Final Round is Do or Die for Pilkington

Final Round is Do or Die for Pilkington

In a sport with limitless variables, Rob Pilkington’s championship hopes rest on a knife’s edge this weekend in the final round of the Perth Motorplex Top Comp Track Championship.

Pilkington’s Alutech/CTS Low Loaders Funny Car will enter the season closer just ten points behind his arch rival, Al McClure, after a season where the points lead has changed six times between four different racers.

“This has been by far the toughest championship we’ve ever fought. It feels like we’ve gone eight rounds in a boxing ring more than a drag strip,” Pilkington said yesterday from his Oakford workshop.

“Al McClure being as competitive as he is again wrestled back the championship lead at the last round. The track conditions took us by surprise and then we made some tactical decisions that didn’t come to fruition.”

“With all the race meetings we have to pre-empt the track conditions based on the weather in the week leading up to the race. We make a judgment call on things like gearbox ratios that we think will suit the track conditions, but unfortunately for us, the track staff at the Motorplex excelled themselves preparing the track, and we underestimated how good the racing surface was to be, and we just didn’t throw enough power at the track,” he lamented.

“We ended up winning the B-final, but our rival came away with the main win which earned him an extra ten points than us. So to win the championship, we will have to go at least one round further than Al. We will be also aiming to reset the track record with the traditional cool conditions at this time of the year, so regardless of whenever we hit the track, we’ll be trying to go as quick and fast as possible .Here’s looking forward to a fitting finale to a tough season,” he said.

Pilkington’s last roll of the dice will begin with qualifying at around four o’clock on Saturday afternoon, with the 400 kph show down kicking off at 6.00pm.