The Haltech V8 SuperUte Series title fight has boiled over, with rivals Ryal Harris and Aaron Borg decisively colliding in the penultimate race of the season.
Harris would go on to win the race courtesy of a last-lap overtake on Cameron Crick through The Chase, while a devastated Borg was forced to retire his Toyota Hilux after wobbling back to the pits.
There may yet be more to the story, though, with potential post-race fallout from a Lap 1 incident between Harris and Borg.
Winner of the week’s opening two races, Harris dropped to third on the run down Mountain Straight as Crick and Borg charged by.
That put pre-race points leader Borg in a favourable position to manage the situation to Harris behind, only to be tagged by the #58 Mazda BT-50 at Forrest’s Elbow.
That contact saw Borg lose control and hit the wall on driver’s right, sustaining race-ending damage.
With Borg a non-finisher and Harris taking victory, the title battle has swung dramatically in the latter’s favour to the tune of a 52-point advantage.
Just 70 points remains available in the season-ending race on Saturday morning.
Borg was less than impressed when approached on the Fox Sports broadcast.
“From where I sat, I just turned into the corner and went to get a good run out on Cricky,” he said.
“I had a good gap behind, and out of nowhere I got hit in the rear and pushed into the wall.
“Pretty much it’s championship done, I think.
“It’s a disappointing way to end it, I thought we’d be able to race cleanly but to finish it like that is very disappointing.”
There was more carnage to come during the five-lap encounter, with Chris Formosa getting fully airborne after making contact with Richard Mork at The Chase on Lap 2.
The very next lap, Craig Woods brought out the Safety Car with a big impact at The Cutting that would end his race.
The field did get to finish under green, with David Sieders completing the podium behind Harris and Crick.
Ben Walsh, Mork, Jaiden Maggs and Formosa finished fourth through seventh – the latter having managed to carry on – ahead of Michael Formosa and Craig Jenner.
Results: Race 3, Haltech V8 SuperUte Series
| Pos | Num | Driver | Car | Diff |
| 1 | 7 | Cameron Crick | Mitsubishi Triton | |
| 2 | 45 | David Sieders | Mitsubishi Triton | +1.434 |
| 3 | 8 | Ben Walsh | Toyota Hilux | +2.306 |
| 4 | 88 | Richard Mork | Toyota Hilux | +9.321 |
| 5 | 68 | Jaiden Maggs | Mitsubishi Triton | +9.573 |
| 6 | 58 | Ryal Harris | Mazda BT-50 | +9.753 |
| 7 | 49 | Chris Formosa | Ford Ranger | +21.982 |
| 8 | 94 | Michael Formosa | Ford Ranger | +22.853 |
| 9 | 50 | Craig Jenner | Mazda BT-50 | +23.348 |
| NC | 64 | Craig Woods | Toyota Hilux | |
| NC | 4 | Aaron Borg | Toyota Hilux |
Note: 10-second post-race penalty applied to Car #58 for contact with Car #4
Discussion about this post