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 1 - Taupo - Round Results

Dale has finished Round 1 of the NZV8s Championship in 13th place overall, with 83 points.  Dale's results page can be found here:

http://www.dalewilliamsracing.com/race-results

Official Results:

http://www.nzv8s.co.nz/pages/9/results.htm

Pos	Car No.	Name	Car	Hometown	Total	Total
					Points	Rd1
1=	777	Paul Radisich	Falcon	Melbourne	184	184
1=	99	Kayne Scott	Falcon	Auckland	184	184
3=	1	John McInytre	Falcon	Nelson	165	165
3=	23	Andy Booth	Commodore	Auckland	165	165
5	82	Michael Bristow	Falcon	Auckland	117	117
6	96	Paul Pedersen	Falcon	Taupo	109	109
7	69	Eddie Bell	Falcon	Christchurch	100	100
8	27	Craig Baird	Falcon	Queensland	96	96
9	48	David Besnard	Falcon	Gold Coast	93	93
10	70	Andrew Anderson	Commodore	Auckland	90	90
11	111	Andrew Porter	Falcon	Auckland	88	88
12	49	John Penny	Commodore	Taupo	84	84
13	22	Dale Williams	Falcon	Auckland	83	83
14	4	Simon Richards	Falcon	Hamilton	64	64
15=	41	Adam Brook	Falcon	Christchurch	60	60
15=	15	Paul Manuell	Commodore	Auckland	60	60
17	88	Boyd Norwood	Falcon	Palmerston Nth	56	56
18	12	Inky Tulloch	Falcon	Southland	55	55
19	26	Tim Edgell	Falcon	Auckland	52	52
20=	50	Julia Huzziff	Commodore	Auckland	50	50
20=	21	Alan McCarrison	Falcon	Auckland	50	50
22	51	Chris Adams	Commodore	Dunedin	48	48
23	2	Angus Fogg	Falcon	Auckland	47	47
24	007	Nick Ross	Commodore	Cambridge	36	36
25	52	John Hepburn	Commodore	Timaru	22	22
26	9	Andy Knight	Falcon	Christchurch	19	19
27=	90	Shaun Turton	Commodore	Auckland	18	18
27=	8	Cam Hardy	Commodore	Hamilton	18	18

Updated after Angus Fogg was DQ from Race 3.

Round 1 - Taupo - Race 3

A disappointing finish for Dale this afternoon with a 20th place finish after having to pit twice during the race. He had a nose-to-tail collision which bent his bonnet and generally smashed the front of his car enough that it looked like a safer choice to pit and repair it. He then pitted later after an oil warning light came on.That pretty much put him out of contention, which was sad as he wasputting in some of the best lap times of the race (top 5). But that's motor racing, as they say.

All in all he had a good start to his V8s racing career this weekend, and I'm sure there'll be more great results to come. 

Dale's best lap time was 1:38.190 (in lap 4).

So the team are planning the repairs needed now, while I'm about to hit the road for the drive back to Auckland in the rain!

Updated after Angus Fogg was DQ.

Round 1 - Taupo - Race 2

Dale had an awesome 2nd race this morning finishing in 6th place. It
was a hard race, in the wet, and 6 cars didn't even make the end. The
team is really pleased with his performance, as he drove really well
with pretty competitive lap times (Dale typically does well in the wet).

Dale's teammate David Besnard wasn't as lucky not finishing due to a
broken fuel pump (and he spent much of the race in 3rd and 4th
position).

Dale's fastest time was 1:46.760 (in lap 10).

Round 1 - Taupo - Race 1

Dale's first race in the NZV8s championship didn't start well this afternoon with fuel pump issues leaving him stalled off the start line. So he had to fight his way from the back of the pack (28th) to come in to finish at 14th place. But he drove really well, working through the pack, making passing look easy. It was great to watch.

He dropped a couple of positions in the last couple of laps too, with a broken sway-bar, but he managed to hang on and finish the race well. Aside from that and a big of panel damage to the nose the car finished well.

There was carnage up the front with a few of the leading V8s coming off the track. It made for a great spectator race (which would have been better if it wasn't for the cold wind!).

Dale's best time was 1:38.200 (in lap 5), which was about 9th fastest overall.

Dale is up for his 2nd race is at 11:10am tomorrow morning.

Round 1 - Taupo - Qualifying

After making it through to the Top 20 qualifying round Dale finished
up qualifying 15th (of 28 cars). Overall I think the team was hoping
for a little better, but it's early days yet and we're still working
through communications etc.

Dale's best time was 1:38.044 (in lap 6) +2.151s off John McIntyre's
time and +.297s off David Besnard's best time (13th).

The first race of the season starts at 3:35pm this afternoon. It's a
pretty cold, grey and windy day here today but we're all looking
forward to seeing Dale make an impact in his first race.

Round 1 - Taupo - Testing

Dale had his first taste of the Taupo track today in his new car,
putting the Stabicraft Ford Falcon through it's paces. Testing went
well and the team was pretty happy with the times, coming in 13th from
the first run and 10th in the second.

Testing wasn't the only thing Dale had to worry about today. He &
fellow Team SCG driver David Besnard went bungy jumping today in a PR
event that made TV3 news.

But tomorrow will be all about the racing, and all eyes will be on
Dale tomorrow morning in Qualifying.

Round 1 - Taupo - Preparation

It's almost game time and in a couple of days Dale will get his first taste of racing in the NZV8s Championship with testing on Friday in Taupo.  I'll be blogging from the track with live updates of Dale's progress through the Qualifying rounds and races 1-3 on Saturday & Sunday.  

The team is really looking forward Dale's debut in the Stabicraft Ford Falcon and the Team SCG Racing crew have done all they can to prepare the car and give Dale his best shot at a great start to the championship this weekend.  Stay tuned!...