2010/03

Australian driver David Reynolds made it two round wins from two starts at a drama-packed third round of the 2009/10 Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge championship at Invercargill's Teretonga Park over the weekend. Third place, however was enough for defending series champion Craig Baird to retain a healthy lead in the overall series points standings.

Having missed the opening round of the 2009/10 championship at Pukekohe in early November last year, former Carrera Cup Australia champion and 2009 V8 Supercar racer Reynolds was always going to be in catch up mode in the championship points chase.

Pole position in qualifying then three wins from three starts at the second round of the 2009/10 series at Christchurch's Powerbuilt Tools Raceway at Ruapuna Park late in November, meant Reynolds was certainly making his presence felt. This weekend, a pole and two wins from three starts at Teretonga Park Raceway only solidified that point.

A point he drove home in the 16 lap reverse-top-six-grid Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge championship race on Sunday afternoon.

After getting the better of poleman Jonny Reid and Daniel Gaunt to win the final race, Reynolds ended up with 284 points, 13 more than first race winner and second race runner-up Matt Halliday and 37 more than Baird.

However, Baird retains the overall points lead at the half way point of the 2009/10 series with 793 points, 86 more than Matt Halliday who with a win, a second and a fourth place is now second with 707 points and 127 more than Triple X teammate Gaunt who has slipped to third with 666 points.

Reynolds claimed pole position in qualifying then followed Halliday home in the 100km "The Mad Butcher" mini-enduro on Saturday afternoon. He then won the sprint race on Sunday morning from Halliday and Baird, and started the weekend's reverse top six grid Battery Town final from the second row of the grid. He had a busy weekend at the front of the pack.

After slotting into third place behind a fast-starting Gaunt and Reid on the first lap, Reynolds took a lead he was not to lose on lap 12.

That said, the drama in that race started before the cars were even on the grid after Halliday and series young gun Courtney Letica clashed on the warm-up lap.

The contact punctured tyres on both the cars meaning they both started from the pits. Quick work by their respective pit crews meant both drivers were able to start the race. The handicap of having to start from pit lane meant Halliday was never going to be able to challenge either Reynolds for the race - and with it possible round - victory.

Halliday was aided in his drive back through the field by a couple of other incidents, one which saw Mitch Cunningham - who started the race seventh and ran as high as fifth -being served a stop-go penalty after early race contact with Shane McKillen. The other saw Jonny Reid pit to observe a stop-go penalty of his own for contact with early race leader Daniel Gaunt.

And Craig Baird?

Having swapped fastest lap times with Reynolds and Halliday in qualifying and got the jump on Reynolds off the line in the mini-enduro on Saturday afternoon, the defending series champion was leap-frogged in the pits in that race by both Halliday and Reynolds to finish third.

Baird also finished third in the first sprint race of the weekend on Sunday morning before following Reynolds home for second place in the final, a performance good enough both for the final place on the round podium. It was also enough points for the former Hamilton-based, 21-time New Zealand title to retain a lead in the series.

While all this was going on last season's 996 category title holder Hugh Gardiner continued to set the pace in the Mothers 996 Cup competition, eventually crossing the finish line in the final in eighth place ahead of fellow category regulars Simon McLennan and Simon Evans and series and category debutant Allan Dippie from Dunedin.

"This place (Teretonga) is pretty unique as far as tracks in New Zealand are concerned in that it is very fast and very flowing and with a car like the 996 you've got enough grip and horsepower to make it really interesting. Because of the points situation (the consistent McLennan continues to lead the Mothers 996 Cup category from Gardiner) our main goal was just to gather points but after three category wins from three starts, and strong finishes against the 997 guys in each race I'm pretty happy."

1. Matt Halliday 38.14.392

2. David Reynolds +0.515

3. Craig Baird +18.793

4. Daniel Gaunt +21.767

5. Jonny Reid +31.472

6. Courtney Letica +32.472

7. Shane McKillen +1 lap

8. Hugh Gardiner +1 lap

9. Andrew Bagnall +1 lap

10. Simon McLennan +2 lap

11. Allan Dippie +3 lap

12. Colin Caldwell + 4 laps

dnf: Simon Evans, Mitch Cunningham

Fastest lap: David Reynolds 58.538

1. David Reynolds 57.854

2. Craig Baird 57.861

3. Matt Halliday 57.875

4. Daniel Gaunt 58.307

5. Jonny Reid 58.311

6. Mitch Cunningham 58.815

7. Courtney Letica 59.057

8. Shane McKillen +59.704

9. Andrew Bagnall +59.861

10. Hugh Gardiner +1.00.375

11. Simon Evans 1.01.014

12. Simon McLennan 1.01.089

13. Colin Caldwell 1.03.990

14. Allan Dippie 1.04.607

1. David Reynolds 15:54.349 2. Craig Baird +0.719 3. Daniel Gaunt +4.807 4. Matt Halliday +7.104 5. Courtney Letica +27.778 6. Andrew Bagnall +31.326 7. Jonny Reid +31.572 8. Hugh Gardiner +38.022 9. Simon McLennan + 44.521 10. Simon Evans +47.152 11. Allan Dippie + 1 Lap 12. Shane McKillen + 2 Laps 13. Mitch Cunningham +42.372

14. Colin Caldwell 3 Laps Fastest lap: Matt Halliday 58.799

1. David Reynolds 15:36.814 2. Matt Halliday + 0.416 3. Craig Baird +0.747 4. Daniel Gaunt +2.028 5. Jonny Reid + 4.998 6. Mitch Cunningham +9.840 7. Andrew Bagnall +16.023 8. Shane McKillen +16.790 9. Hugh Gardiner +17.971 10. Simon McLennan +23.459 1 11. Simon Evans +24.268 1:0 12. Allan Dippie +34.950 13. Courtney Letica +47.039 14. Colin Caldwell +11 Laps Fastest lap: Craig Baird (lap 2) 58.739