale and the team had a great day out today - the first round of the new season, with the new Rayglass Ford Falcon V8 - and everyone was happy with the results.

Dale qualified in 16th place in the first round of Qualifying (with a time of 1:02.584), then went on to qualify in 12th place in the Top 20 round (with 1:01.888). Not only that, but the difference from where Dale qualified to a spot in the Top 10 was only .068s! Pretty good for the first time out on the track.

Round 7 - Pukekohe - Race 1

Dale finished the 2nd race of the weekend in 13th place after a pretty
uneventful race. After starting 15th on the grid Dale was pushed wide
off the 2nd corner, but held position and made a little progress. He
was bogged down a bit by other drivers so couldn't make a lot of
headway, but finished well in the end.

The team is now preparing for the 3rd and final race of the season at
4:30pm this afternoon.

Round 7 - Pukekohe - Race 1

Definitely an exciting first race, full of action! Unfortunately none of it went Dale's way, starting on the very first corner when he went looking for a gap he was spun off the track and ended up at the back of the pack. He made great progress to regain position, and was helped along when a major crash (again on the first corner) red-flagged the race and Dale was in 15th spot on the grid at the restart.

Unfortunately when chasing down Andy Knight Dale came off at the hairpin, and he lost ground again, finishing the race in 16th place.

So the team knows he has the speed, now all he needs is a little luck on his side and Dale should be bringing in a better result for the final two races of the season at Pukekohe tomorrow.

Round 7 - Pukekohe - Qualifying

Round 7 Qualifying, Dale's final weekend racing in his Rookie season of the NZV8s Championship and Dale put in a great drive, qualifying in 10th position. That's a great way to start the weekend, the first time he's made it into the Top 10 qualifying this season. The Team SCG racing crew are very pleased, understandably, after putting in a lot of hard hours making changes to the car's setup over the past few days.

It was a nail-biting finish to the second (Top 20) Qualifying session though. Dale was sitting in 15th place right up until the last minute. The chequered flag was coming out to signal the end of the session and Dale put in a flying lap jumping up to take the 10th place spot on the board (to much cheering & back slapping in the Team SCG pits).

Dale couldn't make any more headway in the 3rd (Top 10) qualifying session though, and kept his 10th place spot when the car all but ran out of gas with a few minutes to go.

Everyone is looking forward to an action-packed first race in a few hours time.

Dale's fastest qualifying time was 1:01.70.

Round 5 - Teretonga - Race 3

Dale's 3rd and final race of the weekend was his best result so far, but following the theme of this weekend's racing, Dale suffered another significant hit in the rear in a racing incident.  Dale's Team SCG Racing teammate was also taken out on the track, hitting the wall in a crash that not only brought out the safety car and caused a subsequent restart, it's likely the car will be written off.  A major blow for the team.

Dale finished in 14th position (was 13th).  The race results and times are available here.

Dale's fastest time was 1:05.017 (in lap 14).

Round 5 - Teretonga - Race 2

Dale had a better race this morning at Teretonga, but it was still marred by the actions of other drivers on the track.  It was a real mixed bag with 1/2 of the cars racing on wet tyres and half on slicks.  Dale was driving really well (on slicks) when he was turned around by another driver, effectively putting him out of the running for a top-10 result.  Dale finished in 18th place, which was OK, but doesn't reflect the position he was really driving in for much of the race.  Dale was also handed a 50s time penalty - for 'driving behaviour'.

The race results and times are available here.

Dale's best time was 1:07.754 (in lap 16).

Round 5 - Teretonga - Race 1

Dale had another unfortunate race result today when two cars crashed into the rear of his car early on in the first race at Teretonga, Invercargill. A wet race, where Dale has traditionally done really well, Dale had a great start but had to pit after the incident which put him at the back of the field.  Dale only completed 7 laps when he had to pit again due to engine overheating issues, which was thought to be a result of a coolant problem caused by the crash.  Although the engine is fine that was the end of Dale's race, posting his 2nd DNF result of his NZV8s career.

The race results are available here (the NZV8s website).

Dale's fastest time was 1:12.782 (in lap 4).

Round 4 - Timaru - Race 3

Some racing carnage unfortunately took it's toll on Dale and the Stabicraft Ford Falcon today, as he was caught up in a huge crash at the start of the 2nd lap of the race.  Much of the front-running cars were involved, and Dale's 14th place start had him just behind the incident.  As he slowed down to pass by the crash he was hit from behind by faster-moving traffic.  With a bent diff, leaking oil, Dale made it through most of the race, but the diff eventually ceased with only three laps to go.

That's Dale's first and only DNF for the season so far, so while it's a real shame, the team has been lucky to make it through relatively unscathed to date.  A bit of a sour end to an otherwise great weekend's racing, but Dale and all the SCG Racing team go into next weekend's 5th round in a positive state of mind, knowing that the Stabicraft Ford Falcon has the speed to keep up with the best.

Dale's fastest lap was 1:09.175 in lap 11.  He completed 17 of the 20 laps of the race.

The race results and lap times are available here.

Round 4 - Timaru - Race 2

Dale put in another great performance this morning at Timaru, on another overcast day.  After starting well Dale got mixed up with Andy Knight and dropped back from his starting 9th position to 12th.  Dale put in a great drive though, finishing in 11th place, and putting in the 7th fastest lap time of the race.

Dale's fastest lap was 1:07.822 in lap #10.  His finishing time was 21:28.227 (10th was 21:25.799, 1st was Kayne Scott with 21:10.454).

The lap times are available here.

Round 4 - Timaru - Race 1

Dale finished Race 1 in 9th place after yet another great race for him, the Team SCG Racing crew and the Stabicraft Ford Falcon.  Dale started really well, up from 14th place on the grid to 10th or 11th straight off the line.  He drove really well from then, putting in another consistent drive and delivering another top-10 result.  

The race results and lap times are available here.

Dale's best time was 1:07.590 (in lap 3).  His race time was 13:40.303 (8th was 13:39.011, 1st was Kayne Scott with 13:25.528).

Round 4 - Timaru - Qualifying

Dale has qualified in 14th place after a close-run session in Timaru this morning.  He was running about 9th place when first a broken gear stick and then a rear sway bar slowed things down.  The times were tight with many drivers placing within a second of each other.

We're looking forward to the first race this afternoon at 4PM.  It should be a good one.

The 2nd Round (Top 20) Qualifying times are available here.

Dale's best time was 1:07.655.  

All times/results from this weekend's racing are available here.