July
15th, 2003
Round 5
Boss
gets back on top at Oran Park
`THE Boss’ Gary MacDonald took charge
of proceedings at Oran Park over the weekend when the Poolrite V8 Brutes
Series thrilled over 10,100 fans on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
MacDonald took his #2 Kanga Loaders / Harveys / Sydney UD Brute to three
consecutive podium finishes in as many races with some aggressive lunges
and impressive car control to score the overall victory on the day.
 “This
feels great,” he grinned, “it’s been a while since we’ve won one
but it’s great to score this one here at Oran Park. I couldn’t fault
one thing we did today, the car was great, the crew did an excellent job
and we had plenty of speed.”
MacDonald was certainly not in any mood to mess around come race time, and
took the Kanga Loaders Holden from the third row to score the win in Race
One.
Race Two saw an aggressive move in the final corner of the final lap pay
dividends when he squeezed through on then leader James Brock to steal the
win with metres to spare.
There was contact between the two but both made it out of the turn with
room to spare – albeit with some panel rubbing along the way.
“My move was legal, but it was not something I’d like to try again,”
he admitted, “to be honest if I’d been James I would have been a bit
disappointed too but the room was there and I went for it.”
That second win of the day for MacDonald came from an original starting
position on the fourth row!
The final race of the day was almost according to plan, with MacDonald
leading early but chasing home Warren Luff in the end.
“I took off like a scalded cat because I knew that Luffy would be the
only one who could match my speed if I got out in front,” said
MacDonald.
“When he closed up on me I
wasn’t going to risk driving defensively because it might have allowed
third place Brock to get into the picture and I didn’t want to risk that
happening. I knew I didn’t have to win the last race to win the round,
so I played the percentages game and didn’t try anything foolish with
Luffy when he got past.”
The round win was satisfying for “The Boss” on a number of personal
levels.
Some 13 years ago Gary’s Dad Don died at Oran Park when he suffered a
heart attack whilst racing.
“I was really fired up to win at Oran Park for Dad actually,” he
concedes, “and you know Kanga Loaders hadn’t had a win until today. I
really wanted to reward them for the effort and contribution they’ve
made to Brutes, and to Steve and myself.”
MacDonald’s success is timely for the points chase too.
“It was great to get a serious run in the points, now I’m up to third
I feel like we can really give the Championship a shake.”
MacDonald’s partner in crime, Steve Robinson, had a frustrating run of
mechanical disappointment that hampered his day from the beginning.
The #12 Kanga Loaders / Harvey’s Smash Repairs Brute shuddered and
failed to leave the line in Race One when the tail shaft broke and the
gearbox developed its own sense of disrepair at the same time. (The bottom
of the gear shifter snapped in half after the rubber donut at the front of
the tail shaft smashed into it)
The crew thrashed to get him back out there for Race Two, complete with a
borrowed Glenn “Bad Boy” Barnes’ road-car tail shaft in place –
Robbo placed 8th after starting 9th and naturally wanted to thank Barnes
for his generosity.
The final race of the day started off badly with an incident in turn one
that smashed up the new two days old VY front end when he rear ended
another car as the pack bunched up.
Despite that disappointment “Robbo” still steamed from an original
starting spot in 16th to a credible 11th by race’s end.
“All in all it was a pretty dismal weekend,” he concedes, “it
started off badly and it never really got much better. I’m really
looking forward to the next round now at Phillip Island. We finished
second there last year and I’d prefer to focus on repeating that
performance.”
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