Joblin Gives 100 Percent

The Marlin Motorsport crew had a successful weekend at Manfeild Autocourse in Feilding competing the fifth round of the New Zealand Production Racing Series.

In attendance were team members Ian 'Private Parts' Howarth, Ron 'Corporal Punishment' Koopman and driver Captain Mark Joblin. Key players Stu Howarth and Phil Norquay were conspiculously AWOL over the weekend but expected to return for the sixth and final round.

Hamilton driver Joblin came away from the weekend very satisfied with his performance in the Classic Cover Insurance Skyline 350GT where he chopped nearly two full seconds off his lap times set last year in the same race car.
"In the first run I was one minute 0.27 seconds and knew I had qualified behind one Suzuki last year in the one minute 0.25s so was a bit disappointed." said Joblin.
"However, Andrew Higgins was watching me run through 'Splash' (the esses) and he suggested a slightly different line so I tried it in qualifying and got into the one minute 0.23s so I was pretty pleased with that."

Joblin in the Nissan Skyline (Class C), Craig Innes in the Mazda 3 MPS (Class D) and Steve Taylor in the Honda Civic Type R (Class B) each set a brand new lap record for their respective class in the opening race.

The trio all went on to improve their times once more and set new records again in race two.

However it was Joblin who became the only driver of the entire feild of NZ Production Racing Series and Mini Challenge drivers to again better his lap times in the third and final race setting a new lap record of one minute 23.212 seconds for Class C.

"Ron said he wanted another lap record and I told him 'There is no way, I can't go any faster' but I beat it - twice!" said Joblin. "And the Suzuki series lap record set last year remained the same."

Although Joblin is racing as the single Class C competitor in the NZ Production Racing Series, he eagerly aims at maintaining a 100% record of reliablity on top of improving his lap times.
"Its pretty difficult to stay 'on focus' sometimes, particularly when you are just driving to finish for guaranteed points. So to go faster than last year and then faster in every outing is really satisfying."
With five rounds contested this season the Marlin Motorsport Team have successfully completed 10 practice runs, five qualifying runs and 15 races all the while with Joblin and the car finding more speed and improving on his results of the previous two seasons in the series.

"We have had a 100% finishing and reliability record which is a great tribute to the car builder Ron Koopman of Hairy Dog Race Cars and my crew of Phil Norquay, Ian Howarth and Stu Lindsay." said Joblin.

Also at the weekend was the AGM for the New Zealand Production Racing Association where Mark Joblin was voted in to remain President for another 12 months.

With a good number of race cars around the country eligible for the series, the economic climate appears to be the main factor for the smaller field this year with a significant upturn expected for the 2010-11 season.

Fellow drivers competing in other classes at the weekend also had successful meetings at Manfeild.
"It was great to see other Classic Cover supported Drivers Simon Richards, Nick Ross, Richie Stanaway, Kenny Smith and Craig Baird all performing well at Manfeild and we are all now looking forward to the final round at Taupo next month." he said.

The final round of the New Zealand Production Racing Series 2009-10 season is being held at the Taupo Motorsport Park over the weekend of 20-21st March 2010.

Mark Joblin and the Marlin Motorsport Team aim to achieve 100% reliability for the season and earn the maximum points for a Class C win.

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