In a race that finished with just a 13-second spread from first place to last, Mitch Sparrow won the duel with Glen Collinson to win Race One of the V8 Utes Grand Finale at Hampton Downs. That made it a Holden – Ford one-two finish.
Blair Gribble-Bowing finished a much improved third, while Brad Kroef, who was the fastest qualifier in the morning, was fourth – both driving Ford FG utes.
But Saturday was no ordinary race day for the V8 Utes. As day one of the final round for the season, grid positions for Race One were chosen by a ‘lucky dip’ marble draw, meaning each driver plucked their grid positions from a bucket. Deservingly, Glen Collinson drew Number One, while his main adversaries were further down the order. Interesting.
Yet that didn’t reflect the nature of Saturday morning’s Qualifying. Top spots in the session were an all-Kroef family affair. Brad Kroef posted the fastest lap, managing what was possibly a V8 Utes lap record around Hampton Downs – a rapid 1.13.900.
Barely outshone by his son, Greg Kroef posted a 1.13.947 with last season’s V8 Utes title holder Glen Collinson just 0.392 secs. behind him in third.
From there, Blair Gribble-Bowring was fourth fastest, proving his problematic tuning issues are behind him. A power steering failure relegated Mitch Sparrow to a lowly seventh. In the final wash, barely 2 secs. separated first from last.
With the marble draw putting the cat amongst the pigeons, the ten-lap Race One was set to be a slug-fest.
Glen Collinson led the field away, which he held comfortably for the early laps, with Blair Gribble-Bowring and Phill Ross close behind. Mitch Sparrow, meanwhile, was jostling through the midfield, having started seventh. After picking off Brad Kroef and Paul Fougere, Mitch ultimately found the front on lap seven – a lead he stretched to the end.
Blair Gribble-Bowring ran a tight tactical race and clung onto third. Brad Kroef worked his way up from eighth to a fast-finishing fourth, a position that kept him leading the series by 14 points over Mitch.
Just behind them, Daniel Ludlam proved starting tenth was no disadvantage, finishing fifth, managing the most overtakes of the race. Phill Ross ran a strong race until he got bumped off late in the race, finishing a solid sixth.
That left the points race at the front considerably tightened heading into Sunday. With just 39 points between the first four positions in the series, everything was on the line in the final two title-deciding races.
Sunday began with the reverse-grid V8 Utes Race Two, which put the series front-runners deep in the grid. Title hopeful Glen Collinson started back in 10th, but by the third lap was up to fourth. Mitch Sparrow was less hard done by his start position in fourth, but he still had work to do.
At the chequered flag, Mitch Sparrow secured yet another race win, while series leader Brad Kroef finished second. Daniel Ludlam produced some superb driving after starting second on the grid and remained two seconds ahead of Glen throughout the later laps to finish third, with Glen Collinson just two seconds back in fourth.
The race was eventful but rather less successful for Phill Ross. Despite hassling Greg Kroef the whole race, fighting for fifth, his tyre delaminated on the eighth lap. After the race, Phill reflected, “Down the straight it just went sideways,” as the tyre tread unravelled. A rare occurrence.
With the four series front-runners again finishing in the top four, the series title was set to be decided in the afternoon’s Race Three. Potentially four drivers were still in contention to claim the crown.
With so much on the line, the final race of the season was action-packed right from the start. Glen stole the lead from Brad midway through the first lap, while Mitch quickly latched onto his tail. After coming into the weekend as a title hopeful, Daniel Ludlam’s chances disappeared early after he stalled on the line and slumped back to tenth.
Further back, positions four to six were fiercely contested. Greg Kroef was running fourth early in the race with Blair Gribble-Bowring and Phill Ross in pursuit. Phill got ahead, then Phill and Blair swapped positions twice before Phill prevailed.
He then mounted a challenge on Greg, ultimately claiming fourth on lap eight. Behind them, Paul Fougere, Stu Monteith and Jeremy Hunt waged their own battle, with Stu holding onto seventh.
At the front, Mitch Sparrow and Glen Collinson battled throughout the full 10 laps, with Mitch ultimately securing the win. Glen crossed the line just 0.4 seconds behind in second, while Brad Kroef was only a further 0.7 seconds back in third. It was a fitting finish to a fantastic summer series.
Brad Kroef’s third place was enough to clinch his third V8 Utes series title after a huge weekend effort. With the Kroef family now pulling back from V8 Utes racing, it was a fitting way for Brad to leave the category – a well-deserved series winner, while father Greg finished the season with a pole and several podiums.
As for the six-round season just gone, the V8 Utes category produced some of the closest race finishes seen in years, with every team upping their game. Mitch Sparrow continued to prove and improve his talents throughout the campaign, suggesting an exciting motor racing career ahead for the 20-year-old. What a series.
Header Image: Dillon Photography
