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01-10-2008 CAMS NSW Formula Vee Championship Round 6
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Phillip Contessa and Adam Proctor claimed the 1200 and 1600 2008 NSW Formula Vee championships respectively following a drama-packed final championship round at Eastern Creek last weekend when, after 18 races in the championship, both titles came down to the final race of the year.
Wagga's Contessa could not shake off championship runner-up Sean Birk in the first two races of the weekend to increase his points gap sufficiently, but a safe drive to second place behind the returning Bruce Pearce in the final race gave him the title only after the final finish line of the year.
In the 1600 class, Adam Proctor endured a weekend of head-bursting pressure from championship runner-up Michael Kinsella and third place-getter Daniel Reynolds as he watched his 9 point lead over Kinsella evaporate down to three points after the first two races of the weekend after Kinsella pipped Proctor by a total of 0.1614 seconds in both races. Disappointingly for all spectators in Race 2, disaster struck fifth-placed Mat Pearce after a minor engine problem forced him off the circuit and out of the Championship podium race.
With his only option of taking out the 1600 title being a hat-trick of wins, Kinsella needed to dominate the final race from the green light, but Proctor's third good start of the weekend was enough for him to lead the first lap and put Kinsella on the back foot. Kinsella lost a couple of places to Queensland's Shane Hart and Canberra's Daniel Reynolds, but Reynolds positioned himself perfectly to slipstream past Proctor to lead the second lap.
Seconds later, an incident between Turns 2 and 3 required all emergency vehicles to attend to Chris Purvis, and this inflicted the Safety Car on the race. With Adam Proctor ahead of Michael Kinsella in the queue, thoughts of the championship title were displaced by concerns for Chris, but before long the cars exited the circuit and found themselves in Parc Ferme, where subdued congratulations for Adam's title and for Michael's sportsmanship were exchanged between the top ten drivers, and then with family members.
2008 NSW 1200 Formula Vee State Champions
First - Phillip Contessa Mako
Second - Sean Birk Elfin
Third - Bernie Cannon Kingfisher
2008 NSW 1600 Formula Vee State Champions
First - Adam Proctor Jacer
Second - Michael Kinsella Jacer
Third - Daniel Reynolds Elfin