Ryal Harris had never won a round of the V8 Ute Series, but that all changed this morning when he clinched the overall victory on Australia’s most famous racing stage – Mt Panorama Bathurst.

The explosive young Queenslander delivered his Big Gun Racing Team a sensational round victory, along the way scoring wins in both Race Two and Three for the weekend in front of an enormous Bathurst 1000 crowd.

Harris took his VIP Petfoods XR8 Falcon to a stirring victory after starting on the front row for the Sunday morning final race alongside Holden V8 Supercar hero Nathan Pretty.

Pretty led early but Ryal sped past and opened up a commanding advantage to eventually close out a five second advantage by the fall of the chequers.

“Finally I can wrap up a round win,” he grinned from the podium, “I’m so pleased for our team and our sponsors who make all this possible. This really helps our Championship situation too. We’ve had good car speed and been fast all weekend, this is fantastic.”

Harris’ success was enough to put a smile on the face of a very sore Brad Patton.

Patton had binned his once pristine VIP Petfoods XR8 Falcon the day prior in a huge crash coming out of The Chase that saw him go head first into the tyre barriers and extensively damage his car.

“I’m OK, but I’m pretty sore,” Patton admitted this morning, “it was a disappointing end to what I thought was going to be a pretty exciting weekend. I’m pleased for Ryal though, he’s deserved a round win for a long time and now he’s finally got one. I’m focussing on Ryal’s win more than my wrecked car right now.”

Big Gun Owner Peter Burnitt managed to pull off a consistent weekend, despite also being involved in a huge crash (separate to Patton’s) midway through The Chase when he was T-boned by a spinning car at over 200kph!

“The car was pretty banged up but Joey (De Vries) and the boys did a great job to get it back out there for the last two races,” said Burnitt, “we were able to complete the weekend which was really pleasing. I’m very happy for Ryal too, he did an awesome job.”

Greg “Freddy” Willis was consistent all weekend in the Only Juice XR8 Falcon and stayed clear of the trouble and put in some strong laps.

“I had some good battles this weekend,” smiled Willis, “I’ve finished every race and enjoyed the racing as a whole. It’s an amazing circuit Bathurst. It can tear your car up and break your heart but when you have a good weekend it’s a fantastic feeling.”

There’s only two weeks remaining until the Armor All 600 on the Gold Coast for Round Six of the Auto One V8 Ute Series so the Big Gun team have PLENTY of repairs to effect in that time.

We’ll follow their progress in the build up, so please visit www.biggunracing.com.au