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SuperUtes leader: It's not over 'til it's over

01 Nov 2019
Strong qualifying key for Tom Alexander at Newcastle title decider
2 mins by James Pavey
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Ross Stone Racing's Tom Alexander says the 2019 ECB SuperUtes Series title race isn't over 'until the last race is run', ahead of the final round in Newcastle.

Alexander moved into the box seat in the title fight at Mount Panorama in early October, then further improved his position in the series standings at the Gold Coast last weekend.

Claiming his first ARMOR ALL Pole Position since the Newcastle finale last season, Alexander finished second, third and first across the three races to secure the round honours.

He now heads to Newcastle, on November 22-24, 60 points clear of second-placed Cameron Crick and a further 36 ahead of defending champion Ryal Harris.

Despite his healthy lead with one round to go, Alexander isn't considering a maiden SuperUtes title until the final battle is done and dusted.

Asked by Supercars.com if he feels one hand is on the trophy, Alexander responded: "Not really, no.

"SuperUtes, everyone has seen it, you can see how fast things can turn.

"Sixty points clear is still less than [the amount of points a race winner receives], so if we DNF one race, everyone is right back in it.

"I don't think we're there yet and we're going to take the same approach we've taken this last half of the year.

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"We'll just go out there and do our best, try and score points and nothing is over until the last race is run.

"We'll just keep our head down, keep doing what we're doing and hopefully we'll end up in the right place at the end of the year."

Last time out at the penultimate round on the streets of Surfers Paradise, Alexander topped the timesheets in ARMOR ALL Qualifying, snatching top spot from Harris late in the piece.

It positioned him well for the opening race of the weekend, topped with first-lap drama for multiple competitors; Alexander keeping out of the early wars.

He believes his starting position was of vital importance at the Gold Coast and says he'll go hell for leather attempting to do the same in Newcastle.

"The best thing we can do for our championship hopes is to try grab another pole on Saturday morning," Alexander added.

"We were reasonably quick there last year, managed to get a pole, so hopefully we can do the same thing again and that gets us out of the issue.

"We can't really afford to be back in the pack too much I think, because you start getting caught up in incidents, which sometimes you're not even involved in, you're just caught up in them.

"I need to qualify well, get up the front and then just race smart and bank those points."

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