TIM Van Ginneken is down to his third-choice engine as he strives to win his first Sprintcar Series of Victoria series.
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The Allansford driver enters the 15-round competition’s grand final at Premier Speedway on Saturday night sitting second to defending champion Brett Milburn.
Warrnambool driver Corey McCullagh trails the pair in third spot.
Van Ginneken, who is 72 points adrift of the Langwarrin-based Milburn, said problems in a double-header at Simpson and Allansford a fortnight ago hurt his chances.
“At Simpson we rolled in the feature, got back home at 11pm and I worked until 5am in the morning putting the spare together for Premier,” he said.
Issues reared their head the following morning, forcing Van Ginneken to use his third engine.
“It’s now our best one – the other two are gone,” he said.
“The emergency engine is what we are down to.
“It’s just on 800 horsepower and the other two are 880 or 890 horsepower.”
Van Ginneken, who has competed in every round, said a series win was possible but Milburn would be hard to overtake.
Heats wins are worth 50 points and an A-Main triumph delivers the winner 200 points.
Valuable points are also on offer via time trials.
“I am happy to run second,” he said.
“Brett has ran second three times and won last year, so I’d be no slouch running second to him.”