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Another Step Up for Richards

Monday 18 January 2010, 10:26AM

By Little Devil Motorsport

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INVERCARGILL

Three good solid race results from Teretonga Park Raceway, Invercargill at the weekend has Simon Richards climbing the BNTV8s Championship tables and moving into ninth place.

The Hamilton driver is looking very strong at the halfway point of the six round championship as the teams and drivers pack up and move north for this weekend's meeting at Timaru International Motor Raceway.

The weekend started off well for Richards qualifying inside the top 10 and he carried the pace throughout the remainder of the weekend taking a very solid 10th, 11th and another 10th place in the three races.

"Making the top 10 shootout and then starting from grid nine really helped us get off to a good start and then everything else all fell into place." he said.

The results earned him the points needed to take a step up on the championship ladder and further into the elusive top 10 in what has proved to be the most competitive BNTV8s season to date.

"We started off in ninth went to 10th, back to ninth and now we just need to get to eighth! I'm pretty happy with that, we're ninth in the championship and this time last year we were in 18th so I should be doing cart wheels." said Richards.

While there was action aplenty with a battle at the front between John McIntyre and Craig Baird in the first two races, Richards was able to maintain and hold his ground as other drivers switched positions or even went off the circuit.

However the battle between the front runners soon involved Richards when in the 22 lap reverse grid race Craig Baird and Angus Fogg engaged him in a three way battle for eighth place.

The two drivers battled between themselves with Richards becoming the meat in the sandwhich while they tried to find a way past.

"In the last race I started off in 12th, fired off and got up into fifth but dropped a few places. I had a bit of a battle on my hands with Baird and Foggy trying to get past in the last few laps - they just had a bit more car speed than I did and managed to get past me in the end."

However the points from the two top 10 finishes has strengthened Richards' position in the BNTV8s Championship and has him in good stead before moving on to round four at Timaru this weekend.

"I'm happy with the points from this weekend, we just need to keep pressing on, keep looking forward in the championship and keep scoring more."

"With our current form in the championship I'm hoping we will go well there (Timaru) and we just need to keep pushing hard - the plan is to keep finishing in the top 10 which is a big ask but we're going to do our best." he says.

The fourth round of the BNTV8s Championship is this weekend at Timaru International Motor Raceway on the 23-24th January with qualification and the top 10 shootout held on Saturday and all three races on Sunday.

The shootout and all races will be televised Sunday the 24th on TV3 hosted by Shaun Summerfield, Mark Pederson and Greg Murphy.

The drivers and teams will next head to the North Island for round five at Manfeild Autocourse on February 13-14 with the final at Taupo on March 20-21.

However the action will be far from over with the BNTV8s heading to the ITM 400 at Hamilton over the weekend of April 16-18 where they will support the third round of the Australian V8 Supercars Championship