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SIMPSON CLAIMS KUMHO RACE WINS RECORD WITH ISLAND CLEAN SWEEP
Despite missing the opening two rounds at Sydney Motorsport Park and Mallala Simpson now sits fourth in the series and is within six points of third-placed Tony Evangelou.
Davies won the tiebreaker with White as a result of his better result in Race 3 and retains a 96-point advantage over Terry Wyhoon heading into the last round at Sandown in November.
“We were a little bit stuck with tyres because we had flat-spotted two of them said Simpson postround.
“We had no pace in Race 2 earlier today but I really enjoyed the last race with Shae. If we could finish anywhere in the top three in the series points after missing the first two rounds that would be a great result.
It was a day of drama in the Kumho Series after White the V8 Supercar Development Series team owner who made his Kumho Series debut in the last round won Race 2 on the road.
However he was adjudged to have jumped the start and given a post-race five-second penalty added to his race time.
Davies crossed the line second on the road but was also given a five-second post-race penalty for not being correctly aligned in his grid box at the start of the race.
That elevated Simpson who crossed the line third to the race victory and thus keep his streak alive. White was classified second from Davies and Wyhoon with Matt Hansen and Evangelou (who recovered from clutch problems on the line) next.
Simpson the former New South Wales State Formula Ford champion then went on to win Race 3 after Davies put up a challenge in the early laps.
The Fernandez Motorsport Falcon driver did manage to pass Simpson for the lead though did so under yellow flags. He redressed the situation and moved over to allow Simpson to take back the lead which he held to the finish.
“It was just in a bad spot because of the sunlight so the guys let me know on the radio and I moved over. It was no big deal said Davies.
White was forced to charge back through the field after stalling on the grid in Race 3. He was fortunate that the rest of the pack managed to miss his ex-Mark Winterbottom Falcon while it sat stationary.
He was 10th at the end of the last lap and managed to finish fourth at the end of the 10-lap race behind Simpson Davies and Wyhoon.
Former Kumho Series champion Wyhoon finished fourth for the round clear of 501 Performance Racings Tony Evangelou and Steve Briffas ex-Paul Morris Motorsport Commodore.
Western Australian Matt Hansen was seventh overall in his ex-Holden Racing Team Commodore clear of Victorian Matt Palmer (ex-Brad Jones Racing Falcon) Peter Rullo (ex-FPR Falcon) and Paul Pennisi (ex-PMM Commodore).
Toowoomba racer Nathan Assaillit was on target for another solid round result though a broken suspension upright at the high-speed turn one put him out of fourth place in Race 2.
The damage to his Falcon was enough to sideline him for the final race.
Television coverage of this weekends Kumho Series round will air on SBS Speedweek on Sunday October 6 and on SPEED on Foxtel at a later date.
The final round of the Kumho Tyres Australian V8 Touring Car Series will be held at Sandown on November 16-17.
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KUMHO SERIES – ROUND 5 RESULTS PHILLIP ISLAND
1. Ryan Simpson Falcon BF 143 pts
2. Shae Davies Falcon BF 111 pts
3. Matthew White Falcon BF 111 pts
4. Terry Wyhoon Falcon BF 97 pts
5. Tony Evangelou Falcon BA 86 pts
6. Steve Briffa Commodore VZ 64 pts
7. Matt Hansen Commodore VZ 64 pts
8. Matt Palmer Falcon BF 49 pts
9. Peter Rullo Falcon BF 44 pts
10. Paul Pennisi Commodore VY 33 pts
KUMHO SERIES POINTS AFTER ROUND 5
1. Shae Davies 527 pts
2. Terry Wyhoon 431 pts
3. Tony Evangelou 400 pts
4. Ryan Simpson 394 pts
5. Matt Hansen 366 pts
6. Steve Briffa 296 pts
7. Nathan Assaillit 279 pts
8. Morgan Haber 231 pts
9. Chris Smerdon 171 pts
10. Dan Day 168 pts
