THERE was just 0.8977s standing between Zak Best and a place in the history books.
Best was vying for a record-equalling third points-paying Bathurst Super2 round win last weekend.
Having finished Race 1 in second, he was first across the line in Race 2 but was demoted one position by virtue of a five-second penalty for a jump start – and that was enough for Kai Allen to snatch the race and round win.
Best led from start to finish but was unable to capitalise on clear air due to fuel management, as the race ran uninterrupted through 18 laps.
Fuel issues ultimately cost Zane Morse a potential maiden victory, retiring on Lap 16, while Allen also had to do some saving to make it to the chequered flag.
“Having to fuel-save in a Dunlop Series race is not something I would’ve thought I’d be doing, it’s pretty unusual,” said Best, who later finished sixth with James Courtney in the Great Race.
“I was max fuel-saving pretty much every lap and Zane was pushing me along the way and I think he ran out of fuel.
“It just made things a bit more difficult; you can’t actually use the raw speed the car had that we showed in qualifying so it definitely made it a lot tougher.
“That’s probably one of the toughest races we’ve had in the Dunlop Series this year… it was pretty tight, we ran out as soon as we got back to the garage. A really tough race.”
Asked what happened on the penultimate lap when he lost 2.5 seconds (clocking a 2:10.4072s compared to otherwise consistent 2:07s), Best explained.
“If I didn’t save that bit of fuel, I wouldn’t have made it to the end,” he said.
“It was that tight with fuel at the end there, that’s why I lost it and then the last lap I pushed really hard to try to extend some of that gap but Kai was just a bit quicker so it didn’t really work.”
Despite the Gen2 cars having often run circa 23-lap stints during Bathurst 1000s of years gone by, Best claimed his car had started with a full tank of fuel and that only a late Safety Car had helped him finish Race 1.
Either way, he will take a 30-point lead over Allen into the Adelaide decider as he aims to avoid a third straight year of being the Super2 bridesmaid.
“Definitely no mistakes, that’s the biggest thing,” Best said of his approach for Adelaide late next month.
“I have got to be on the front row and just win races and make sure I’m in front of Kai, that’s the main thing for me.”
It’s all but a two-horse race now, Ryan Wood and Cooper Murray having dropped off with Race 1 DNFs at Mount Panorama.
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