Mini Challenge Round 5 - 16-18 January 2009 Invercargill

MINI CHALLENGE SERIES - DAY ONE, TERETONGA. Round 5, the Southern 200 Series, was at Invercargill's Teretonga Park today. In Friday's two testing sessions Craig Innes (Taupo) put down the best times on the track.  In the morning session he was 0.400 ahead of Gavin Yortt (Hawkes Bay).  In the early afternoon session he was a mere 0.167 ahead of Mark Maddren (Auckland) This morning's qualifying session would determine the grid positions and as expected there was very little between the top 5.  Surprising even himself, Mark Maddren, took pole by 0.155 from Craig Innes.  3rd was Wellington's Simon McLennan by only 0.342.  4th to 6th were covered by half a second and the order was  Gavin Yortt, Gary Johnstone (Christchurch) and Joel Thrupp (Auckland). We were going to be in for close racing with cars 'freight training' each other. MINI Challenge's Race Co-ordinator Martin Collins said "What has to be remembered is that under the reward system of weight ballast Craig Innes is actually carrying an additional 50 kgs, as is Simon McLennan.  Gary Johnstone has 10kgs." Race 1 was at 5:16pm, timed to take advantage of the long southern twilight.  Maddren jumped off the line and missed the gear change and was quickly back to 3rd.  Yortt went from 4th to 2nd. At the end of the first lap it was Innes from Yortt.  The next change was not until Lap 7 when Maddren was past Yortt - Yortt had the straight-line speed but Maddren had the corner speed.  In the last lap Yortt went back to 4th.  At one stage in the last lap they were four abreast but it was an impressive drive from Innes who had stretched his lead to 7.7 seconds. 2nd was Mark Maddren and 3rd was Simon McLennan only 0.355 back.  It was then 0.157 back to Gavin Yortt in 4th.  A miniscule 0.017 to Gary Johnstone in 5th. 2nd to 5th was covered by just half a second. As an aside, torrential rain arrived as the Toyota Racing Series competitors lined up on the grid for their race. The race got underway but as the rain intensified it was red flagged after two laps.  Officials then decided to postpone the TRS race until tomorrow and after a lengthy delay the BNT V8s Championship field lined up at 8.05 pm as the sun broke through.  Slippery conditions caused several casualties.  Last race was a 30 lap race for the Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup and the field was still running at 9pm.   Two MINI Challenge races tomorrow. ENDS. Alan Henderson / HH Media Visit: www.minichallenge.co.nz   MINI CHALLENGE SERIES - DAY TWO, TERETONGA. Round 5, the Southern 200 Series, continued at Invercargill's Teretonga Park today. Race 2 was away at 10am and the conditions were dry.    Remembering that under the 'reward system' of weight ballast Craig Innes is actually carrying an additional 50 kgs, as is Simon McLennan.  Gary Johnstone has an extra 10kgs. As they headed into Turn 1 Maddren had the line but Innes went right around the outside of him. Yortt also had a good start and passed Maddren. At the end of Lap 1 the top 5 was Innes, Yortt, Maddren, Johnstone and McLennan.  Lap times were slower as the heavy rain from late yesterday and overnight had washed the rubber away. The order was to remain the same but at Lap 9 Johnstone pushed wide on a corner and dropped two places down the order elevating McLennan and Joel Thrupp one place each.  In the last lap Johnstone was able to recover one place - from Thrupp.  1st was Craig Innes who won it by 7.233 seconds.  2nd was Gavin Yortt who was only just over half a second in front of 3rd placed Mark Maddren. There was a 4 second buffer to 4th placed Simon McLennan who was just barely in front of Gary Johnstone. Race 3 is a reverse grid.  It had rained during the race before and had now cleared.  As they were sitting on the grid, on their slick tyres, it poured down.  Off they went and into Turn 1 Mark Maddren gave himself a big fright when he spun 5 or 6 times. By Lap 3 Craig Innes had gone from 5th to 1st.  Lap 4 he too spun and dropped two places to 3rd.  Lap 5 he had picked up one place and Lap 6 he was back in the lead and that's where he stayed. It was really a driving lesson from Innes which was tough going on slick tyres. Gary Johnstone came home 2nd behind Innes, by just a whisker under 7 seconds.   Simon McLennan had struggled all weekend with grip and was home 3rd another 8 seconds back.  4th was Gavin Yortt another 15 back and he had been battling with Rookie driver Joel Thrupp.  They crossed the line less than 400th of a second apart. Mark Maddren never really recovered from his spin and was another 40 seconds back. Podium for Teretonga was 1st Craig Innes on 225 points, 2nd Gavin Yortt on 175 and 3rd Simon McLennan on 174.  Mark Maddren was only 2 points off the podium in 4th. After 5 rounds the Top 5 overall is: 1st        Craig Innes                  892 2nd       Simon McLennan           871 3rd       Gavin Yortt                    746 4th        Mark maddren              670 5th        Gary Johnstone             512 It was a good weekend for the MINI Challenge drivers and there was a good atmosphere.  No panel damage either and the drivers look forward to Round 6 at Manfeild at the end of February. ENDS. Alan Henderson / HH Media Visit: www.minichallenge.co.nz

Pos	Car No.	Name	Hometown	Total	Total	Total	Total	Total	Total
				Points	Rd1	Rd2	Rd3	Rd4	Rd5
1	6	Craig Innes	Taupo	892	210	135	121	201	225
2	26	Simon McLennan	Wellington	871	158	158	204	177	174
3	11	Gavin Yortt	Hawke's Bay	746	189	103	138	141	175
4	15	Mark Maddren	Auckland	670	93	108	150	147	172
5	52	Gary Johnstone	Christchurch	512	0	0	179	168	165
6	69	Brent Melhop	Wellington	334	0	165	169	0	0
7=	9	Joel Thrupp	Auckland	229	0	0	0	90	139
7=	30	Wayne Timms	Christchurch	229	96	133	0	0	0
9	08	Clarke Hopkins	Auckland	212	0	39	173	0	0
10	1	Brent Collins	Timaru	210	0	0	0	210	0
11	76	Justin Herbert	Tauranga	201	201	0	0	0	0
12	25	James Kirkpatrick	Auckland	189	0	189	0	0	0
13	76	David Grigor	Auckland	142	0	142	0	0	0
14	45	Barry Calder	Christchurch	139	139	0	0	0	0
15	9	Adam Dobbs	Auckland	127	0	127	0	0	0
16	69	Martin Hunt	Wellington	87	87	0	0	0	0
17	50	Gavin Dawson	Auckland	60	0	60	0	0	0