Peach Earns Podium Finish and Strengthens Series Standing
Monday 26 January 2009, 4:23AM
By Little Devil Entertainment
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Another solid round from Auckland driver Mack Peach in the ENZED V8 Ute Series over the weekend has enabled the 26 year old to creep up on current points leader Matt Lockwood.
After his well earned round win at Pukekohe at the previous round in December Peach has held the second placed spot behind the Palmerston North driver and this weekend has closed in on the lead by 5 points leaving a reduced gap of just 31 points between the two.
The new and quickly gaining in popularity Holden versus Ford series is now into it's second season and this weekend provided some very exciting support races to the A1GP International event.
Showing good pace in the car in the one off practice on Friday afternoon Peach, who has just returned from two rounds in the BNT V8 Championship, achieved the fourth fastest time in qualification in the Holden VE ute.
In the first race of the weekend on Saturday morning all did not go smoothly when Peach was disputing rights over second place with another driver and the two suffered an excursion from the circuit.
Picking up the pieces and finishing in sixth place Peach took a creditable haul of points after starting the race from the rear of the field.
On Saturday afternoon the "Bomba" was running the car at a good pace once more and moved into second place behind Simon Beirne who after starting from the front had created a gap between himself and the rest of the field.
Beirne held the position with Peach bringing the race car into the final straight and over the line in second place earning an admirable haul of points and a good starting position for the final race on Sunday afternoon where the grid was determined by placings in the first two races.
On Sunday Peach again showed his command of The Barn Company Holden at any given circuit and moved himself up into third position slowly gaining on Caine Lobb who was in second place behind leader Simon Beirne.
The relatively short six lap final race of the weekend didn't allow Peach the opportunity to challenge Lobb for that position coming home in third place was enough for a Peach to achieve a podium finish for the weekend.
With good consistent results over the weekend up at the front of the 16 car field Mack Peach claimed third overall retaining second place in the points standings and gaining on championship leader Matt Lockwood.
"We started off a little slowly this weekend but came right, made the podium and still have second place in the series." he said.
With just 31 points between them Peach can look forward to getting back behind the wheel when the series hits the South Island in March.
The series, teams and drivers take a break through February in preparation for a whirlwind tour of the Southern circuits where rounds four, five and six run over three successive weekends starting at the Powerbuilt International Raceway in Ruapuna over the 6-8th March.
The very next weekend the series moves to Timaru International Motor Raceway followed by Invercargill's Teretonga Park the weekend after that.
The final round of the series will be held at Pukekohe Park Raceway over the weekend of 1st to 3rd May.