Lobb Moves In On Leaders After Top Weekend

A near perfect weekend for Whangarei driver Caine Lobb at the fourth round of the ENZED V8 Ute Series at Ruapuna has shot him up the points ladder and back into contention with just over 100 points between himself and current leader Matt Lockwood.

Lobb looked good right from the start by winning the Top 10 Shootout and followed that with a race win in the afternoon claiming maximum points of 78 for the first day's racing.

"I won the first race but only just. At the start I got a bit of a jump but then started looking in my mirrors and making mistakes - a bit of brain fade I think." said Lobb.

The grid marble draw which gave him a front row start for Saturday's race relocated Lobb to the back of the pack for Race Two due to the reverse grid format. A hard push was needed if he was to pull in some much needed points and catch the leaders in the championship.

Moving quickly through the pack of V8 drivers he managed to get the Mark Cromie Holden Racing Commodore ute up into third place where he finished the race close in behind Simon Beirne and Matt Lockwood in first and second respectively.

In the final race Lobb again started on the first row and got away from the pack creating an extensive lead only to be hauled back after the race was stopped. This was due to an altercation between Graham Beirne and James Urquhart leaving the latter becoming one with a safety barrier. Lobb was able to resume his lead and pull away from the pack once more after Urquhart's car was removed from the circuit and the race restarted. He went on to claim race victory and win the round with a pole position, two wins and a third place.

"In the last race I pulled out a mean lead but the safety car came out and we were red flagged for a full restart. After rolling restart I got away again and Simon (Junior Burner) gave me a good shove going into turn one and put me way out sideways but luckily I managed to get away from him." he said.

"The round was cool - I had a really great weekend and there was some satisfaction being able to take out Simon Beirne who is driving for my old boss Andy Neale from Canterbury Motor Racing School - that was fun!" laughed Lobb.

Caine Lobb went to the Powerbuilt Tools Raceway looking to make up for his last three rounds where, although he has set the fastest times and claimed two out of three pole positions, has been unlucky to have lost points from not finishing three out of nine races for various reasons. Conversely his rivals ahead of him in the standings have been very consistent and finished all of their races which has reflected in their points tally.

Lobb now looks towards the remaining two rounds of the season where he will hope to replicate the success of this weekend at Ruapuna and improve his standings before the grand finale at Pukekohe at the end of this month.

To top off the strong weekend he also set a new lap record being the only car in the series to enter into the one minute 39's. He says that the team will be looking at ways to set the car up to go faster before heading to the next round.

Caine Lobb has bounced back remarkably with this weekend's near perfect result taking 148 points from a potential 156 and moving up a spot on the championship table to fourth where he is 23 away from claiming third and 102 points behind current leader Matt Lockwood.

Next for the ENZED V8 Utes is Round Five at Manfeild Autocourse in Feilding on the 13-15th of June.