THE ongoing dogfight between international rivals Harry King and Harri Jones has continued into Saturday at Mount Panorama, the pair staging another intense dual for the win in race two of the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia in Bathurst.
An intense race saw the pair trading paint during the race and then words afterwards as they battled hard for the race win today, with a gripping finale now set up for tomorrow.
King won the race and the Equity-One Professional class over Jones and Kiwi Chris van der Drift, while Liam Talbot once again claimed victory in the SP Tools Pro-Am class ahead of Adrian Flack and Dean Cook.
Saturday’s race was held in bright, sunny conditions and featured a flat-out battle for the win from the moment the lights went out.
King and Jones started side-by-side for the nine-lap dash and traded paint through turn one, race one winner King narrowly hanging on through the exit of Hell Corner and the run up Mountain Straight.
Chaos unfolded behind as a concertina on the exit of the corner saw O’Keeffe and Coulthard make contact with the latter spinning across the bows of the pack and fortunately avoided by the majority of the field.
Also caught up in that incident was Rodney Jane, who had no luck in his milestone 200th Carrera Cup Australia race as he ended up with a heavy impact on the right hand side of Mountain Straight – though he was able to emerge unscathed.
The Safety Car was on track for three laps, with the intensity resuming on lap four as King led Jones to the green flag.
The pair again ran side-by-side into turn two in an incredible piece of racing as they remarkably both came out the other side.
They then ran nose to tail for the remainder with Jones throwing everything at his European teammate-come-rival, King strong enough to hold on and grab his second successive victory of the weekend.
The pair exchanged words post-race following their series of run-ins during the race.
Behind them, Chris van der Drift set the quickest lap of the race and ran with the leaders en route to third position, looming as a threat for Sunday’s finale’.
David Russell was a strong fourth in the next EBM car, passing Jackson Walls mid-race to secure his spot just outside the podium.
Walls’ was fifth, climbing two spots off the start to run fourth before Russell was able to slip past but continuing to nibble away at Callum Hedge’s championship lead.
Max Vidau charged from 10th to sixth, with Garnett Patterson impressing on his way to seventh position in the second EMA Motorsport Porsche.
Dylan O’Keeffe lost ground in the opening-lap dramas and dropped to eighth position with Ryder Quinn – a Personal Best 9th in his Game Over Porsche – and Simon Fallon completing the top-10.
Of those recovering through the field, Bayley Hall raced to 15th, David Wall to 16th and Fabian Coulthard to 24th after his opening lap spin.
One more race completes Round 6 of the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia Championship with the odds now heavily stacked towards the series delivering a sixth different winner from six rounds this year.
The final race, a 9-lap sprint, will commence at 9:30am (local time) Sunday morning.
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