Gibson fourth for ute racing season

Matt Gibson

Ex-pat Whanganui ute driver Matt Gibson was slightly off the pace in the final round of the Ssangyong Racing Series at Pukekohe Park Raceway at the weekend, although he kept his Top 5 position for the season.

Gibson, who was coming into Pukekohe in fourth spot for the series and 77 points behind third-placed Christina Orr-West of Bay of Plenty, qualified 13th in the 30 driver field, with a best time of 1m 29.072s.

There was less than a second between all the trucks in the Top 20.

In Race 1, Gibson finished in tenth spot, with Orr-West the winner, ahead of Auckland's Joel Herbert and Daniel Connor.

Gibson had a better second race, finishing in fifth spot in 1m 29.447s, behind the Top 3 of Auckland's Royce Rollinson, Connor and Australia's Peter Bennett.

"This afternoon's race started well with me, holding second place for half...until I was pushed wide coming onto the back straight," Gibson said on his team's Facebook page.

"As a result of this, the freight train of Ssangyongs raced past me and I dropped to back to seventh.

"I fought my way back to cross the chequered flag in fifth place."

Gibson wanted a strong finish on Sunday, but did not feature on the podium with Race 3 being won by Bennett, ahead of Taupo expat Kieron Rollinson in a photo finish with Connor.

Connor finally cracked the top of the podium in Race 4, winning it from Orr-West and Royce Rollinson.

"The racing today wasn't the best for me with a eighth and a 11th," said Gibson.

"But that was enough to finish fourth overall in the championship in our first full season.

"A great finish for a busy year of racing."

The results ensured Connor won the season title after six rounds, which also began at Pukekohe last November.