Baird makes steady start to V8 title defence
Monday 8 November 2010, 9:06AM
By United Video Racing
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Finishing second overall for the opening round of the 2010/2011 BNT V8s championship was a steady start for Gold Coast based Kiwi Craig Baird, placing second, third and seventh for the races in the United Video Ford Falcon at Pukekohe the weekend.
One point adrift of the series leader after the first of seven rounds on the calendar, defending title champion Baird had not driven the #1 race car since securing the title at Taupo in March this year.
Setting third fastest time in the Saturday top-ten shoot-out session decided the start order for the first of three races held on the Sunday. Third in the opening race Baird climbed one spot to finish second in the second race and seventh in the full reverse grid 22-lap weekend finale.
“We didn’t quite have the car speed here, we were a couple tenth’s second off and at Pukekohe you just can’t make up that sort of deficit – where you are is where you are – you’re flat down the straights and just can’t go any faster,” described Baird.
“We just didn’t quite have things working exactly how we wanted them – probably due more to not having done testing, but it’s a solid weekend. Things can turn pretty fast, as John McIntyre found out and that’s just a result of reverse grid racing and people not knowing when to let go to let the faster cars by.”
With 25 national championship titles to his name, Baird says consistency is often overlooked as a key ingredient in winning a series.
“Like I’ve said before, Pukekohe is not the championship, just a small part of it, so we can’t look a gift horse in the mouth and have to see the result for what it is – a steady start to our title defence.”
Baird’s championship winning United Video Ford now gets a careful inspection ready for the next round of the series. Largely unscathed following numerous panel rubbing encounters in the 21-car field, the team will transport their operation to Christchurch for the last week of November to race the final round for 2010.
The United Video Racing team would like to acknowledge the support from United Video, LeasePlan, Hauraki and WD-40 in their chase for a successive V8s title.