May 3, 2010

Bates’s Island of Mayhem

SportsAlive.com Commodore Cup driver Tony Bates is looking forward to the last four rounds of the 2010 Commodore Cup national series after a tough weekend in Round 2 of the series at Phillip Island on the weekend.

The dramas for Bates started off in qualifying, when he was excluded from the first session when his SportsAlive.com / W.A. Freight Group Commodore was found to be underweight.

“We were told an in correct weight after our practise session, the boys reacted accordingly and clearly took weight out of the car when they didn’t really need to. In effect we weighed in light and copped the penalty !

“It’s extremely frustrating considering the time I did in the first session would have put me third on the grid.”

Bates still had a chance to set a lap time in the second session, but a deterioration in track conditions, combined with an engine drama, relegated him to 10th overall on combined times.

“The engine was running on seven cylinders towards the end of the session, so we changed the engine overnight as a precaution,” he said.

In Race 1, Bates moved from 10th up to fifth in the slippery conditions and was gaining ground on the drivers in front of him when he made a mistake at Southern Loop and speared into the tyre wall.

“I was looking at Adam Beechey in my rear-view mirror and I just misjudged my line in the wet weather,” he said.

Bates nursed his wounded Commodore home to finish the race in 17th place.

The team repaired the car for Race 2, and Bates was again making progress through the field and mover from 17th to 5th when he made contact with Adam Lloyd at Siberia.
“I was well up the inside of Lloyd and he turned straight into me,” Bates said.

The damage forced Bates into the pits for repairs with a blown tyre and damaged rim, he re-entered the race and managed to finish the race 13th, a lap down on the field.

“When I came out of the pits I was right behind second-placed Adam Beechey and I was clearly faster than him, so it was extremely frustrating to have the pace to finish well inside the top-three and to get caught up in another incident,” Bates commented.

In the final, Bates started 13th and moved up to sixth, setting the second-fastest lap of the race in the process. He caught up to leading pack in the race’s closing stages. I got to 5th only to be punted by guess who, Adam Lloyd who clearly doesn’t take well to being passed. Lloyd passed and Bates was relegated to 6th, going over the finish line side by side with Lloyd.

“The last race was definitely the highlight of the weekend, and demonstrated that I should have finished at least in the top three for the weekend,” he said. “This track has never been kind to me, and this weekend has been an absolute shocker.

“I think the most positive aspect of the weekend is the amount of coverage we gained for our new sponsor, SportsAlive.com and co sponsor WA Freight Group and the presentation of the car and the team uniforms was well received.

“I’ve given my main championship rivals a big head-start so there’s no point in playing the consistency game now, I have to go all out for race wins,” he concluded.

Tony Bates’s next appearance in the SportsAlive.com Commodore will be at Mallala, South Australia, in Round 3 of the Commodore Cup national series, May 29-30.

Round Results Summary – Tony Bates
Qualifying: 10th
Race 1: 17th
Race 2: 13th
Race 3: 6th
Overall: 11th (87 points)

Commodore Cup national series – top-10 pointscore (after 2 of 6 rounds)
1. Scott Andrews – 262
2. Nick Parker – 247
3. Adam Beechey – 245

4. Matt Chick – 214
5. Tony Bates – 206
6. Ross McGregor – 202
7. Jason Domaschenz – 201
=8. Josh Hughes – 200
=8. Adam Lloyd – 200

10. Garth Duffy – 177