Wood clinches Dunlop Series title after late scare

Dale Wood survived a scare before securing the Dunlop Series title in the penultimate race of 2013 won by rival Ash Walsh.

Wood (MW Motorsport) headed into the race with a healthy 228-point lead and was favourite to take the crown, but Walsh was still in with a mathematical chance.

Polesitter Walsh did everything to ensure the title battle would go down to the final race tomorrow as he took the victory, despite coming under immense pressure from Steve Owen.

However, Wood, who had held third for the majority of the race, made a mistake under braking that dropped him to ninth at the flag.

Wood though had managed to earn enough points to render the final race a dead rubber.

“I’m still coming to terms with winning the championship but it sure is a nice feeling to be the champion”, said Wood. “I’ve been very lucky this year to have some great people around me to help me achieve this.

“I’d love an opportunity to go into the main game but we will have to see what happens.”

It was Walsh who made the best start and he led the field as they streamed into the first corner. Owen managed to hold onto second with Wood third and Jack Perkins in fourth.

The top four soon broke away from the field and Walsh then came under immense pressure from Owen, as the experienced V8 driver searched for an opening.

The pressure eased on lap three when George Miedecke tapped Marcus Zukanovic into a spin which brought out the Safety Car.

Walsh held the lead at the restart and seemed to have the measure of Owen. It proved to be true as he took the victory by 3.1s.

But behind, Wood endured a nervous moment in the final laps as he outbraked himself at the chicane and threw away third spot to Perkins. He avoided the concrete wall and recovered to come home in ninth which was enough to claim the championship.

Double MotoGP champion Casey Stoner managed to bring his Triple Eight Racing Engineering car to the chequered flag in 12th position.

See below for full Dunlop Race 1 results