Andy Booth, in the #23 Big Ben Pies Holden Commodore came away from the latest round of the BNT V8’s Championship at Manfeild Park Raceway as once again the leading Holden competitor but still frustrated with not being able to seriously challenge the championship leaders.

The tight, banked Manuwatu circuit has proven to be a happy hunting ground for the rival Fords in recent years and round 5 of this year’s championship continued that as Booth qualified as the lead Holden in 6th place after Saturday afternoon’s official qualifying sessions.

For the first time this season a weather rule allowing the cancellation of the top ten shoot out was used as rain began to fall just prior to the final qualifying session. This meant that grid positions would be determined by the final placings from the second, top 20 session. Booth felt he could have qualified higher but had elected to park the car for the rest of the second session knowing that he was comfortably through to the top ten.

Race 1 on Sunday morning was a reasonably quiet affair with the Big Ben car able to challenge on the opening laps but then seemingly unable to maintain the pace of the front 4 cars. When Angus Fogg spun exiting the hairpin, the result of a broken axle, Booth moved up into 5th position but was then busy with a strengthening Andy Knight who eventually slipped past on lap 4 when the Commodore was slow off turn 6.

Booth would eventually cross the line in 6th place.

Things got a lot more exciting in race 2 when Booth challenged Knight at the beginning of lap 2. The pair ran cleanly side by side from the exit of turn one all the way to the final turn 7 where Knight ran wide allowing Booth and Eddie Bell to slip by, this duo would then spend the next 5 laps locked in a close tussle, Booth battling severely fading brakes and Bell a worsening oil leak.

Lap 7 brought out the safety car to allow retrieval of 2 cars in the gravel trap. At the restart Booth timed it to perfection, able to leap ahead of the Fords of defending champion Kayne Scott and John McIntyre. McIntyre retook the position on the exit of turn 1 with the favoured inside line whilst Booth continued to hold out Scott.

By this stage Bell’s oil leak had become so severe that it was dropping large amounts of oil onto the circuit, affecting other competitors ability to control their cars. When Booth ran wide on the oil entering turn 1 at the start of lap 8 Scott took the inside on the run round into the infield, the Big Ben Holden held the inside for the lefthander but the Falcon moved across and squeezed him onto the curb allowing Scott back ahead.

Once again Booth finished where he began in 6th place.

The 22 lap final reverse grid race was always going to be an interesting affair with the Manfeild circuit notoriously hard on brakes and many cars, including Booth, already suffering in this department in the shorter 12 lap races.

Booth got away to one of his typical scything runs in the opening laps moving from 18th to 9th by the 3rd lap, picking up another spot on lap 5. Possibly using up his tyres and brakes early with this charge the Big Ben car then struggled to continue forward, challenging the Ford of Simon Richards repeatedly but eventually dropping back.

The real highlight of the race was the battle between Booth and Clark Proctor later in the race, dominating the television coverage for sheer entertainment the pair passed and repassed each other several times per lap over 4 or 5 laps. Often running side by side through long sections of the track the pair entertained both the crowd and themselves right to the finish of the race as Booth’s brakes deserted him and he had to concede for 12th position.

Following the Manfeild race, the Big Ben crew spent 2 days testing at the Taupo circuit, where the final round will be held on March 20/21, gaining valuable track time and testing new components for next season.

Comments from Andy Booth for the weekend:

“I don’t know what it is about this place but the Fords just seem to love it, we can compete over 1 or 2 laps but cannot maintain the race pace”

“Some of the racing this weekend has been the most enjoyable of the year, it’s a track that allows you to run side by side and pass in a lot of different places, that tussle with Clark (Proctor) was epic!”

“While we weren’t out the back door, this was not a competitive showing by our standards and we have to find more pace before Taupo, we’ll go testing there before and look for that magic tweak”

Andy Booth, the Big Ben Commodore and the AV8 Motorsport team next head to Taupo on March 20 and 21 for round 6 of the BNTV8’s.

All the action from the BNT V8’s can be viewed on TV3’s delayed live coverage on race day, or online at http://www.tv3.co.nz/TVOnDemand/tabid/890/Default.aspx

Media: Andy Booth Racing