There was no clear winner at the weekend when defending ENZED V8 Ute Racing champion Caine Lobb went up against current points leader Chris Pither at the brand new circuit of Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, south of Auckland.

The pair finished the weekend with two race wins apiece and left the spectacular modern circuit with a status quo in the series standings with just 40 points between the two before heading to the South Island for the penultimate and final rounds of the season next month.

Where either of the two did not win the race, they instead placed second with the exceptional drivers battling each other to the chequered flag and leaving the remainder of the V8 ute drivers behind.

Although both took an equal number of points and placings from the meeting, Palmerston North's Chris Pither was awarded the round win. This came down to a series ruling where it was deemed that the winner of the final race was awarded the round win after there was no clear victor.

It was a challenging round that produced a good result. Chris Pither 'The Doctor' took victory at Round 3 of the 2009/2010 NZV8 Ute Series at Hampton Downs this weekend in the closest round of the series to date. In fact it could not have been any closer with the series rules resolving a points tie with defending champion Caine Lobb in favour of Pither due to his placing in the final race.

After Pither dominated qualifying and the first race of the round on Saturday he and Lobb had a great tussle for overall round honours during Sunday's three races at the new circuit in North Waikato.

The duo ended the round tied on points, Chris gaining his third successive round victory by virtue of his win in the fourth and final race. A series rule states that in the event of a tie the higher placed driver in the final race will take the round.

It took the NZV8 Ute Series equivalent of a tiebreaker to find the winner of Round 3 of the 2009/2010 championship at Hampton Downs this weekend. Chris Pither of Palmerston North and Caine Lobb of Whangarei won two races each and then finished runner-up to each other in the other two contests. That meant the duo was absolutely equal on points after the four races. Series rules state that the overall winner in such cases is the victor in the final race of the round and that gave Pither his third straight round win.

However there was plenty of action, excitement and drama before the duo arrived at that point. Pither, 'The Doctor' in his ENZED Falcon was comfortably fastest in qualifying on Saturday ahead of Lobb, 'The Ginja Ninja', in the Mark Cromie Holden. Lobb led away from the start of the first race but Pither got past on the opening lap and wasn't troubled from then on. On his way to victory Pither established a new lap record.

Auckland V8 Ute driver Mike ‘Buzz’ Lightfoot has made a fantastic return to the V8 ute series, taking his first podium finish in only his second meeting in the utes.

Lightfoot approached the meeting hoping to finish “Somewhere in the top ten and if I could run mid-field I would be stoked,” and achieved that by qualifying seventh amongst the thirteen car field.

Race one saw the grids determined through qualifying Lightfoot worked his way forward one position to sixth. For races two and three the usual ute format was resumed with a marble draw for race two then the reverse for race three. Lightfoot drew grid three and after dropping back one place recorded his best finish to date in the V8 ute series.

Race three was when the weekend started to fall into place for the general manager of series sponsor Enzed. With the reverse grid draw seeing Lightfoot off grid eleven there was plenty of work to get near the front. This wasn’t helped with a bad start that put him to the rear of the field. Then over the next eight laps, Lightfoot put his head down and picked off cars one by one to finish an astounding third overall.