MCCASHNEY’S V8 SUPERCAR DEBUT

For the most, Ben McCashney’s debut in the 2009 Fujitsu V8DVS at Winton Motor Raceway over the weekend went pretty well according to plan.

The Steel Blue Industrial Footwear / Playstation Falcon was wheeled around Winton with survival in mind and getting as many laps in as possible for the young rookie driver.

“I think we achieved what we set out to do,” McCashney reflected today, “we needed to keep the car in one piece and I needed to get as many laps in as I could, so from that perspective we need to be happy I guess.”

McCashney’s entry in the V8 Supercar world was met with some excitement from a very, very large group of supporters – at one point it seemed that there were more McCashney outfits than Team Vodafone wearers!

“I’m really happy with the merchandise,” smiles McCashney, “we got a lot of feedback from people about the way the gear looked and it gives our sponsors really good exposure which is important for us.

The combination of smart white black and green caps, shirts and jumpers were a massive hit with fans of all ages.

“I’m so thankful to our family, friends and supporters for coming out in force like they did on the weekend,” admits Ben, “it meant a lot to all of us.”

The weekend was anything but plain sailing for the rookie team however, with first engine issues and then an unfortunate race accident in Race Two hampering Ben’s confidence and track time.

“We began our first practice session with a miss in the engine,” recalls McCashney, “and that unfortunately took us a long time to source. We were down two cylinders until we traced it to blocked injectors. By that time we’d used up all our practice time so we had to go into qualifying pretty well raw. It was also our first time on new rubber.”

Ben recorded a time of 1.26.751 netting him a 17th position starting spot in Race One.

“We moved from 17th to 13th in the race, and I was pretty nervous. I just wanted to get the tyres up to temperature and look after the car. I knew we needed to get some consistent laps in and get my head around what the car could do. I took it carefully and came home with a few positions up our sleeves. I was pleased.”

Race Two saw Ben start from the seventh row and stay out of trouble in a very congested pack until a car moved up the inside and initiated contact between Leanne Tander and Ben.

“We ended up with some damage to the right front suspension and I had to limp around a complete lap with smoke pouring from the car before we could get to the pits. The damage was too much to repair so we just worked on getting it repaired in time for Race Three.”

It was close, but the team thrashed and got Ben out on track for the final race of the weekend.

“We started 20th and worked our way forward to 15th and along the way got some more track time for our friends and for my own experience on track. Considering that we have a street circuit in Townsville as our next appearance it was crucial that we got as many laps in as possible.”