For the second season in succession, Mark Robinson has come away from the Victorian V8 Dirt Modified Title with the runner-up honours.
Last Saturday night’s 2018-19 season running of the event, which doubled as the third 5 Star Dirt Series round, was once again held at Moama’s Heartland Raceway and it also saw Robinson fall one spot shy of the victory behind fellow northern NSW-based racer and defending champion Jai Stephenson.
Unlike last season, when he fought for the lead with Stephenson, Robinson had to do it the hard way on this occasion, after starting the Victorian Title deciding feature race from position eight and then being forced to work his way forward to greet the chequered flag in second.
“I didn’t have the best of runs throughout the heat races, which included me getting pinned two spots after winning my final heat race, and was consequently forced to start from deeper down the starting order than I would have liked,” explained Robinson, who had started from position eight after finishing his three heat races with a fourth and a pair of thirds.
“The team and I got the car pretty good for the feature race compared to our earlier runs in the heat races, and we were able to move forward and have a little bit of luck fall in our favour and come home with a podium result.”
The Victorian Title was the beginning of a busy period down south for Robinson and his Lismore, NSW-based team, with the fourth round of the 5 Star Dirt Series (The Garden State Shield) to be fought out this Saturday night (March 23) at Geelong’s Avalon Raceway and then the fifth round (Sydney Scramble) at Sydney’s Valvoline Raceway the following Saturday night (March 30).
Currently sitting sixth in the 5 Star Dirt Series point standings, Robinson is aiming to continue moving up the ladder.
“I certainly haven’t had the best of starts to this season’s 5 Star Dirt Series defence, but I’m confident that my team and I are starting to turn things around for the better,” concluded an upbeat Robinson, who is the only driver within the top 10 of the standings that hasn’t used his Joker card (double points).
Current 5 Star Dirt Series Point Standings (after three completed rounds):
1 Jai Stephenson – 588
2 David Clark – 438
3 Scott Cannon – 364
4 Joshua Rose – 334
5 Chris Corbett – 285
*6 Mark Robinson 246
Robinson would like to thank his 2018-19 season sponsors: Castrol, Southside Truck Centre, Global Lubricant Distribution, GSR Suspension Development, Trevan Ford, Northern Truck Coolers, and A1 Signs.
Special thanks must go to Robinson’s pit crew – Bud, Larry, Micka, Andrew and Jake – along with his mum and dad (Faye and Steve), his wife Chloe and their two kids, and the rest of the team and supporters.
To find out more about Robinson and his team, LIKE them on Facebook by searching Robinson Motorsport.
