NASCAR development driver George Miedecke dominated the Yokohama V8 Ute Legend race – protected by Armor All with a flag to flag win at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide today. Driving a Ford XR8 Falcon Ute, the Charlotte based young gun ran side by side with New Zealand V8 Ute Series leader Chris Pither for the first 3 corners, before taking the lead under brakes at Turn 5.
Pither chased hard in the Peter Burnitt owned Ford, however was pinged by race officials for rolling at the start and served a drive through penalty mid race.
Steve Owen in the Bob Jane T Marts Holden finished second ahead of Luke Youlden’s Ice Break Racings Holden and Marcus Zukanovic in the Select TV Ford. Mal Rose, Rick Bates, Tim Leahey, Andrew Miedecke in the Coopers Clear Ford, Steve Robinson and veteran touring car legend Charlie O’Brien rounded out the top ten.
V8 Supercar Team owner Paul Morris stalled on the warm up lap and was last away, however refused officials orders to start from the rear of the field and was also served a mid race penalty.
Cameron McConville in the Gary Baxter SAGE Holden had a serious engine fire as a result of an oil leak while running in the top 5 and stopped mid race, while reigning NZ Ute Champion Matt Lockwood suffered a similar problem in the Steve Hodges ISRI Truck Seats Holden.
Legendary motorcycle stunt rider Robbie Maddison slam dunked V8 Supercar
Veteran Tony Kavich at Turn 9 which also involved Adelaide’s Chris Smerdon.
Both Utes suffered heavy damage in the incident.
Though it was a bruising affair the first ever Legends event was a rousing success with the vocal crowd on hand really getting into the racing and the spirit of competition.
“I was really surprised at the standard of competition,” said rally star Ric Bates, “when you think about the amount of guys in that race with V8 Supercar experience it was an achievement in itself to finish top ten.”
Touring car legend Tony Longhurst had a ball.
“I didn’t realize this series was so much fun. The cars are great to drive and the series itself is very well conducted. I had a ball racing out there. The harder you drive the car the slower you seem to go, you really have to finesse the Utes.”
FPV General Manager Rod Barrett was also sold on the V8 Ute Series experience.
“It’s fantastic. To get back out there and race like I did almost twenty years ago was a real blast for me. It was also an interesting twist that I lined up on the grid alongside Mrs Tander (Leanne Tander, wife of HRT Holden hero Garth) so I was determined to beat her at least to the first corner.”
Chris Pither soldiered back to 11th in the CNW Falcon ahead of “No Baloney” Tony Longhurst (Permacoat SS Holden) in 12th, James “Thruster” Brock (GBF Underground Mining SS Holden) in 13th, Charlie Kovacs Jr (Wilson Security SS Holden) in a career best 14th, Matt “Spacer” Holt in the Wake Up #88 SS Holden in 15th, Paul “Dude” Morris in the Samboy Chips/Hungry Jacks SS came back to 16th, Colin “Khe Sanh” Dunn placed 17th, Steven “Doina” Bradbury (I-SEEK XR8) in 18th, Brendon Tucker in the Variety Motorsports SS Holden in 19th and Robbie “Madman” Maddison rounding out the twenty.
FPV General Manager Rod Barrett finished 21st in the Alltrans #8 ahead of Tim Shaw’s NRW #26 SS Holden, Rod “Redline” Wilson in the Eaglepro Hydraulic Lifts SS Holden, South Aussie Andrew Schultz in the Barnacle Bill’s #58 SS Holden, Donut King main man Tony Alford in the #72 Ice-break Ice Coffee Falcon, Marshall Brewer in the #55 Vittoria Coffee SS Holden and Leanne Tander in the Thirsty Camel #22 rounded out the finishers.
Top Ten Results from Legends Race 1:
1 7 JMG Maintenance Racing George Meidecke Ford Falcon XR8 BF 1:38.80
2 27 Bob Jane T-Marts Steve Owen Ford Falcon XR8 BF 1:39.46
3 41 Ice Break Racing/Williams Race Tech Luke Youlden Holden SS VE 1:39.62
4 13 WPR Racing/Selectv Marcus Zukanovic Ford Falcon XR8 BF 1:40.46
5 71 Ice Break Racing Mal Rose Holden SS VE 1:40.01
6 9 Jesus All About Life Rick Bates Ford Falcon XR8 BF 1:39.86
7 17 BVC Brunswick Valley Clutches Tim Leahey Ford Falcon XR8 BF 1:39.85
8 1 Coopers Clear Racing Andrew Miedecke Holden SS VE 1:39.83
9 2 SEW-Eurodrive Racing Steven Robinson Ford Falcon XR8 BF 1:40.45
10 5 DDS Transport/Madashell Msport Charlie O'Brien Ford Falcon XR8 BF 1:40.50
