MotorSport NZ Race Championships promoted by The MotorSport Company

With two of the seven rounds of the BNT V8s Championship completed, it’s easy to see from an analysis of race statistics why former V8s champions John McIntyre and Kayne Scott head the points’ table.

McIntyre has scored a top ten place in every single one of the six races completed to date and three of these finishes in the Squawking Magpie Wines Ford were podium or top three places, giving ‘Johnny Mac’ a total of 345 points. And while Scott has only five top ten finishes, two of these were outright victories giving the Fujitsu Ford driver the maximum of 75 points for each race. Scott’s total is 332, just 13 adrift of McIntyre.

Matching Scott with five top ten finishes so far this season are Andrew Anderson in the ITM Holden and Michael Bristow in the Tex Onsite Ford. Anderson is one of the most experienced competitors in the BNT V8s field, this being his ninth consecutive season in the class, while Bristow is youngest driver this season at only 21 years of age.

When you have competitors of the sheer calibre and experience of United Video Ford driver Craig Baird holding eighth place in the BNT V8s after two rounds, the intensity of this season’s competition is obvious. Add in the fact there have been five race winners – Scott twice, Paul Radisich, Angus Fogg, John McIntyre and Paul Manuell – in just six races, and it’s obviously tough at the front of the BNT V8s field.

Holdens outnumber Fords in the top five for the first time in several seasons with the three Holdens prepared by AV8 Motorsport taking positions three, four and five on the points’ table. In third, former champion Andy Booth has four top ten finishes to his credit, two being thirds helping his points’ tally. Manuell leapt into fourth place after two top finishes at Pukekohe, while Anderson’s very consistent three fourth places has the ITM Holden driver hankering for a podium finish at the next round.

McIntyre and Manuell have each earned the honour of pole position while McIntyre has been the only driver to set a new lap record so far this season at the opening round in Taupo in October.

Pos	Driver	Car	Points	Pole	1st	2nd	3rd	Top 3	Top 5	Top 10
1	John McIntyre	Ford	345	1	1	2		3	4	6
2	Kayne Scott	Ford	332		2			2	4	5
3	Andy Booth	Holden	253				2	2	2	4
4	Paul Manuell	Holden	239	1	1	1		2	2	2
5	Andrew Anderson	Holden	238					0	3	5
6	Paul Pedersen	Ford	234			1		1	2	3
7	Michael Bristow	Ford	222					0	0	5
8	Craig Baird	Ford	196			1		1	2	3
9	Eddie Bell	Ford	195				1	1	1	4
10	Dale Williams	Ford	189					0	0	3
11	Paul Radisich		181		1	1		2	2	3
12	Andrew Porter	Ford	175				1	1	1	3
13	John Penny	Holden	163					0	1	1
14	Adam Brook	Ford	144					0	0	1
15	Simon Richards	Ford	140					0	0	0
16	Angus Fogg	Ford	138		1			1	1	2
17	Steve Owen	Ford	108					0	2	2
18	Inky Tulloch	Ford	99					0	0	0
19	Boyd Norwood	Ford	98					0	0	0
20	John Hepburn	Holden	91					0	0	1
21	Chris Adams	Holden	74					0	0	0
22	Alan McCarrison	Ford	88					0	0	0
23	David Besnard	Ford	88					0	1	2
24	Nick Ross	Holden	85					0	0	1
25	Andy Knight	Ford	77					0	0	1
26	Cam Hardy	Holden	54					0	0	1
27	Tim Edgell	Ford	49					0	0	0
28	Julia Huzziff	Holden	48					0	0	0
29	Shaun Turton	Holden	18					0	0	0
30	Dave Stewart*	Holden	0					0	0	0
31	Dean Perkins*	Ford	0				2	2	2	2

* These drivers are competing on a round-by-round basis under a “parked V8 franchise” agreement and therefore are ineligible for championship points.

Round 3, Powerbuilt Tools International Raceway (Christchurch), 28-30 November 2008