Sunday 18 May 2014

Tim Slade takes second place in 2014 Australian V8 LASTCAR championship after Trailing field at Barbagallo

Tim Slade picked up his 4th last-place finish of his career when his #47 Supercheap Auto holden finished under power, 8 laps down in the final race at Barbagallo. The finish came in Slade's 86th start. The finish means Slade now has sole ownership of second-place in the 2014 Australian V8 LASTCAR championship, 1 behind 2013 Australian V8 LASTCAR runner-up Todd Kelly.

The race to avoid last place was an arm-wrestle. Jack Perkins in the #18 Jeld-Wen Ford initially trailed the field, then he overtook Dale Wood in the #21 Walkinshaw Racing Holden on lap 6, relegating Wood to last place, which Wood held until lap 17 when Robert Dahlgren fell behind him. Then on lap 18 Lee Holdsworth suffered a puncture in the #4 Beko Mercedes, forcing him to the pit-lane and to the rear, and Jack Perkins, who had pitted with Holdsworth, then suffered a penalty for an unsafe release, which resulted in contact between the two cars, dropping Jack to the rear of the field, and around this time Will Davison lost a left-rear tire, losing a lap while getting back to the pits and getting the tire changed, dropping him to the rear of the field, where he stayed until lap 37 when Tim Slade in the #47 Supercheap Auto Holden attempted a pass on Scott McLaughlin in the #33 Valvoline Volvo and they made wheel-to-wheel contact, damaging the steering on the #47 and dropping Slade to 25th.

A combination of factors resulted in an interesting bottom five consisting of Will Davison in the #9 Beko Erebus Mercedes, Jack Perkins in the Jeld-Wen #18 Ford, Garth Tander in the #2 SP Tools Holden, who lost a lap after a tire failure, and 8th place qualifier Robert Dahlgren in the #34 Valvoline Volvo.

The Bottom Five
Tim Slade 75 Laps Running
Will Davison 81 Laps Running
Jack Perkins 82 Laps Running
Garth Tander 82 Laps Running
Robert Dahlgren 82 Laps Running

Lastcar Standings
Holden: 9
Ford: 5
Nissan: 4
Volvo: 2
Mercedes: 0

Todd Kelly: 4
Tim Slade: 3
Scott Pye, Dale Wood, David Wall: 2
David Reynolds, Nick Percat, Garth Tander, Robert Dahlgren, Scott McLaughlin, Shane Van Gisbergen, Jack Perkins: 1

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