MOTORSPORT - Mixed fortunes for Lobb in V8

Eighteen-year-old Caine Lobb had a strong start to the third round of the ENZED V8 Ute Championship at Taupo claiming provisional pole position for the weekend.
In the Top Ten Shootout, Lobb once again took the fastest time by a good margin to claim maximum points for his efforts.
The weekend's progress was hindered, however, in Saturday's Race One after a marker cone became stuck underneath the Mark Cromie Holden Racing Team's Commodore, causing damage to the car's radiator and ending Lobb's race.
He was forced to retire from a probable podium finish when the radiator abruptly lost all fluids due to the cone hitting hard up against it.
The Whangarei driver picked up the cone when battling for position with another driver and trying to outbrake him entering the chicane at the end of the long main straight.
The two drivers battled hard holding on to the very last split-second, ending with the stubborn pair overshooting the turn and having to cut across the grass to narrowly escape coming together.
Lobb believes it was here that he hit the cone. "I picked up a cone which got stuck underneath the car, knocked the radiator breaking off a small plastic fitting and I lost all the water."
"I started off in 15th in that race and I had got up to fifth when that happened."
With the series opting for marble draws to determine their grid positions, Lobb's qualification was good only for championship points.
Unlucky in the draw he started two of the three races from the back of the field having to fight his way through to the front. But with a reverse grid in Race Two he was able to start from the second row.
"In my second race I started in third and I won it and in my last race I started off in 13th and finished third. In the shootout I came in first by about 0.8 of a second so apart from the damage in the first race the weekend went really well and we got some points and moved up in the championship a bit," he said.
After suffering two DNFs in the opening two rounds in the South Island, Lobb is playing catch up in the championship standings. With a race win and a podium finish, plus maximum points taken from qualifying in pole, he has now moved up into fifth place with three rounds left.
Round Four will see all the teams heading back to the South Island, where they will compete at the Powerbuilt International Raceway at Ruapuna, Christchurch at the end of this month.