A Heroic effort keeps Foster in the running

After a 'slightly annoying' first two days into the opening round of the New Zealand Formula First championship - which included a never-ending misfire for Ian 'the Fossil' Foster - and continuing clutch issues for Andre 'the Giant' Heimgartner. Race day came along, and Team scorpionracecars.com was under serious pressure to overcome the issues to show everyone which team is the most dominant in the class… Race 1 After finding the frustrating misfire at the last minute the previous night, unfortunately not early enough for qualifying - Foster ending up dead last - even behind 'the Giant'. But as things would turn out, this wouldn't be for long, as the lights went out, Foster powered his way into the first corner - overtaking a few. This led to an onslaught of victims as Foster 'Fossilized' the field to get into eighth position as the yellow flag came out for Dave Scammel… With one lap under the safety car, this left Foster two laps to carry on the attack, and stay in contention for the championship. As the green flag flew, Foster continued his epic battle, to drive to forth place going into the last lap. As they entered the back straight, Foster pounced, and in his Plummer Compressors Challenge - passed the rising star, Ryan Hellier, to finish in the third place position. With that powerful statement, Foster set the fastest lap time of the race - shifting him from dead last to fourth place for Race 2 of the opening round of the New Zealand Formula First championship; Race 2 With Foster sitting in Forth as the lights went out, the battle would seem to be less difficult, but as the Fossil would find, times are tough at the top. The field stormed to the first turn, it was evident that the battles for position were going to be much more challenging for Foster. As the laps wound down though, business began to pick up - as the battle intensified for the main positions in the race. As the last lap commenced, it was evident that it would be a top three battle. As the cars entered the back straight, it would be a drag race to the last few corners, with Foster in third. As they entered the braking zone three wide Foster, in an effort to miss a possible incident - drove over the grass, missing the last corner - coming out infront of both the other two drivers. After seeing the dramas of a certain Formula 1 'driver' - Foster lets past the young Nick Cassidy for the win, with Foster in second. So a positive result for Foster in race 2 - but for young Andre 'the Giant' Heimgartner in his wiz-bang Superlux 6000, the day became a whole lot busier. The clutch issues that left him stalled at the back of the field the last two races, had become so bad - it was up to the scorpionracecars.com team to replace it. Replace it they did, and in record time the Superlux 6000 was ready for the final race of the round… Race 3 By this time the weather had taken a turn for 'the worse' or the 'the freezing' (with stand-in mechanic 'Caveman' Ayrton toughing it out in good ol' shorts and a t-shirt). With a light hail storm, the lights went out, and the race began. But on the second lap, Dom Kalasih - in an early contender for crash of the year - flipped the Saturn Vee into mid-air, landing worryingly on the rollbar of his machine - before it miraculously rolled back onto all four wheels. Fortunately, Mr. Kalasih seemed to be alright… and the safety car pulled into pitlane, restarting the race. The race resumed, with Foster leading the way into the first corner - with the rest of the pack right on his gearbox. On the last lap though - possibly in a veteran maneuver - 'the Fossil' lost the lead to Cassidy - Only to regain it on the back straight - leaving little time for the rookie to counter the move. Exiting the last chicane, it was Foster with the win, with a valiant effort by Cassidy landing him in second place. But wait - Its not over… With the triumph of the clutch change, ('in the clutch' - you could say) The Superlux 6000 launched off the line and kept up with the field - with Heimgartner even powering his way past a few cars to take another small victory for the scorpionracecars team So with under a month to go until the next round at the Manfeild Autocourse, business has already picked up in the chase of the championship… With Foster lying in second after a trying weekend - It will be interesting to see what happens when everything goes to plan. - You will find out at the Manfeild Autocourse on November 22/23, be there to check out the action. If not, stay tuned to scorpionracecars.com for updates on the 'goings on' within the scorpionracecars team camp.