Brad Patton’s overall result isn’t indicative of the speed or the fervour with which he attacked the sixth round of the 2010 Yokohama V8 Ute Series, protected by Armor All at Mt. Panorama Bathurst.

The driver of the Wicked Energy Drinks / CHILL XR8 Falcon was right in contention all weekend at one point in qualifying Friday morning was as high as second fastest!
He would eventually place 7th in the 30 plus car field for qualifying.

“We were fast in qualifying and that was particularly satisfying considering we missed the entire second practice session the day before,” grinned the hard charging Queenslander, “it felt good going into the races themselves knowing that we had considerable car speed.”

All weekend “Packers” was snugly inside the top fifteen but gearbox issues hampered him at critical moments.

“The car is fast in a straight line,” Patton pondered, “we had several of our rivals well and truly covered on Mountain Straight and Conrod Straight but a couple times there I went from fourth to first gear at the entry to the corner and that immediately threw the car sideways. We lost enormous ground every time that happened and it was pretty scary when you’re approaching 200 kilometres an hour.”

Importantly for Brad, the Wicked / CHILL Falcon was seen prominently in many of the TV camera angles throughout the three events over the weekend.

“Ideally we’d have been closer to the front and not have those problems hamper our overall result but at the end of the day the car is relatively straight and we can focus on our home event, on the Gold Coast in two weeks time.”

The Armor All Gold Coast 600 weekend will be a first for Brad as he enters his new allegiance with a new Racing Team (soon to be announced) for the remainder of 2010 and beyond.
“I’m looking forward to racing with the guys for Gold Coast and Homebush to round out the year.”

Brad is hoping to improve on his 19th position in the points standings – again, a result that currently doesn’t accurately reflect this often-top ten proposition steerer’s speed and car craft.

“Bathurst was awesome, but roll on Gold Coast now,” smiles Brad.

Ends release…