Geoff Emery and Dean Cook have taken hold of the top two spots in the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Championship Pro-Am standings for Ashley Seward Motorsport with just two rounds remaining.
Scott Taylor secured an impressive eighth place in race two of the weekend, before an early retirement in race three ended his weekend prematurely.
Emery kicked the weekend off by taking his second pole position of the year, leading Cook in fourth and Taylor in 11th. The opening race saw Cook display impressive pace as he pushed Emery all the way to the chequered flag as they took home a 1-2 finish. Taylor came home 12th after battling for the top 10 places for much of the race.
The Endurance Cup race on Saturday morning proved tricky with Cook finishing fourth and Emery in fifth, both drivers having their share of fighting in a very energetic battle amongst the Pro-Am’s. Taylor again proved his affinity for staying out trouble and subsequent love for the longer races, as he raced forward to eighth, even running as high as sixth at times in the race.
In similar fashion to the previous round in Tailem Bend, Emery seemingly effortlessly charged through the pack in race three. Starting from fifth, Emery found himself leading before halfway and wasn’t troubled any further. Cook entered the race in the series lead but finished the finale in fifth which allowed Emery to leapfrog him in the standings. Taylor’s race effectively ended the moment it started after an issue off the line saw him in the fence and an early retirement.
“It’s great to get ourselves back where we belong and deserve to be at the top of the standings,” said Emery.
“I knew it was still going to be tough after getting the pole position because my mirrors haven’t been big enough at times to avoid those behind but we did a good job to bring home that result in the opening race.
“It’s a credit to the ASM crew, they gave me a really fast car as always. That was our advantage this weekend, having such a quick car,” concluded Emery.
“I’m happy with the weekend overall, we were the fastest car out there at times and especially that first race we were really quick. Someone ran up the back of us at the start of the endurance race which hurt our speed a bit and then race three was a tough slog,” said Cook.
“We’ve held our spot in second in the points and it’s still very close between us and the top, which is of course Geoff now. ASM will give us fast cars for the last two rounds, and we’ll fight it out amongst ourselves hopefully,” concluded Cook.
“As a whole I’d say that was another positive weekend for us,” said Taylor.
“The goal is always to improve over the course of the weekend which I felt I was doing. I didn’t get to see how race three would have panned out which is a shame. I stayed out of trouble which is what I’ve been able to do all season until that issue off the line in race three.”
Emery leads the Pro-Am standings with 731 points and a slender four point margin back to Cook in second, with the next best driver a further 34 points back. Taylor is 12th after missing the previous round, on 325 points.
The penultimate round of the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Championship will take place at the Bathurst 1000 from October 6-9.
Championship Standings
1. Geoff Emery – 731
2. Dean Cook – 727
3. Liam Talbot – 693
4. Sam Shahin – 665
5. Rodney Jane – 615
6. Stephen Grove – 579
7. Matthew Belford – 550
8. Adrian Flack – 494
9. Tim Miles – 463
10. Marc Cini – 401
12. Scott Taylor – 325
