New Zealand V8 Ute Champion Chris Pither 'The Doctor' has led the New Zealand team to victory over their Australian rivals in the V8 Ute Trans Tasman Test Series at Hamilton this weekend.

Pither, of Palmerston North, won the all important final test match today with everything riding on the result. Pither and Aussie Kim 'The Assassin' Jane took one win apiece in the first two races on Saturday but Pither put in an impressive performance in the deciding test, motoring away to win by over 5 seconds.

An ecstatic Pither admitted later that he felt the pressure after Jane won the opening race when the kiwi struck gearbox problems. "The pressure was on. It was a two horse race and I had to level it in race two to give New Zealand a chance. I was stoked when I evened it up!"

Simon Beirne 'Jnr Burner' of Christchurch described it as one of his best moments in motorsport. He had just completed the final race of the Trans Tasman V8 Ute Test Match Series around the streets of Hamilton and after three superb performances he had finished third overall for the weekend.

"To get a podium spot at the biggest motor racing event in New Zealand - I'm over the moon. It's right up there with winning at the A1GP World Cup Of Motorsport event at Taupo in 2009."

"I came here just aiming to run clean and hard with luck on our side. It was unbelievable to come here for the first time and start with laps of 1 minute 46.2 in practice, to bring that down to 1.43.5 in qualifying, and then 1.41.7 in the races. Dicing with Colin Corkery in the first race was some of the best racing I've ever been involved in."

It took until the final race of the three match test series but after three days of hot competition on the tough 3.4 kilometre Hamilton Street circuit it was New Zealand who won the V8 Ute Trans Tasman Test Series this weekend.  

The title was sealed in the third and final test match, raced over 14 laps this morning.

New Zealand's Chris Pither was on pole in his ENZED Falcon with Australian Kim 'The Assassin' Jane alongside in his Bob Jane T-Marts Commodore. The two drivers had one win each coming into the finale and everything depended on the outcome of the race.

Pither got the jump from pole position and led into the first corner from Jane, Australian Robert 'Captain' Jarvis in his BVC Racing Ford and kiwi Simon 'Jnr Burner' Beirne in his Team McDonald's Ford. Jarvis was swamped on the second lap as Beirne got through followed by defending Trans Tasman Ute Champion Charlie 'Handlebars' Kovacs of Australia in his Wilson Security Commodore and kiwis Colin 'Crusha' Corkery in his Supercharge Batteries Falcon and Matthew 'The Phantom' Lockwood in his older Styrofit Underfloor Insulation VU Commodore.

New Zealand V8 Ute Champion Chris Pither 'The Doctor' of Palmerston North is locked in a fierce battle for both individual honours plus the pride of his country at the Trans Tasman V8 Ute Test Series at the ITM 400 in Hamilton.

Pither and the best of the Australians Kim 'The Assassin' Jane took one win apiece in the two races fought out today to leave tomorrows third race as the big decider.

Todays effort by Pither in his ENZED Falcon sees he and Jane locked together on the individual driver point standings while Australia and New Zealand have both won one test match each. Tomorrows showdown will be a classic.

Pither was on pole for the first test this morning but Jane 'The Assassin' got the better start and took the lead. However Pither chased hard and took over early in the race. However Jane took a run at Pither down the front straight into turn one a few laps later and Chris struggled to find second gear on the downchange. As he fought to find a gear the Australian was past and while 'The Doctor' hung onto second place the incident effectively cost him the race.