Lobb hangs on to lead in Formula Suzuki Series

As the track temperature rose at Taupo Motorsport Park in the fine Spring conditions, competition became fierce during round two of the Formula Suzuki Series, where once again Whangarei's Caine Lobb performed.
On Saturday after qualifying on pole in the morning Lobb tussled with sports car driver Todd Sherley that afternoon in the first of three mixed-grid races but was unable to hold back the more powerful modified race car.
Crossing the finish line in second Lobb took the Formula Suzuki class-win extending his lead over Auckland's Gene Rollinson who placed third and second out of the Suzukis.
"We took over a second off my previous best lap time [in qualification] which is because of the hot track, the tyres we use are quite hard and work well in the heat," Lobb said.
The rolling start had Lobb lined up in second place alongside Sherley who once again pulled into the lead on the circuit.
But Lobb's main concern was staying ahead of the other cars in his class, especially Rollinson.
His concern waned when after three laps misfortune struck Rollinson as it had at Manfeild earlier in the month.
Once more a breakage resulted in a DNF for him and a clear win for Lobb over Ryan Belworthy.
For the final Suzuki and sports car race of the weekend the start was a handicap with Lobb and several others starting from the pitlane adding to the excitement.
Lobb in the 175 horsepower open wheeler was to start in front of the 300hp sports car of Sherley and both behind Rollinson.
Lobb shot after Rollinson who had been given a timed head start. Rollinson was keen to make up for not finishing the previous race and was making his way through traffic just as swiftly as Lobb.
Towards the end of the race both drivers had cleared the field and were placed first and second. Lobb was closing the gap slowly but eventually ran out of laps to steal the lead away from his Auckland adversary.
He crossed the line just over five seconds after Rollinson with Sherley a further nine seconds down the field in fourth.
Lobb retains the lead in the Formula Suzuki Series which next meets at Pukekohe Park Raceway over the weekend of December 3-5.
Lobb gets back into the seat of the Mark Cromie Holden V8 Racing Ute on November 5-7 at Pukekohe Park Raceway where he hopes to reclaim the ENZED V8 Racing Utes title after placing runner-up last season, following his first place in the season prior to that.
This year the ENZED V8 Racing Utes join the BNT V8s in Motorsport New Zealand's premier championship series (Tier One).