Mount Gambier young gun Kai Allen narrowly missed out on the podium in the second round of the Dunlop Super2 Series at the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint over the weekend.
Ryan Wood won for the weekend while Perth local Aaron Love earned runner up with Allen’s Eggleston Motorsport teammate Cooper Murray rounding out the podium.
Allen, 17, had a less than ideal start to the weekend after colliding with Murray in race one and losing his power steering to place 19th.
“I was pushing my teammate through the first lap; we were up into fifth or fourth and we just had a lot of car speed,” he said.
“I thought I could move forward and keep chipping away right at the front and unfortunately I put it up the inside of my fellow teammate Cooper.
“I thought I was up far enough and he did not think I was, so there was a few words exchanged but that is a part of learning.
“That was a battle we had to face but we came away without a DNF, we did get to finish the race and score as many points as we could.”
The young talent did not let Saturday’s performance hold him back and put the car on the front row, qualifying second for race two.
“I was second in qualifying which is really, really good. I think we were not even half a tenth off pole which I was kicking myself about, I could have got my first pole but that is alright,” he said.
“We regrouped, had a really good start, we got into first by the first corner and basically just kept chipping away and built a really good gap to Brad Vaughn and Ryan Wood behind me.
“I had a really good first safety car restart, I have never done one of them before.
“I got a really big start, built a big lead again and it was a lot bigger than what I had, just because there was a bit of racing going on.
“Then unfortunately there was a bit of chaos behind me and one of the guys got put into the fence, which caused another safety car.”
After the second safety car restart, Allen bowled wide at turn one allowing Wood to drive down the inside when the Blue Lake boy locked a right front, ending the race in fourth position.
“We could have got the win, but it is what it is, that is motorsport and hopefully one day it will come,” he said.
Allen would like to thank the Mount Gambier businesses who sponsor him for all their local support.
The Eggleston Motorsport driver is currently fifth in the Dunlop Super2 Series going into round three of the championship which will take place in Townsville from July 7-9.
