MOORE SECURES TITLE AT THE LAST

Richard ‘Danger’ Moore took his first national circuit-racing title when he came from behind to secure the Porter Group V8 Utes title at the final round in the Speedworks Motorsport Championship event at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park. Heading into the round, Moore was 29 points behind reigning champion and former teammate Paul ‘Auto’ Manuell, in his Orix Holden. It all started to unravel for Manuell in the first race when he made contact with Moore and was sent to the back of the grid for the second race, also gaining a time penalty that dropped him down the finishing order. That brought Moore within points reach for the second race, and he duly delivered a win. For Manuell, however, the weekend went from bad to worse when brake failure put him in the sand trap on the penultimate lap. Crucially, he could not get out to take the chequered flag and secure some points, and started the final race at the back — a long way behind Moore and behind on points for the first time in the season. Moore took second, behind race and round–winner Matt Spratt, and duly secured the title. “Really, it’s been a huge team effort and [it’s] extremely satisfying to get home with the title,” said new champ Moore, after securing his first New Zealand circuit-racing title outside of karts. “That first weekend at Pukekohe was tremendously difficult for us. The hit we had into the wall was massive, and the effort everyone put into even having the car running the next day was immense. Since then, we’ve been clawing back, and in the most recent rounds have really tried to pile on the pressure with race wins. The pressure has certainly been on all of us, but for sure it’s absolutely great to win.”