STUBBS TAKES EARLY SERIES LEAD

Matthew Stubbs took the early points lead in the first round of the Winter Series held last weekend at Manfeild. Despite spinning in two out of three races, Stubbs was consistently quick and managed to come out ahead 12 points ahead of nearest rival Cliff Field.

Qualifying

After a year away from the sport, Field was quick to get back into the swing of things and took pole in a short qualifying session with a time of 1:24.02 - almost half a second ahead of second placed Simon Hardy. Stubbs was third quickest followed by Bradley McDonald. Matt Gibson was the quickest of the rookies in 5th place, with a time of 1:25.77. David Ruthven came next, followed by rookie Michael Neville.

Rookies Richard Andrews and Zane Brookes lined up on the grid next, followed by Stefan Webling, Ryan Hellier (rookie), Ben Poulsen, Graeme Lett and Zayne Martin.

First position through to tenth was covered by just under 3 seconds.

Race 1

On the starting grid for race 1, all drivers were informed that there would be a flag start due to malfunctioning starter's lights.

At the flag it was Field who lead away into Toyota, followed by Hardy and Stubbs. Stubbs soon found his way past Hardy and began to place sustained pressure on Field. As the field approached the start line to begin the last lap, Stubbs got a great run on Field and slipped into the lead. Hardy followed him through relegating Field back to third. The three leaders had long since opened a gap to the chasing pack so it was all to play for as they headed into Dunlop on the last lap.

Field had ruined his chance by getting too much oversteer out of Higgins corner and could only sit and watch as Hardy set up his passing attempt on Stubbs. As the two cars approached Dunlop, Hardy went to the outside and appeared to have his car ahead. Whether or not Hardy and Stubbs touched is uncertain (both drivers had conflicting views of the event), but whatever the case, Stubbs went into a spin and was narrowly missed by Field. Hardy took the win with Field crossing the line in second.

McDonald brought his car home in third, followed by Andrews and Brookes. Stubbs had recovered from his spin and was able to finish in 6th.

Gibson crossed the line in seventh, followed by Lett, Hellier, Poulsen and Neville.

Three drivers failed to finish. Ruthven, Martin and Webling all had mechanical problems that eliminated them from the running.

Race 2

Off the line Field stuffed his started and was quickly back to third place behind Stubbs and Brookes. On lap two Stubbs hit the lump in the curbing at the infield left hander and spun. Both Brookes and Field had to take avoiding action - Brookes to the grass, and Field to the left hand edge of the track. Once the mess was all settled, Field exited the hairpin with a lead that he would never relinquish.

Behind Field, things were furious. Hardy spearheaded the charge but was under intense pressure from the rest of the pack. With two laps to go Hardy's brake pedal went soft at Dunlop, sending the Tauranga driver into the gravel trap and ending his race.

Stubbs had recovered incredibly well from his spin and pushed his Sabre across the line in second. He was followed by rookies Andrews, Brookes and Gibson. Next across the line was McDonald, followed by Hellier and Lett.

Poulsen and Webling DNF'ed with mechanical issues.

Field's winning margin was 3.6 seconds and the Aucklander was glad to get a win so early on his return;

"Winning like that is always nice. Of course it was helped a little by Stubbs spinning - but I'll take it. Getting the fastest lap was a bonus".

Stubbs admitted that he'd made a mistake through the infield but was reasonably pleased with his recovery. Stubbs said of his spin;

"I just pushed a bit too hard. I hit the concrete slab and that was it".

Race 3

At the lights Field held the lead briefly, but started to fall back through the pack throughout the lap. The fight at the front was tough amongst Stubbs, Webling, Brookes and Andrews.

As the pack approached Toyota on the last lap, Field seemed to leave his braking too late and spun. This left Stubbs, Andrews, Brookes and Webling to fight it out to the line.

Stubbs held on to take his first Formula First win ahead of impressive rookies Brookes and Andrews. Webling got his best result of the weekend with a fourth place, followed by Gibson, McDonald, Neville, Hellier, Lett and Field.

So with a tally of 1st,2nd and 6th, Matthew Stubbs topped the points for the round ahead of Cliff Field. Rookie Richard Andrews took third for the round.

Winter Series Points after round 1 of 4

Stubbs 187

Field 175

Andrews 174

Brookes 170

McDonald 150

Gibson 140

Hellier 117

Lett 114

Hardy 75

Neville 72

Webling 54

Poulsen 33

The next round of the Winter Series takes place on the 8th of July at Manfeild.