Motor Sport
Defending champion Liam MacDonald of Invercargill has regained the lead of Class 2 in the BNT V8’s Championship after the penultimate round at Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon in Feilding this weekend.
MacDonald came into the round one point behind Albany driver Chelsea Herbert after his early championship lead was eroded due to a series of problems at the two South Island rounds of the championship last month. Ironically the issues came at the circuits he knows best of the championship’s six venues.
However by collecting two second places and a third from the three races in the Speedy Signs Ford Falcon this weekend MacDonald finished second overall for the round, powering back into the championship lead with just one round remaining at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park in South Waikato next month.
Weather conditions were mixed for this weekend’s round with Sunday’s races both being adversely affected by rain. Sunday morning’s race finished under safety car when torrential rain hit while the finale was also rain affected. However with MacDonald finishing second to Brock Timperley in the first and third race and third behind Timperley and Herbert in the second race he has a twelve point lead provisionally with the final round set to decide the championship.
While happy to be back in front MacDonald confessed that the Speedy Signs Ford Falcon “lacked car speed” at Manfeild although he was pleased to have a better weekend than the last two outings.
MacDonald’s campaign in the 2017/2018 BNT V8’s Championship is supported by Speedy Signs, EmbroidMe, Southern Automobiles, Castrol NZ, GT Radial NZ, Million Dollar Cruise Queenstown, Marsh Motorsport, Classic Car Warehouse Invercargill, Advanti Racing and YHI NZ, Ideal Electrical, BNT NZ, Auto Windscreen Replacement Ltd, Southern Bolts & Fasteners, Auto Fab, Ralston Sheetmetal, Invercargill; NAC Insurance, CS Auto Refinishing, Invercargill, Dave Loudon Photography, Discount Tyres Invercargill, What’s On Invers and a Sport Scholarship with the Community Trust of Southland.