Camden-based racer Cameron Crick has continued his rich vein of form in the ECB SuperUte Series, recording 2 podiums and placing 3rd overall in Round 5 of the 8-Round championship. Crick’s form since Barbagallo Raceway has seen the 21-year old spring into 3rd place in the championship, just 29 points behind joint-leaders Ryal Harris and Tom Alexander.
Crick returned to the place where he made his SuperUtes debut a year ago, this time as a full-time driver in the category, and found his stride immediately in setting the second-fastest time in Practice 1, before rising to the top of the timesheet in Practice 2. Crick continued to show good pace in qualifying, putting his #7 Team Triton Racing entry on the front row of the grid, placed in 2nd next to Ryal Harris.
Race 1 saw Crick and Harris get off to an even start, however a continuous stream of cars on the inside line left Crick stranded on the outside through the first few corners, dropping back several positions. After the field settled down Crick worked his way back up to 3rd position by the end of the race.
Starting from 8th in the reverse-grid Race 2, Crick swiftly worked his way to the front of the field, battling against most of the championship contenders along the way, before closing out the race in an enthralling duel at the races conclusion. Crick drove strong through the latter stages of the race to deal himself into the fight for the lead, against some legendary names in Australian motorsport, being his Team Triton Racing team-mate Toby Price and Supercars legend Steven Richards. These 3 drivers jostled for positions, with a dash to the finish leaving Crick in 3rd position, just half a second behind the eventual winner Price.
“That was pretty cool to fight for the lead against those guys. I would of loved to have had a few more laps to see what we could have done but it just goes to show how lucky we are to be racing against guys with this sort of experience and skill, proven champions who have been there and done it over and over”, Crick proclaimed.
Crick once again started from 2nd in the weekends finale, and showed he had learnt from Race 1 by quickly diving into the inside line before his window closed. Crick carried great speed onto the main straight and made a move for the lead on Harris, and as the pair approached Turn 3 it would be Price who dived to the inside and stole the lead. Crick was left to battle with Harris, who put up a firm defence from 2nd position, whilst also doing his best to fend off a surging Craig Woods in one of the revamped Toyota Hilux entries.
Crick was left ruing brake issues which had crept in over the weekend and was unable to attack the corners with the same vigour as he would have liked. On the defensive for the back end of the race, Crick would ultimately finish in 4th position, securing 3rd overall for the round.
“It was a shame about the brakes because we just couldn’t make moves on someone as tough as Ryal without it. It was tough, take-no-prisoner racing and really a lot of fun to get in the with your elbows out and duke it out against some tough opposition, so all in all we enjoyed the weekend and we’re stoked to get up on the podium again, whilst closing the gap on the championship lead”, Crick explained.
The ECB SuperUtes Series will return to the track at the Mecca of Australian motorsport – the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 – between the 10th and 13th of October. Crick now sits 3rd in the Championship standings, just 29 points behind Ryal Harris and Tom Alexander, who are tied for the Championship lead.
