CCS: Round one at Wakefield report

Cooper in surprise Wakefield Park result

The RDA Rotors sponsored Commodore Cup was jam-packed of action from the opening race right through to the third and final race of the weekend. In the end, the highlight was a spectacular, nail biting battle for the honours in race three between Ashley Cooper and defending series champion Geoff Emery that went right down to the wire.

For Cooper it had been a wonderful day after he had placed second and first respectively in race one and two and heading into the race three was at good odds to take another win for the day. While, Emery on the other hand had battled up to sixth in race two after suffering a DNF (Did not finish) in the opening race after he had earlier qualified on the front row. In the third race Emery wanted to end a disappointing weekend on a high note. The 12 lap event saw Cooper hold command for the majority of the distance up until the closing stages when an inform Emery moved into the lead, but the battle was far from over there and it wasn't decided until the final corner of the last lap when a mistake by Emery in the final corner allowed Cooper to retake the lead and therefore the win, narrowly ahead of Emery, with David Richert third, in what was a thrilling finish. Brett Holdsworth earlier in the weekend was looking the strongest after he had qualified on pole position and winning race one ahead of Cooper and David Gittus in second and third respectively. In race two the position were reversed with Cooper taking the win ahead of Holdsworth and Richert snaring third place.

Daniel Orr has a collapsed battery stop him on the first lap of race 1, followed by a differential problem in race 2 which ended his day. Marcus Zukanovic had an engine failure in race 1, missed race 2 whilst replacing it, only to retire from race 3 with driveline problems.

Series points: Cooper - 145, Holdsworth - 132, Richert - 120, Gittus - 117, Bates/Emery/White 101, Nick Parker 100.

-www.commodorecup.com.au