V8 Utes turn it on in thrilling Day One of Grand Finale

In a race that finished with just a 13 second spread from first place to last, Mitch Sparrow won the duel with Glen Collinson to win Race One of the Waitomo V8 Utes Grand Finale. That made it a Holden – Ford one-two finish. Blair Gribble-Bowing finished a much improved third, while Brad Kroef, who was fastest qualifier in the morning, was fourth – both driving Ford FG utes.

But Saturday was no ordinary race day for the Waitomo V8 Utes. As day one of the final round for the season, grid positions for Race One were chosen by a ‘lucky dip’ marble draw, meaning each driver plucked their grid positions from a bucket. Deservingly Glen Collinson drew Number One, while his main adversaries were further down the order. Interesting.

Yet that didn’t reflect the nature of Saturday morning’s Qualifying. Top spots in the session were an all Kroef family affair. Brad Kroef posted fastest lap managing what was possibly a V8 Utes lap record around Hampton Downs – a rapid 1.13.900.

Barely outshone by his son, Greg Kroef posted a 1.13.947 with last season’s V8 Utes title holder Glen Collinson just 0.392 secs. behind him in third. From there Blair Gribble-Bowring was fourth fastest proving his problematic tuning issues are behind him. A power steering failure relegated Mitch Sparrow to a lowly seventh. In the final wash, barely 2 secs. separated first from last.

With the marble drawer putting the cat amongst the pigeons, the ten-lap Race One was set to be a slug-fest.

Glen Collinson led the field away which he held comfortably for the early laps, with Blair Gribble-Bowring and Phill Ross close behind. Mitch Sparrow meanwhile was jostling through the midfield having started seventh. After picking off Brad Kroef and Paul Fougere, Mitch ultimately found the front on lap seven – a lead he stretched to the end.

Blair Gribble-Bowring ran a tight tactical race and clung onto third. Brad Kroef worked his way up from eighth to a fast-finishing fourth, a position which keeps him leading the series by 14-points over Mitch.

Just behind them, Daniel Ludlam proved starting tenth was no disadvantage, finishing fifth – managing the most overtakes of the race. Phill Ross ran a strong race until he got bumped off late in the race, finishing a solid sixth.

So now, the points race at the front has tightened considerably. Race Two Sunday morning will be a reverse-grid format, so anything could happen. And with just 39-points between the first four positions in the series, everything will be on the line in Sunday’s two title-deciding races.

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