ALLISON DOMINATES - CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 2 REPORT

Selby Allison seen here leading Saturday's Race 1 by a big margin. Selby Allison turned in an almost flawless performance at Round 2 over the weekend to cruise to three wins from three starts, moving to the championship lead in the process.

The Wanganui based Automotive Engineer simply drove away from the rest of the field in what can only be described as one of the most dominant performances in recent championship history. Despite a less than satisfactory qualifying on the Manfeild circuit, Allison's pace was never really threatened throughout the weekend and he appeared to take victory easily in each of the weekend's events.

QUALIFYING Saturday's qualifying session was held in largely wet conditions. The track had been developing something of a dry line, but only 3 laps into the session the rains came again, meaning times set in the first few laps were likely to determine the final grid positions. Only Ian Foster and Jamie McNee improved their times significantly later on in the session.

Speedsport Scholarship 'Star of Tomorrow' driver Alastair Wootten once again proved his raw pace by taking pole, his time of 1:33.876 being good enough to edge out Sabre team mate McNee. Next came Stefan Webling, making the top three places on the grid an all Sabre team affair. Next came Michael Shepherd, followed by Ian Foster, Caine Lobb, Chad Ace, Simon Hardy, Matthew Stubbs and Selby Allison. The gap from first to fifth was a mere .238 of a second.

All six Sabre Team cars made the top ten on the grid - a credit to the Dennis Martin run squad.

RACE 1

Alastair Wootten's Sabre suffered Race 1 damage after hitting a patch of water and colliding with the tyre wall at the exit of turn 1. With track conditions varying by the minute, Race 1 was always going to be challenging. The Manfeild circuit had several sections that contained standing water as the grid formed to take the lights. From the outset it looked ominous. Allison made a fantastic start off the line and found himself up to sixth by the first corner. By lap three he was in the lead.

Wootten failed to capitalise on his good qualifying and crashed into the tyres exiting the first turn on the fifth lap. A small stream across the track had sent him understeering off the circuit. The impact was heavy and significant damage was done to the Sabre. Thankfully Wootten was uninjured. Team mate McNee had done the same thing on the opening lap, suffering less damage than Wootten, but leaving his team with a big cleaning job. Behind Allison's self-built Alvee, a fantastic battle developed. The five cars of Foster, Shepherd, Lobb, Stubbs, and Hardy swapped positions on virtually every corner, with each driver in the group holding second place at some stage. The dicing for positon behind Allison only strengthened his lead and he appeared to cruise to the victory. The eventual margin back to second place being 4.3 seconds.

Foster took the hard-fought second place by a tiny margin from Shepherd, followed by Shepherd, Stubbs, Lobb and Hardy.

Crossing the line in seventh was Webling, followed by Ace, Dom Kalasih and Bradley McDonald.

RACE 2 By virtue of a faster lap in race 1, Allison sat on pole for race 2, with Wootten along side on grid two. At the start, Allison's car bounced out of first gear leaving him stranded while the field streaked by. He eventually found a gear and got to the first corner in 11th place, leaving himself with a lot of work to do.

Ian Foster's tally of three second placings was enough to move him to second in the points. On the third lap Allsion received something of a lucky break when Darren Henderson went off with brake troubles in the first turn. Henderson's misfortune brought the safety car out which bunched the field back up again.

Ahead of Allison, Lobb, Foster, Wootten, Hardy, Shepherd, Stubbs and Bryan McConkey all contested the lead, but it was only a matter of time before Allison pushed his way to the front to build up a 2.3 second gap which he held through to the chequered flag.

It was hectic as usual behind Allison, with Foster once again taking second by a narrow margin from Hardy, Wootten, Stubbs, Lobb, McConkey, Shepherd, Robin Bennett and Phil Abel.

Shepherd had struggled to stay with the pack in a car that was down on power, having previously changed his engine on Saturday night after Race 1. Further changes were made for race 3.

RACE 3 Simon Hardy started on pole for Race 3 after having put together an excellent lap in Race 2. However at the start it was once again Allison who lead the field, this time pulling away from the outset to finish a massive 5 seconds ahead of the pack. Allison was simply untouchable.

Ian Foster (centre) just edges out Alastair Wootten (left) and Michael Shepherd (right) at the finish of Race 3. As was the pattern for the weekend, the fight for second was intense, with never more than half a second covering second through to seventh. As the chasing pack of six headed for the line on the last lap, they spread out four wide across the track to finish almost side by side. Foster once again claimed the second spot, by a mere .019 seconds. Wootten took third .029 seconds ahead of Shepherd, who in turn was only .098 seconds ahead of Stubbs. Lobb came home in sixth place, followed by Hardy, McDonald, Kalasih and Abel.

Allison now leads the points race, with 379 points, ahead of Foster on 364. Shepherd slips to third on 355 points, 28 ahead of Lobb on 327.

Round 3 takes place on the 2nd and 3rd of December at Pukekohe Park Raceway.

Photos and Report: Cliff Field