Lobb streaks out to big lead

A third-round win from four by Whangarei's Caine Lobb pushed his lead in the ENZED V8 Ute Challenge to a staggering 104 points over closest rival Simon Beirne, of Christchurch, after exciting racing at Timaru International Motor Raceway.
Lobb kicked off the racing on Saturday, earning bonus points qualifying in second place behind the defending champion, Palmerston North's Chris Pither. This was to set the pair up for what was later described by Lobb as his most enjoyable race in the series to date.
With a marble draw determining the grid positions for race one, Lobb started the opener in fourth on the second row and quickly assumed control of the race, putting the Mark Cromie Holden across the finish line with a dominating lead over the field.
On Sunday, the start order of race two was reversed, placing Lobb near the back and challenging him to move through the pack to close in on Pither, who started near the front.
Lobb climbed up through the Ford and Holden rampage that is V8 racing on the tight circuit at Timaru, eventually crossing the line in a creditable third only to be promoted to second after a time penalty was handed to the driver in front of him.
But it was the third and final race which had the audience on their feet as Lobb marched off from pole position to take the lead from Pither, holding off numerous attacks from him at the points of the Canterbury track where the Fords had been quick all weekend.
"It was an awesome race, it was mean and probably the most enjoyable one I have had in the utes. Chris was getting right up behind me in some places and then I would pull away in others.
"There are places where the Holdens are quicker and others where the Fords are, so we were just having this concertina race," Lobb said.
The two swapped positions a few times to the crowd's delight but Pither eventually pulled off a run on Lobb entering the sweeper.
The action soon transformed into a three-way battle which now included another Ford, piloted by second-placed driver in the series Simon Beirne, who had caught up while the pair did battle.
Lobb crossed the line less than half a second behind Pither.
His fastest lap time was just 0.001 secs behind that of his rival's.
With Lobb claiming two second places and a race win he earned the overall victory for the weekend and a points haul which has nearly doubled his lead in the series to 104 ahead of Beirne and 142 in front of Pither, who remains plagued by mechanical woes.
Round five of the ENZED V8 Ute Challenge is at Manfeild Autocourse on February 11-13.