HE no longer has the Super3 Series lead, but what Bathurst driver Michael Anderson does have is a Ford Falcon with the speed to challenge for that top spot.
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It was an eventful fortnight for Anderson as he contested back-to-back rounds at Townsville as part of the combined Super2-Super3 grid.
The first weekend in Townsville Anderson enjoyed leading the Super3 category for the first time in his racing career - an impressive achievement given he had spent the past two seasons managing instead of driving.
He placed first in the opening 250 kilometre race of that round and second in the other to lead the series by 39 points.
But the round which followed last weekend saw Anderson drop from first to third after an incident in race two saw him unable to finish.
"I had a great start in the race and overtook several Super2 cars and turn two, one of the Super2 cars locked its brakes and just touched the back of me and then I had wheel-to-wheel contact with the car next to me," Anderson explained.
"What it did from that point was it bent the steering, that was on the second corner of 21 laps at Townsville and I thought to myself 'I've still got a long way to go in this race'.
"I tried to push on, but the car wouldn't turn left or turn right that great and I knew it was bent because the steering wheel was turned a fair way. It wouldn't be too bad at a flowing circuit like Phillip Island, but for an aggressive street circuit with so much undulation in it, it was only a matter of time until I thought it would go.
"But you're race is done if you come into the pits anyway, so pushed on and were battling another car, we were still a fair bit quicker than him even with bent steering.
"I was just trying to push a bit too hard that time and it just broke the tie rod end. It didn't do any real damage to the car, it's only a two-minute part to put in the car."
That incident came on Sunday after Anderson had been fortunate to avoid a multi-car pile up in Saturday's race.
The incident, on lap 15, saw the race red-flagged. Anderson was the second placed Super3 car at the time.
"When I came around the corner I was still doing 120 kilometres an hour. That's why a few of the cars just had nowhere to go ... when you're doing that speed and blind around a corner, you're committed to the corner," he said.
"In that same corner, which makes it worse, is you actually hit the kerb so you've got two wheels in the air. You are really controlling the car with one front left.
"So luck enough for me, as soon as I came around the blinder, I took a lot more kerb to try and rotate the car. Touch wood, everything paid off there.
"We finished that race in the top 10 overall, so we had a good fast, car at that point."
A fast car is something which gives Anderson hope he can improve his current standing, but with that race pace - especially off the line - does come some difficulties.
It means he is forced to battle for positions on track with the slower runners in the Super2 Series.
"You're not technically racing them, but you go faster than them and pass them, but then there are areas where their aero and brake packages work better than ours. So in the end you have to go and go as fast as you can," he said.
"At the back part of Super2, drivers race for sheep stations there, so when we are at they front of our category we are at the back of theirs and it's tough.
"The starts I had the week before, I would've had a four-second lead by turn one if I didn't have another category in front of me.
"But as soon as you start bottle-necking with other categories in front of you, it makes it hard. It is what it is though, that's what we have to deal with."
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