15 December 2010

Rob Pilkington didn't let some wet weather get in the way of moving back to the top of the Motorplex points table for Top Comp in his Force Equipment/Alutech Monte Carlo Funny Car at the Goldenstates event on December 3 and 4.

Pilkington made the A Final where he was to face Andrew Minogue, but rain prevented the running of the race. The split points however were enough to boost Pilkington into the lead.

The day started well with the team again qualifying number one with a 5.76sec. time at over 400kmh.

“After returning to the pits from our first qualifying pass and studying the data we made some significant clutch adjustments to be confident going into the third and last session and they really paid off,” Pilkington said. This seeded the team against a tough opponent however in national record holder Doug Bird.

“We were quietly confident after our previous run as we had some great data to work with to get a hold of a track a lot of teams were struggling with,” Pilkington said.

“As the Force Equipment/Alutech Funny Car launched it started to go into tyre shake so intuitively I shifted into second gear which enabled it to drive through the shake and power on the win with a 5.82sec.

“You don’t always get away with tyre shake but the early shift takes away enough power just for a moment to stop the shake.”

That time was enough to move the team into the final, so the standard between rounds service was conducted but the rain put paid to running the race.

“Pilkington Racing now has the lead back in the championship points race and we are looking forward to gaining further points when we race next on Boxing Day and endeavour to win the fourth race meeting of the season,” Pilkington said.

“This is the time of the season when we really need to make an impression on the pointscore and stretch the lead out.”

Jackie and Rob Pilkington would like to welcome John from Appealing Signs who has come on board to help us the team with its promotional needs and thank him for his expertise in this field.

Pilkington Racing would like to thank its sponsors for their support:

• Force Equipment service and hire

• Alutech

• Prestige Tile Gallery

• FLN Commercial Repairers

• RAE Motorsport

• National Tyres

• PerthMetro Builders

• Appealing Signs