Motor Sport
Invercargill driver Liam MacDonald heads to Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon in Feilding this weekend in a battle to regain the lead of Class 2 in the BNT V8’s Championship.
MacDonald, the defending Class 2 Champion, built a good early lead in this year’s championship but a fuel issue at Mike Pero Motorsport Park and exclusion from a race at his home circuit, Teretonga Park in Invercargill, when a carburettor insulator plate on the Speedy Signs Ford Falcon was found to be too thick by a margin of .34 of a millimetre have cost him dearly. The offending part had been purchased in good faith but it was found to be too thick by the barest of margins.
As a result MacDonald who had built a comfortable points lead now finds himself second in the championship standings, albeit by the slender margin of just one point behind Albany driver Chelsea Herbert. Herbert has 706 points after twelve races and MacDonald 705.
This will be just the second visit to Manfeild for Liam after he made his debut at the track last season with a second overall for the round despite gearbox problems. “It took a wee bit to get used to its fast and flowing nature and how to get good drive out of corners last year,” recalls Liam but there is little doubt of the goal for this weekend – “to have three good races to retake the championship lead.”
The round at Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon is the penultimate round of the championship.
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.