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Well Deserved and Emotional Podium Finish for Cramp at Phillip Island

CVW Manta Racing

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www.cvwmantaracing.com.au
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Well Deserved and Emotional Podium Finish for Cramp at Phillip Island

CVW Manta Racing’s Steve Cramp ended 3 weeks of monumental effort in rebuilding a virtually written off car by standing on the podium in Round 4 of the STS Australian Performance Car Championship at Phillip Island.

The roll at Eastern Creek the previous round left just the rear right hand door in tact, the rest of the panels were replaced as was everything from the windscreen forward, and more. With no time for testing the car was completed and transported to Phillip Island just in time for the scheduled practice session on Friday. “The car felt nervous”, Steve explained after the session. ”Although we are still just off the pace. We’ll spend the rest of the day going over it”. Rain set in for the afternoon corporate laps and the HSV took to the track on wets, that and some minor adjustments with suspension provided some improvement in handling.

Saturday’s conditions for qualifying were cloudy and windy and the team were concerned that something was still not quite right in the rear suspension. Cramp qualified in 6th position for Race 1 that afternoon. During the race, he managed to pull into 4th position before troubles with the gear box meant no 5th or 6th gear. End result was a 6th in Race 1.

Races 2 and 3 were on Sunday. A good start from Cramp became a finish in 4th place, despite driving most of the race with a failed rear hub bearing. The limited time to rebuild the car was being made evident, but the team were confident they were ironing out the problems and that the primary goal of a great round result was still achievable. The time before the last race was spent trying to adjust the rear suspension problems and straighten what was identified as a bent rear cross beam.

With the last race of the round, Cramp was on the 2nd row of the grid and carrying no success ballast. The consistency and hard work paid off with a fourth place and a third overall for the round. As was mentioned by the commentary team during the presentation ceremony, it was an emotional achievement for the entire team. “We just did everything we could to get here, we owed so much to all the people that had helped us with parts and time and money. There was no way we were going to not have this car here and racing.” Steve Cramp stated. “Now we have our home track of Mallala coming up. We really need to go through the same exercise again. Not the rebuild” he laughed, ”but there is obviously more work to do on the car and we have exhausted our funds. We will be there though. Look out!”

CVW Manta Racing is very grateful for the fantastic support we received to get to this round and would like to thank the following:

City Holden – Adelaide, Holden Motorsport – Melbourne, Monaro Performance Centre – Melbourne, STS Turbo, CVW Engineering, Triple A Crash – Adelaide, Quadrant, Bilstein, I.D.W, Autobarn - Mile End – Adelaide, ACL, Motul, DuPlessis Fine Art and Auctions, CV Driveshaft – Adelaide, Exhaust Technology – Adelaide, DC Signs

For further information on CVW Manta Racing, please contact [email protected] or 0408 833332


Next Rounds:

Mallala - 15-17th September
Symmons Plains - 10-12th November
Eastern Creek - 25 -26th November
 

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