Emery looks to regain top spot

By Marc McGowan
A WET track and the flu conspired to thwart Narre Warren race car driver Geoff Emery in round five of the Commodore Cup at Phillip Island on the weekend.
Fellow Victorian Daniel Richert snatched the ascendancy from the 36-year-old for the first time in 2007 to have Emery, a four-time Commodore Cup champion, facing an uphill battle to reclaim his title.
Richert won all three races to take the round honours, while a second and two thirds was enough to earn Emery second overall, but Richert now leads the standings by 19 points.
“It rained torrentially all weekend, which doesn’t bother me normally, but from the point of view of the championship we had to judge whether it was worth taking risks on the track,” Emery said.
“I could have driven flat-out and come off and ended up with nothing.
“I pretty much didn’t take any unnecessary risks, consolidated some points, and still finished second for the weekend.”
Emery looks set to abandon his conservative tactics in the final three rounds of the series as he finds himself in unfamiliar territory.
“It is certainly going to be tough for us and gives us more determination to come out there and ‘cane’ on the next one and give them a hard time,” he said.
“We haven’t been behind in a long time, but we’re going to be fighting for it and we perform our best when under pressure.”
Emery’s next challenge starts on Saturday, 1 September at Symmons Plains in Tasmania.
“We are in good shape for the next race and, obviously, we’ll have to take a couple of risks now to regain the points,” he said.
“We are certainly going to be a lot more aggressive now.”