Lobb On Fire and Closing In

Media Release: Sunday 2nd March
MTA Formula Ford National Championship 2007-8
Round 6 Levels International Motor Raceway 29th February to 2nd March

Caine Lobb cut loose from the pack over the weekend and was left unhindered to win all three races of the MTA Formula Ford National Championship, Round Six held at Levels International Motor Raceway.

From the opener on Friday Lobb took command over the field of Formula Ford drivers laying down practice times 0.3 of a second faster than the rest. On Saturday morning in the qualification session Lobb again set the fastest time claiming his fourth pole position from six rounds. This season he has only missed achieving pole position twice and is the only driver to have claimed it on multiple occasions.

Overcoming a case of the Shingles to perform so well over the weekend, Lobb felt that he really was on fire with a painful rash on his back and legs which had to be treated with a special ointment between races.

"They were putting some stuff on me which was about ten times hotter than Deep Heat which seriously stung and made me feel like my legs were on fire!" he said.

Getting on with the job at hand Lobb was extremely happy with the weekend and finally achieving his first round win of the season. Throughout this season some strong challenges from other drivers resulting in contact and damage have taken their toll on Lobb keeping him from achieving an expected number of race wins. Three of the six rounds have just not gone his way at all and he has reached the podium a mere three times over the six rounds besides showing such good speed and top-notch race craft.

With more than his fair share of mishaps through the season, Lobb has had to make up as much ground as possible from fourth place in the championship where he was previously sitting behind rookie driver Stefan Webling. With this weekend's result at Timaru, which is classic Lobb, he now has 940 points and closed the gap on second placed Andrew Waite with 997 and will be aiming to overtake him at Teretonga Park next weekend.

"I got some pretty good points this weekend and I just need to close in on them more. John is still over 150 points ahead so it would be a big ask to get past him." said Lobb.

Next weekend is the final round of the season for the MTA Formula Ford National Championship and is held at Invercargill's Teretonga Park. John Whelan with a 97 point lead over second placed Andrew Waite sits in a very strong position for taking the championship but with a maximum of 225 points up for grabs over the three races it remains there for the taking even by Lobb who in third place is 153 points behind.

Championship Standings After Round Six at Timaru