Whangarei driver sees good chance of Pukekohe success

Caine Lobb will roll the Mark Cromie Holden Racing Team V8 Ute  on to the tarmac this weekend at Pukekohe Park Raceway for what is expected to be a pivotal round for the current champion
of the ENZED V8 Ute Racing Series.
In October at Taupo Motorsport Park, Ford driver Chris Pither from Palmerston North opened the 2009/10 season by winning the first round ahead of the Whangarei driver.
However, the Fords were expected to be as quick on the twisty circuit as they were last year at the A1GP event.
Lobb placed second for the opening round, an improvement on last year's event where he was third, before going on to win the series.
 At the fast-paced sweeping Pukekohe Park Raceway this weekend, the Holdens are expected to have the upper hand.
"It should be a good weekend for us and we will be watching to see where Chris (Pither) will be this round - last year the Fords were nearer the back of the field at Pukekohe," said Lobb.
Last year at the South Auckland circuit there were some very exciting battles between the three top Holden drivers Mack Peach, Matt Lockwood and Lobb.
"Our Holden should be quick there again but we will be just taking it as it comes," says Lobb.
Neither Lockwood nor Peach are competing in the series this year leaving Lobb to contend with newcomers Chris Pither and Christchurch driver Simon Grace.
Grace has come to the series from something quite different in the Formula Ford national championship.
However, Pither brings with him a wealth of experience in ute and touring car racing.
He spent  a few years in Australia competing in its ute racing series and also driving a few rounds in the Team Kiwi Racing V8 Supercar.
At Pukekohe, which Lobb refers to as a "point and squirt circuit", Lobb's main rival could well be rookie and fellow Holden driver Simon Grace who currently sits in third place.
Lobb, Grace and Pither dominated the front positions at the opening round in Taupo and may well do so again this weekend unless Ford driver Pither struggles on the circuit which has favoured the Holden race utes in the past.
With just one round completed, Lobb  is in second place with 130 points to Chris Pither's 156 and Holden driver Simon Grace is third on 120.
The next round is scheduled for  February 5 to 7 at the brand new Hampton Downs Circuit, just south of Auckland near Meremere.