Brad “Packers” Patton is back and he’s armed to the teeth with determination to conquer the mountain this weekend in Round Six of the Yokohama V8 Ute Series, protected by Armor All.

The driver of the Wicked Energy Drinks / CHILL XR8 Falcon missed the previous round at Philip Island in Victoria due to family commitments but is back with a vengeance at the world famous Mt. Panorama Bathurst.

“I didn’t run at Philip Island but the laps I missed out on there I managed to make up for at our drive day at Queensland Raceway before that round, so realistically I haven’t been away from the wheel,” he admits.

This time last year the vastly improved Queensland racer was geared up for a big Bathurst weekend, but a costly mistake saw him run out of fuel in qualifying – a situation that cost him dearly in the scheme of things.

“The fuel thing was tragic,” he frowns, “it gave away any chance we had of a good starting position and at a place like Bathurst that was critical. I’ll be making sure we add a few extra litres this weekend to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

In the first session of practice this weekend Patton clocked into the top ten with a strong performance but a critical strategic move in the second session unfortunately backfired.

“We elected to stay in for the first part of the session because of an oil down situation in the previous category’s run,” he concedes, “but a crash at the top of the mountain red-flagged our session prematurely and we just didn’t get to go out. I guess it’s one of those things. It doesn’t make a huge difference to anything, I’m happy with the car speed. We’ll be right.”
There’s every chance he’s right.

Brad Patton’s improvement has been rapid in the last season and a half and there’s every chance he can record a strong Bathurst result as the 2010 Yokohama V8 Ute Series moves into the final three rounds.