Round 3 of the Digital Fusion 2k Cup South Island took place this past weekend at Mike Pero Motorsport Park for a two-day event at the Wigram Revival Race Weekend. A field of 32 cars entered to take part in one of Christchurch’s biggest Motor Racing weekends, and as they always do, the drivers were ready to put on a show for the spectators. Unfortunately before we got to qualifying, we lost two cars with the Duane and Leon Fox AE101 Toyota out with gearbox issues, and the Nissan Primera of Ben Lewis pulling out on Friday due to the unwelcome vision of water spraying out of the head.

Qualifying took place late on Saturday morning, with plenty of cloud cover meaning the track would be fast and grippy. David Booth was again the man to beat in his AE111 posting a 1m46.615, only just edging fellow AE111 driver Greg Mitchell by a mere 0.069 of a second. Dean McGuigan was next in his Indycars CRX with a 1m46.783 with B Class cars locking in the top three spots. The big surprise of the session was Arthur Spatz, who put his Car Parts Canterbury ST202 Celica up in 4^th position and 1^st of the C Class cars posting an impressive 1m47.253, with Gav Thompson’s MR2 not too far back in 6^th on a 1m47.344, and Michael Gunstone’s Paterson Bros Tyres BG Familia rounding out the C Class top 3 in 12^th with a 1m47.770. Greg Barclay was battling electrical issues, but was still 1^st of the A Class cars on the board and managed to put his Digital Fusion AE101 Toyota in 18^th with a 1m49.02, ahead of Jason Labert’s Charade in 30^th on a 1m54.260. As a point of reference to show the pace of the drivers this round, David Booth qualified on pole at round 1 on a 1m46.878, and Paul Booth 2^nd with a 1m47.912. This round, David was 2 tenths quicker and in pole again, but Paul’s time would have put him 13^th on the grid showing just how fast the drivers were going.

Full qualifying results here

Race 1 was underway and Mitchell jumped into the lead with Booth hot on his tail. McGuigan was shadowing the AE111 pair waiting for a mistake, and jumped into 4^th. Heading into turn 1 on the second lap, there was an incident involving Martin Neill’s AE111 and Mike Pulley’s Mitstubish FTO. The two came in contact, spinning Neill around, with the rear of the car then centre punching the side of the FTO. The Levin was beached in the sand with the rear of the car completely caved in, while the FTO managed to continue on, and the red flag was brought out while the stricken Levin was retrieved. It was a fairly hefty hit, and Neill was then taken to hospital for some checks. Fortunately the most important thing was despite a sore head, Neill was okay and back at the track on Sunday. The field then followed the safety car for a lap before the lights went green for the restart. Booth got the jump on Mitchell, but McGuigan had a rocket of a start and shot into the lead but only momentarily. The two Levins shot back in front and from there on Mitchell was on a mission to win his first official 2k Cup Race and earn a much loved Dunlop hat. Lap after lap of battling, Greg Mitchell on behalf of Kelvin Kimber hung onto to win the race, just clear of Booth, and Thompson right behind. Matt Ryan in his Craig Gilbert Motors AE111 silently moved up the order to finish the race in 4^th, and making it three AE111s at the top of the field for B Class. Arthur Spatz held on for 10^th overall and 2^nd in C Class just ahead of Gunstone in 11^th, and in A Class Lambert was first home in 29^th, with Barlcay a few laps down in 31^st after niggling battery issues meant that the car shut off under the red flag but that wasn’t going to stop him! In a first ever in 2k Cup, Barclay sprinted from his stationary car stuck in pitlane to grab some tools and a spare battery from his spares, then back to the car and performed an extremely slick battery change and managed to get back out on track, good effort Greg!

Full race 1 results here

Sunday was forecasted to be an absolute scorcher of a day, and fortunately for the drivers, the cars lined up for race 2 in the morning when there was still a bit of cloud cover. The first of the marble grid races saw Craig Saunders line up on pole position in his Digital Fusion AE111, alongside rookie Paul Trainer in another AE111. Craig and Paul bogged down at the start, which meant a fast starting Warren Reynolds jumped into the lead from 6^th on the grid in his Honda Integra, and Shane Edgar moved into 2^nd in his Harcourts Nissan Primera. It looked as though there was about to be a momentous battle for 2^nd and 3^rd as well as the C Class honours between Edgar and Gunstone, as the two went side by side into the hairpin for the next couple of corners, but Saunders had managed to recover from his bad start and got between the two with Booth slotting in between as well. Booth then started working over Saunders and managed to get by into 3^rd. He then set his sights on Edgar, but despite a lack of top end speed, the Primera seemed to be 3 car widths wide and very late under brakes making life hard for Booth. In the mean time, Reynolds was nowhere to be seen, he was on an absolute mission and punched in lap after lap after lap under the breakout time. It was on for young and old, as Saunders, Mitchell, Gunstone, Thompson and Shannon Robertson’s Indycar Integra were all swapping positions lap after lap for the back half of the top 10, so once Booth got past Edgar, the two of them gapped the group and it looked as though Edgar might be on for a podium on his birthday. When the chequered flag fell, Reynolds was a massive 14 seconds in front of Booth, and Edgar only just held off a fast finishing Saunders for 3^rd, in an extremely impressive drive making Edgar 1^st home in C Class, and Saunders getting his first podium in B Class. In a very rare situation, Thomspon wasn’t first home in C Class, but managed to finish the race in 7^th, with Gunstone next in 9^th, and Barclay sorted out his electrical issues crossing the line in 15^th and Lambert home in 30^th the A Class.

Full race 2 results here

This season has seen a healthy number of new drivers enter the series, and in race 3 we saw two of them holding out the front row. Chaz Frew had pole position in his AE111, from Nick Ilton in his Toyota Celica with 30 cars behind all raring to go. Graham Reynolds did what his son Warren did in Race 2, and had a ripper of a start, which saw his Integra up into 1st position, and Arthur Spatz, bolted from 6^th up to 2^nd. Once everybody settled in, and crossed the start line for the first time, Reynolds held down the lead and Ian Kerry moved up to 2^nd in his Marlborough Motor Trimmers AE111 before being passed by Spatz the following lap. Traditionally a very fast starter, Thompson made very quick and efficient work over the first few laps, and after starting 14^th, was up to 3^rd by lap 3. With only a handful of points between Thomspon and Booth in the Championship, this was the perfect start the MR2 driver needed as Booth started down in 21^st. At the halfway mark, Reynolds was somehow making his 1,695mm wide Integra take up the entire width of the track, and by making good use of the power of the B18C engine, was holding Thompson and McGuigan at bay. Just behind the top 3, Dan Brown was finally experiencing some luck, with a few DNF’s last round and niggling engine issues this round, he seemed to have gotten rid of the issues and was running a strong 4^th. After driving for 8 laps like his life depended on it, Reynolds held on to win the race making for a first time a father and son both won a 2k Cup race in the same weekend, let alone ever! Thomspon held on to finish 2^nd overall and back into his usual position of first of the C Class runners, with McGuigan rounding out the podium, and a relieved Brown finishing up in 4^th rounding out the B class podium. Spatz topped off a very competitive weekend finishing the race in 7^th, and Pulley got his FTO home in 14^th in his first top 3 race result for Class C. Over in A Class, Barclay’s AE101 seemed to have gotten rid of the electrical issues and finished in 19^th, with Lambert finishing up in 30^th.

Full race 3 results here

It is without question that Digital Fusion 2k Cup South Island put on an awesome weekend of racing for the spectators, with plenty of side-by-side action and battles also leaving the drivers with a buzz in pit lane after race 3. Apart from the incident in race 1, the level of racing was incredibly clean, which is pretty amazing when you consider how close the 32 cars were on track, and how close the racing was – well done to all of the drivers! A big thank you to the Canterbury Car Club for putting on a brilliant event to be a part of, and to the volunteers and marshals for donating to allow us to go racing. Now we get to have a well earned two months off, and look forward to seeing everyone at Levels Raceway for Round 4 of the Digital Fusion 2k Cup South Island on the 25^th and 26^th of January!