MOTORSPORT - Ginja Ninja shrugs off slip

CAINE Lobb picked up his game after an initial setback in qualification at the opener of the ENZED V8 Ute Series at Timaru over the weekend.
Lobb, who slipped up, or rather slipped off the circuit shortly after setting the fastest lap on Saturday morning in the wet qualification series, was forced to sit out the first race of the season on Saturday afternoon due to damage.
He had only the practice session to become accustomed to the Mark Cromie Racing Ute and quickly found the Holden race car's limits - when he left the circuit at the end of the long back straight, crashing into a tyre wall at an estimated 140km/h. "The impact was surprisingly soft considering how fast I was going. There was an in-car camera and the officials told me later they had never heard so much swearing from a driver before," laughed the young Whangarei driver. The team were unable to get the car repaired for the first race but with an "all-hands-on-deck" approach, the crew of five worked until late that night to have the car ready for Sunday's races.
On Sunday, a marble draw determined the starting grid order and Lobb pulled out third place which put him immediately behind a very nervous movie star-cum-race driver Temuera Morrison, on pole for his second-ever race.
"Tem was pretty nervous about being in front of all those cars at his first-ever meeting. Even I was a little nervous with all those big heavy V8s behind me." Lobb said.
Lack of experience had its price for "Jake the Muss" and at the start, 18-year-old Lobb passed Morrison as though he was stuck to the track and slotted in behind the other young hotshot in the series, Matthew Lockwood.
The teenage pair soon pulled away from the pack and although Lobb threw all he had at "Matty J" he couldn't get past the Holden on the narrow Timaru circuit, finishing his first race in second.
In the final race of the round, the grid was reversed with Lobb starting from 11th place. He fought his way through the pack into third behind Lockwood, who was behind another series favourite, top rotary driver Simon Beirne.
Lobb has been dubbed the "Ginja Ninja" by the ENZED V8 Utes media, who tend to apply nicknames to the series' drivers. Lobb first got the name from karting friend Michael McHugh, who died in 2003 while racing his Formula Ford at Pukekohe.
Team head Mark Cromie had a most enjoyable time and looks forward to the next round.
"Mark seems to be having a lot of fun with us and he seemed to take the damages to the new car in his stride as just being part of motor racing. He seems to be very happy with the results on Sunday." said Lobb's manager, Brian Craig.
The ENZED V8 Utes head to Teretonga Park at Invercargill this weekend for Round Two and with Ruapuna having being dropped from the calendar, the series heads to Taupo for the May 9-11 meeting.
There has been speculation throughout the ENZED V8 Ute camp that a transtasman challenge is on the cards. Apparently several Australian V8 Ute drivers want to contest a round in New Zealand and in return extend an invitation to the Kiwis to contest an Aussie round this year.