Queensland's Ryal Harris made his return to the daunting Adelaide street circuit, the scene of his dramatic roll-over 12 months prior with renewed enthusiasm for the 2007 Yokohama V8 Utes season. The 21 year old, who has made a name for himself as one of the drivers to watch in the category, was pinning his hopes on a freshened engine, and was praying that he wouldn't be plagued with the mechanical dramas that kept him off the podium in a season he would rather forget.

Heading into the 2007 season opener Harris, who had been unable to secure a naming rights sponsor, was given a slight reprieve with the announcement that Melton's (just outside Melbourne) Billet Products would support him for both the Clipsal 500 and the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix. "We've been doing it hard the last 12 months or so," Ryal lamented, "so to have someone like Billet Products take a punt on us for these first two races is just fantastic, we can't thank those guys enough. Every spare cent we had went into freshening the engine for this year, which typically went over budget. We have been searching for a major sponsor, and looked close just a week out, but sadly they were unable to commit for 2007. For now it's just a round by round thing, so I hope we can make an impression on the championship from the outset.

"We just had so many dramas last year, most of which were traced back to the engine, so we sat out the final round of '06 to concentrate on getting the performance of the car right for Clipsal."

Their strategy clearly worked, from opening practice the Harris Ute, along with seasoned veterans (and locals) Gary Baxter and Charlie Kovacs set the pace, Harris quickest in both sessions before losing out to Baxter in the closing laps of session #1, to finish second fastest, and Kovacs late in the second session.

By qualifying, the almost bare yellow and pink Billet Products #58 VZ Commodore was on fire from the second it rolled out the gate, the new Yokohama Advan A043's providing that all important extra grip as Harris lined up for his first flyer. "On my opening lap I got through the chicane and the first three turns probably better than I had all weekend and came screaming into the turn 9 hairpin, only to discover power-steering fluid all over the track where Charlie (Kovacs) had run into the rear of Matt Kingsley's Commodore. That threw it, and it took me another four laps to get in a quick one, but in the end it was good enough for pole."

At the close of the shortened session, Harris held pole with a best of 1:40.0997, almost seven one hundredths faster than early pole-sitter Chris Pither (BF Falcon), Layton Crambrook (BF Falcon) and 2006 runner-up Grant Johnson (VZ Commodore). "It was good enough, but I reckon that if I hadn't been baulked on that first lap, it would have been well into the 39's."

Alongside experienced Ute campaigner Chris Pither, Ryal knew he needed to have a strong start, and agreed with the Kanga Loaders star that they would try to break away from the field before fighting amongst themselves for the win.

With temperatures soaring to 39 degrees, Ryal got the start he hoped for off the line, and sprinted into a strong early lead in the opening race to head the field by over two seconds starting the third lap, but sadly fell victim to the a lack of an experienced crew, when the left front wheel parted company exiting the fast turn one chicane. "I could feel the front end getting progressively worse, and just caught it as I went through the chicane to keep it off the wall and take it up the escape road."

It was bitter disappointment for the Harris team who had worked feverishly to have the car prepared in time for the event, and a huge blow to his championship points. "What can you do. We struggle from round to round to have the car prepared, but lack the budget to maintain a regular crew. The guys from Albury TAFE that help us at each event (as they do with a number of Ute teams) are always fantastic, and they work incredibly hard. You can't blame them for the wheel coming off, I can't blame the old man because he's not a mechanic, it's just one of those things, it's like the bonnet clips being left off - all we can do is learn from it and make sure it never happens again, but it's pretty disappointing because I knew if I got a good start, I could have won the first one."

Forced to start almost at the rear of the field for the second, reverse grid (for the top 16 drivers in the field) race, Ryal knew he had his work cut out for him, and he didn't let his team, nor the crowd down as he charged through the field. Starting 28th, the 21 year old took 11 cars on the opening lap, all without contact. By lap three he was 13th, and locked onto the tail of Crambrook, who courtesy of his opening race win, had started 16th. By lap five he was up to ninth, but becoming frustrated by Crambrook's pace and his over-protective lines. "We were told at drivers briefing not to continually drive the inside line. I appreciated that Layton wanted to maintain his position, but I was just so intent on making up as many positions as I could in that race as a sign of just what I could really do. I gave him a few light taps, but we had a pretty big one when someone in front held the two of us up under brakes, it was the concertina effect that caught me and really pushed the nose in, it also buggered my front end geometry and we wound up with 12 degrees on toe-out as a result."

Ryal managed to take Crambrook on lap six and work his way up to seventh at the line, pulling alongside sixth placed Andrew Fisher as they met the chequered flag. It had been a memorable race for the young Queenslander, who post-race was mobbed by fans appreciative of his sterling drive. "If I hadn't been caught up with Layton (who was later excluded from the results for a technical infringement) I could have finished a lot higher, but all in all it was a pretty good race."

A quick visit to the MTA team to repair the damaged panels and a quick realignment of the front end, saw Harris lining up 18th for the third and final race. The action started in the opening corner as three of the cars towards the rear of the field were involved in contact heading into the busy opening chicane. Ryal took four cars on the opening lap to sit 14th for the restart. Sadly he didn't have the chance to improve on it after a lurid slide through the notorious turn 8 saw contact with the wall and retirement for the Billet Products machine. "I didn't do anything that I hadn't done through there before," Ryal commented afterwards, "it just understeered a bit wide and left me with nowhere to go." Whilst mainly cosmetic after Ryal managed to pull the car to a stop without major structural damage, it was the end of the road for the #58 team, who head into the second round of the championship at Wakefield Park (March 30 - April 1) in 22nd position on the points table.

"In the end it was a disappointing weekend for us, however we proved we had the pace. Sadly had the wheel not fallen off (literally) it may well have been a different story as we probably wouldn't have had to work our way through the field with the damage we had. We'll repair the car for the Grand Prix and look to make an impression there before making amends at Wakefield Park, which is a circuit I really enjoy."

Despite his weekend of woe, Harris's performance did not go unnoticed, with a number of high profile motorsport supporters making contact with the youngster over the weekend to look at a way they can support his efforts to continue through the remainder of the series, for which an announcement is expected before the second round. For now the once pristine Commodore has been delivered to the Lagoon Engine Developments in Melbourne for its rebuild and new livery, prior to making its debut at the GP under the watchful eye of experienced race engineer Mat Lagoon who will oversee the teams performance over coming rounds.

The #58 Ryal Harris VZ Commodore is proudly supported by;
Billet Products
Harris Visual
Gabba Gearboxes
Ignition Magazine
Lagoon Engine Developments