Lobb Tackles Title at Favoured Circuit

ENZED V8 Ute Series 2009-10
Round Four
Powerbuilt International Raceway, Ruapuna
19-21st March 2010

Lobb Tackles Title at Favoured Circuit

Caine Lobb, Mark Cromieand the Mark Cromie Holden Team Commodore Racing Ute

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It was one year and two weeks ago that Caine Lobb was headed for the Powerbuilt International Raceway, Ruapuna in a chase for the 2009 ENZED V8 Ute Racing title.

At that time he was second place in the standings 41 points behind leading driver Matt Lockwood. He went on to win four races from four at Ruapuna closing the gap before winning the series two rounds later.

This time around Lobb is chasing Palmerston North's Chris Pither for the title and one point better off at 40 points behind and very much looking forward to hitting the Christchurch circuit.

The similarity can not be overlooked but this time around there are only two rounds remaning for the Whangarei driver to assume the lead one less than this time last year.

"It's one of my favourite circuits and it will suit the Holden. It's a horsepower track even more so than Pukekohe I believe. It has some good straights mixed in with some good corners and I think we can go well there - we have the same car as last year and all the set up information from when we did well and I am hoping for good weather which will help us." said Lobb.

The forecast for the weekend is for sunny conditions and at worst overcast on Sunday so all could go in Lobb's favour weatherwise.

More than a year employed at the Ruapuna circuit as a driving instructor will put Lobb in good stead for the weekend but Pither is certainly not unaccustomed to the layout of the track himself.

"Chris knows the track well, he has been around there plenty of times competing in Formula Fords so I don't expect it to be easy or to have an advantage." says Lobb.

After the perfect race win record at Ruapuna last season including claiming pole position, Lobb then went to Timaru where he won three races from the four closing the gap to Lockwood by one point.

He will have to do better than that this time if he is to beat Pither to this year's title because the meeting at Timaru International Motor Raceway is the final.

Not only driver's performance but reliability and consistency will be the key to winning the championship. Both Lobb and Pither have been extremely competitive and consistent throughout the season with neither suffering even one DNF and both finishing races high in the points resulting in the two drivers clearly ahead of the other drivers in the standings.

One thing is for sure, the remaining races will be full on excitement as the two fight over the series lead. There is everything to play for and the title fight will undoubtedly go down to the wire with a repeat of last season's nail biting end which went all the way to the final race of the season.

The ENZED V8 Ute action of round four at Powerbuilt International Raceway will get underway on Saturday 20th March with practice in the morning, qualification in the afternoon followed by the first of four aggressive Holden vs Ford races for the weekend. On Sunday the 21st the racing utes will supply a further three rowdy door-to-door V8 races.

No matter what happens when the 2009-10 series wraps up next weekend, the action will be underway again in very special circumstances when the ENZED V8 Utes contest the first ever Trans Tasman Test where they will go head to head against 16 drivers from the sister series in Australia.

The Aussies will travel to New Zealand where the 32 roaring V8 utes will contest the 'TTT' as a support class for the V8 Supercar Championship at the ITM 400 in Hamilton on the 16-18th of April 2010.

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ENZED V8 Racing Utes 2008-9 Calendar
Round Date Event Location
1 23rd to 25th October 2009 V8 Attack Taupo
2 4th to 6th December 2009 Thunder in the Park Pukekohe
3 5th to 7th February 2010 TRS International Hampton Downs
4 19th to 21st March 2010 Power Built tools Ruapuna
5 26th to 28th March 2010 Truck & Ute Final Timaru
Trans Tasman Test 16-18 April 2010 ITM 400 V8 Supercars Hamilton

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