Father and son look for continued V8 success

Father and son look for continued V8 success

ENZED V8 Utes Press Release

10 MARCH 2011

Two Turangi drivers, father and son Dave and Jeff Kernohan, are keen to continue their recent good results when the penultimate round of the ENZED V8 Ute Challenge takes place at their home circuit, the Taupo Motorsport Park this weekend.

The Kernohans hail from Turangi, just 40 minutes from the Taupo track and both have struck a rich vein of form as the series gets set to visit their home circuit.

'Dirty Dave' Kernohan has been part of the ENZED V8 Utes since 2008 and his best result in the ultra competitive series came at Timaru in January when he finished fourth in one of the races. That was also where his son, Jeff 'Ripples' Kernohan achieved the best results of his short career as he secured two fifth place finishes during the same round. Jeff only joined the series at the end of last season meaning he is still in his first full season of competition.

Making their results even more noteworthy is the fact that the Kernohans are lining up each week against quality opposition. Drivers such as defending champion Chris Pither of Palmerston North who is also an experienced competitor in the Australian Series, 2009 Champion Caine Lobb and former BNT V8s competitor Dave Stewart are just some of the seasoned competition that the relatively inexperienced father and son duo race against each round.

However they are doing a fine job against such formidable opposition.

"We are looking forward to the weekend," says Dave. “Along with Timaru this is my favourite circuit. There will be a lot of family and friends there and Jeff and I will both be looking forward to carry on the good results of late. It would certainly be good to do it on our home track." Dave hints at a bit of family rivalry too, when he says, "it would be nice to beat Jeff but these young fellows are a bit braver!" However he acknowledges the efforts of his son this year when he says, "I've been racing for two seasons but he has scored top results in his first full season."

Meanwhile Jeff too cannot wait for the weekend to get underway. "I'm hoping to improve on what I have done to date." Ironically while it is the home race for Jeff he has done very little driving on the circuit as he joined the series after it visited Taupo last season. "All I have done there is a media ride. It is quite a technical track."

Whatever transpires this weekend the Kernohan family have done a fine job this season in their KCL Falcons. However a top result for either or both at this round would be tremendous.

As the ENZED V8 Ute Challenge comes to Taupo, Lobb 'The Ginja Ninja' leads the championship points in his Mark Cromie Holden. However Chris Pither 'The Gypsy' is closing in his Gallagher XR8 Falcon. Others expected to be to the fore this weekend include Christchurch driver Simon 'Junior Burner' Beirne in his Team McDonald's Falcon and newcomer Andrew 'DJ48' Waite in the Mainline Construction Holden.

Unlike the other classes points are also allocated for qualifying in the ENZED V8 Ute Challenge. After qualifying the drivers draw a marble to establish the start order for the first race of the round. Those starting positions are reversed for the second race. The grid for the third and final race is based upon the number of points each driver has scored to that point of the round. The format means exciting action and plenty of passing manoeuvres.

Another feature of the series is the Citizen Watches Time Out Award where a Citizen Watch is presented to the driver who provides the most spectacular moment of the weekend.

Support for the category comes from ENZED, UDC Finance, Radio Hauraki, Yokohama, Castrol, Citizen Watches, Exedy, Armorall, SCT and EFILive.

Series website - www.v8utes.co.nz

Series Points: (After Round 5)
Lobb – 1302, Pither – 1228, S Beirne – 1188, McKelvie – 830, Lightfoot – 814, Spencer – 807, Robb – 751, Ward – 738, Hanley – 600, Urquhart – 582, G Beirne – 577, J Kernohan – 548, D Kernohan – 488, Stewart - 460, Jarvis – 417, Waite – 207, Grove – 164, Morton – 146, Pero - 75
ends

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