Booth and Woodstock Racing Commodore caught up in dramas

Woodstock Racing
Media release
Re: Review, Round 3 of 2013 BNT V8 SuperTourers, Pukekohe Park Raceway, 25-26 May 2013
26 May 2013

Booth and Woodstock Racing Commodore caught up in dramas

Massively disappointing is the only way leading V8 SuperTourer competitor Andy Booth could summarise his crash-shortened race weekend at Pukekohe.

“Given we didn’t complete even one lap of the first race and couldn’t repair the car in order to contest either of the other races, I’m incredibly disappointed that, once again, the Woodstock Racing Commodore has been caught up in incidents caused by other competitors, situations that you’d have to say were unacceptable and unnecessary,” said Booth.

With wet and dry patches interspersed across the Pukekohe circuit, Booth lined up 10th among the 19-strong field for Sunday’s first 15 lap race. The first of a series of slips, slides, spins and crashes occurred between two competitors ahead of Booth before they’d even crossed the start-finish line and the flow-on effects of this incident resulted in damage to the Woodstock Racing Commodore’s steering. Another driver forced wide caused further contact, sending Booth’s car at high speed into the concrete barrier.

“Ironically the greatest amount of damage was caused to two innocent parties – me and Ash Walsh. It was a very hard hit, harder than I was expecting and it gave me a good shake-up and a headache all day.”

After being red-flagged and restarted, the race was eventually won by Shane van Gisbergen. Booth was one of six drivers who didn’t finish.

The Woodstock Racing engineers attempt to repair the car and get it out for the delayed running of the second race, but with the chassis and suspension too damaged to continue, the team was forced to retire for the day.

Booth says the team will bounce back. “As we always do. There’s plenty of time to get the car back to 100 per cent for the Taupo event at the end of August.

“Yesterday, we felt things were going well with a fifth-quickest time during the morning’s first practice session. The car was quick, but as the showers started to come across, the track became more and more difficult to navigate, as we expected. During the rain-interrupted qualifying session, we worked out there were just six-and-a-half minutes of ‘green’ track time, so it was down to luck whether you got a clear track or clear vision ahead of you to set a reasonable lap time.

“We’re certainly hoping for fine weather when the V8 SuperTourers return to Pukekohe in December.

“One of the hardest things about not being able to compete at all, is the sense we’re letting our sponsors down. We always want to do our very best for the team of sponsors behind the Woodstock Racing Commodore so it’s particularly tough when you’re not even out there racing. However we did take heart from seeing such a strong presence of Woodstock Racing fans at the event; it was really great to see.”

Andy Booth and the Woodstock Racing Commodore compete in the BNT V8 SuperTourers with the support of Woodstock Bourbon and Cola, Wynn’s, SG Fleet, Advanced Transaction Systems, Toptul, Precision Autowerk, Central Towing and New Balance. Follow Woodstock Racing via Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/andyboothracing

ENDS/

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