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Gold Coast resident Ryal Harris claimed the round win in the Australian V8 Utes Racing Series after claiming victory in the third race at Surfers Paradise.
Harris faced another stern challenge from Jesse Dixon in the early stages before grabbing the lead at Turn 11 on the opening lap.
Once in front there proved to be no stopping the reigning champion as he took the win by 1.3s from Dixon and Rhys McNally.
Adam Marjoram finished fourth ahead of title rival David Sieders and championship leader Kris Walton.
“It’s an amazing feeling and it hasn’t really sunk in yet, I’m really happy for Jesse as it’s his home round as well,” said Harris.
“If we can win at Homebush we’ll be happy to walk away with three podiums and six race wins for the year, but it was really the DNF’s that have killed me.
“All of the mechanical failures and a bit of bad luck, that’s what’s really cost me the championship but we’ll move on and get over it and be back next year.”
Andrew Fisher won the earlier reverse grid race after McNally was stripped of the victory for shortcutting the chicane on the first lap.
McNally still managed to claim second once the five second penalty had been added to his race time, while Jeremy Gray secured the final spot on the podium.
“I knew it was coming so we pushed real hard to get a five second gap but it didn’t quite work out, we were 2 seconds shy so nearly but not quite,” said McNally.
“It’s been a bit of a disappointing weekend, qualifying wasn’t very good, Race 1 was a case of follow the leader so we lost a few laps. We are going alright, the cars fast so bring on bring on Race 3.”
Walton holds a 61 point lead over Sieders heading into the final round of the season at the Sydney 500 on December 5-7.
