BNT V8 driver Brad Lathrope
relished the challenge of racing at Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon at Feilding
this weekend.
“I really enjoy racing down here, Manfeild
is a fun track. It looks easy on paper but it’s actually quite technical. If
you can get it right and flow all the corners together it’s wicked,” Brad says.
His Dayle ITM #73 Ford Falcon super tourer
might look a little worse for wear but there is a month now until the sixth and
final round at Hampton Downs on March 8-10 to give it a late season birthday.
“The Dayle ITM Ford got a little bit of damage
over the weekend as we got caught up with a few other drivers but that’s all
part and parcel of it.”
The weather gods turned it on for the racers,
with temperatures siting around 28degC both days, making for a hot, dry track.
Brad qualified sixth and started in that
position for race one, before gaining a couple of positons off the start. An
altercation with another competitor earned him a 10sec time penalty which
dropped him back to seventh for that race.
“I got a really good start and going into turn
one I was in fourth. I knew someone was on the inside of me, so I left enough
room for him to get around as I didn’t want to crash into him. Then out of
nowhere, another competitor came flying up and smacked into the side of my car
which unfortunately which pushed me wide into the car that was on the outside
of me. I was the meat in a sandwich around turn one!”
The race didn’t have a happy ending despite the
Dayle ITM Ford showing some good pace.
“Two laps later coming into the hairpin, I had a
good run on the competitor in front of me and unfortunately I hit the brakes
and they didn’t stop me as quickly as I would have liked and I barrelled into
the rear of him and spun him round which in turn put me off the track. It was
completely my fault. It upset his race and my race at the same time. However,
we both got back on the track and got going again.”
Race two and three were less dramatic and Brad
started them in seventh and moved up a posiiton to finish both in sixth place.
His team will have some work to do on the car
over the coming weeks to repair some cosmetic damage.
“All four doors have got some paint from other
cars on them. I broke the front splitter and have cracks in the bonnet and
windscreen. The car will need a little bit of a birthday before the final
round.”
Brad’s team came down from Auckland and have
“all taken on the knowledge of what we have learned from Barry Leith and Kev
Murdoch who helped out at the two South Island rounds,” he says.
“Big thanks to our team for improving
consistently and for knuckling down and starting to gel together really well,
which is awesome.”
As always, Brad is grateful for the support of
all his sponsors.
“Plus a personal thank you to AJ from Redline
Electrical for being trackside and supporting us. Same for Marty and Deb Day
from ITM – it’s always lovely having our main sponsors there supporting us and
following us.
