A great comeback and a round win was the perfect response to his round 2 problems for Taranaki's Shaun van Beers in the Just Tyres DC5. On his first visit to the legendary Pukekohe track, Shaun kept it all on the island this time to win the round after two competitive grid races and then a dominant run in the handicap race. Not the outright quickest car on the day, he was nevertheless the most consistent and his round win propels him to a very competitive looking second in the championship standings ahead of Richard Gee and just a few points behind series leader Mark Walters - who had another very consistent run in his EF.
On a day when 25 cars turned up to do battle, the racing was close and exciting, with Alan Stewart's hot DC2 having a second or so advantage on lap times, but with a snarling pack close behind that included David Grigor and Steve Taylor in their fantastic production racers, Mark Walters, Jason Weel and Richard Gee in their 1.6 Civics and van Beers and Tim Pollard in their swift DC5s.
Each of the three races were classics, with a damp/dry qualifying session putting Steve Taylor on pole position in his FD2 for Race 1. This was close affair, with Alan Stewart eventually taking the win from Steve Taylor, Walters and Gee, with David Grigor and van Beers making up the top six. Race 2 was one of the best in the three years of Honda Cup, with a train of six or seven cars doing battle throughout the race following the reverse top ten grid. Grigor had a superb race to win, but only after Stewart lost fifth gear and had to nurse his car home in sixth. Tim Pollard took second after some staunch defence of his front row starting position and held off a big train behind him comprising Van Beers, Gee, Walters and Stewart. A great drive from Logan Morrell netted seventh and the top ten was rounded out by Gary Wilson, Warren Tunley and Jason Weel.
Grigor blew his chances of winning the round when he was penalised for a jumped start in the handicap race, but Van Beers got is just right and dealt with the cars in front within a lap or two to put himself in the best possible position to move through and win the race, which he duly did. It wasn't plain sailing for the guys behind, and a huge scrap ensued amongst the pack which pretty much ended the faster cars hopes of moving through the field. The result was that Tauranga rookie Ryan McCartney - making his Honda Cup debut - took second place, with Jason Weel third, Garry Morrell fourth and Dave Harker fifth.
Walters maintains his lead in the series, with Van Beers now his closest challenger. Peter Dudson moves into top rookie spot overall after two rounds of consistent results, with Ben Sunckell dropping behind him after clutch failure in Race 1.
