Welcome to our new website, www.sydneymotorsportpark.com.au! The new site brings together the ARDC and SMSP pages to deliver all you need to know about the Park and how to make the most of the facilities and experiences. There’s also a new Members portal, allowing easier sign up for new Memberships, information and to renew. Enjoy!
Mostert’s Winning Start
A freshly re-painted and re-surfaced Sydney Motorsport Park greeted the V8 Supercar teams on February 7-8, for the sydney.com Test Day. While the circuit itself drew lots of attention, all eyes were on young gun, Pepsi Max Crew’s Chaz Mostert as he took out the ARMOR ALL SuperShootout at day’s end.
Last year’s Bathurst winner was debuting the FG X Falcon at SMSP, adding to an excellent first test hit-out with the win against his more experienced rivals – and this from a driver who has never taken a V8 Supercars Pole Position. That looks set to change for 2015.
“It’s fantastic … everyone’s on the same brand new tyre, one lap to do the job and it’s good to be well inside the top 10 – further in front than we thought we would be,” Mostert said.
“The guys have worked so hard in the off-season… we’ve got a bit of homework to do, I wasn’t quite happy with the balance so a bit more speed to get out of her.”
The next round of the V8 Supercars at Sydney Motorsport Park is the SuperSprint, August 21-23. (Photos: Mark Horsburgh.)
2014 ARDC Club Championships
[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_title size=”2″ content_align=”left” style_type=”double solid” sep_color=”” class=”” id=””]2014 ARDC Club Champion – Dylan Thomas, Member 1063[/fusion_title]
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Event wrap: 2014 Tasman Trophy
The final event on the 2014 racing calendar, The Tasman Trophy, was run by the HSRCA (Historic Sports and Racing Car Assoc) on Nov 29th – 30th. Like the inaugural Tasman Cup and Tasman Revival meetings, the Tasman Trophy is a celebration of the original 1960’s Tasman Series which saw sports cars of that era travel from all over the world to race in Australia. Similarly, this weekend saw competitors from the UK, USA and New Zealand come together to reprise those heady days of open wheeled sports cars and production sports and touring cars.
David Kent, Acting President of HSRCA said “… many of the cars that are here for this event are the actual cars that raced here in the beginning. Today these cars, whilst cherished by their owners, are nevertheless driven in a spirited and competitive fashion. We expect to see some very good racing this weekend.”
Patrick Quinn, publicity manager for HSRCA said “…over 250 cars converged this weekend on SMSP to recapture the iconic days of these wonderful period vehicles. Back when names like Clark, Stewart, Rindt and Hill came with marques like Lotus, Cooper, BRM and Ferrari’s to fight it out for the Tasman supremacy. Competitors this weekend will take part in 36 races ( four per group) of between fourteen and eighteen minutes duration. There will also be one enduro of fifty minutes for Group S. With a two driver option, well known celebrity driver John Bowe was seen suiting up in Andrew Purvis’ garage.
The conditions for this race meeting were the same as we have been experiencing in Sydney over the past month. Unsettled with strong cloud bands, strong gusty winds bringing storms bearing rain squalls and lightning.
Saturday was fine and quite warm, but Sunday was clear and fine UNTIL around 2:30pm. Then an almighty weather event brought torrential rain, lightning and strong winds. Group N had just gone out for their warmup lap, when the storm hit.. A rolling start and as the first six cars came out of turn one, the first three cars of Wheatley (Cooper S), Tierney ( XU-1 Torana), and Robertson (Charger)aquaplaned and slid straight off the track across the grass and into the gravel trap.
In just a few short minutes the water had pooled and there was absolutely no adhesion. In trying to avoid the ballet of misadventure being performed by the previous three cars, Alan Mayne (Mazda Rx2) and Danny Berry (Cooper S) found themselves swamped on drivers left at turn one. The race was called off as the conditions were just atrocious. The resources of tow trucks and rescue vehicles was stretched, and one of the rescue vehicles very nearly joined the bogged and stranded cars.
In Formula Ford, Barry-Cotter (PRS82F) had a Sunday morning to forget. Not content with spinning at turn two and coming into contact with Lynn Cowan, (both resumed, however Cowan car succumbed to its injuries and retired early) but Barry-Cotter had a second go at perfecting the pirouette on turn six, and this time hit the wall ending up in a dangerous position. Up at the business end of the racing Garry Watson ( Mawer) gradually got faster as the weekend wore on, and as a result in each race led by a larger margin eventually recording four wins from four starts. Dave Holland (Reynard) took all four second places and Ed King (Reynard) grabbed a trio of thirds.
Ian Bailey (1962 Lynx) got a fright when one of his wheels passed him at turn 15. Michael Anderson (XY GT) led from start to finish in Group N and took all four wins for the weekend. The fierce battles were for second and third between Andrew Whiteside (Mustang) and Wayne Rogerson (Maxda RX2) with Marty Macri pushing those two with his late under brakes dives. In race three it worked, as Macri took a third out from underneath Rogerson. It was an eventful race as Mark Broadhead hit a large strip of oil and spun ending up sidelined while Michael Collins (Cortina) got crossed up trying to avoid hitting Mark and nearly coming to grief himself. The oil stretched from turn 14 down to turn 15 causing a delay in proceedings as it was cleaned up.
Formula 5000 cars are always a crowd favourite. These massive open wheeled gargantuans bellow their 5Litre V8 power as they scream around the track. Tom Tweedie reigned over the weekend with two wins from both his starts, showing his dominance from start to finish with a twelve second clear victory in race two. Clark Proctor took race one over Steve Ross, but as soon as Tweedie entered the contest, both the others were relegated to the minor placings.
Paul Zazryn held two thirds places to round out the weekend. Russell Greer retired early in race two and Greg Thornton only made it for one race as his campaign was cut short with a dropped rod and a massive bellow of smoke. So much smoke in fact that the fire Marshall stopped by Gregs’ garage to make sure a fire didn’t erupt. Another early exit was Warren de Guara’s 1965 Mustang. Suffering the same fate as Thornton, a massive belch of smoke whilst cruising past pit lane had Warren ending up sidelined around turn one with a blown engine.
The Trophy winners for this meeting were:
The Bernie Haehnle Trophy: Daniel Bando
The Bib Stillwell Trophy: Rob Tweedie
The Bill Brown Shield: Geoff Morgan
The Brian Foley Trophy: Darryl Hanson
The Frank Matich Trophy: No Competitors
The Ian Forsyth Shield: Graham Henshaw
The Ian Geoghegan Trophy: Graham Russell
The Jack Brabham Trophy: Ed Holly
The Jack Myers Trophy: Phil Anseline
The John Leffler Shield: Tom Tweedie
The Kevin Bartlett Trophy: No Competitors
The Leo Geoghegan Trophy: Damon Hancock
The Peter Finlay Trophy: Matthew Price
The RACA, Sa Trophy: Peter Jackson
The RACA, Sb Trophy: Wayne Seabrook
The Ron Tauranac Trophy: David Kent
The Spencer Martin Trophy: Richard Knox
Special mention must be made in regards to Wes Dayton’s marvellous induction as an Honorary Life Member of the HSRCA, for his exceptional and sustained contributions to the HSRCA and motorsport in general.
– Words and pics by Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com
Australasian/FX Superbike Championship
The exciting series final of the 2014 SWANN Insurance Australasian Superbike Championship Series ( ASC ) and the YMF Loan Australian FX-Superbike Championship series ( AFX-SBK ) was held in sweltering conditions on November 22 – 23 at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Terry O’Neill, event director, stated that “..this year’s Championship series has been huge with some of the most exciting racing ever seen in this country. Every Championship category is up for grabs this weekend, and it will be hard fought, that’s for sure. We’ll see very close racing this weekend.”
Both the weather and the racing was fierce and hot. Ambient air temperatures on Friday qualifying and Sunday racing hit the 40 degree mark, and racers had to contend with track temps nudging 70 degrees. It was a true test of man and machine in these extreme conditions. Many teams had blow up kiddies pools in and around their garages, in order to keep their racers cool between races. Others used the showers for a cool respite.
Qld based Mark Carlsson, team boss for Jordan Carlsson Racing commented “…on Friday the track temp was 69.4 degrees. We had to deal with trying to set the bikes telemetry to allow for this. At these temperatures the bikes handling feels like riding on marshmallows. We’ve got plenty of straight line power, but the handling into corners is where you pick up places or lose them.”
In the Ninja 300 class, Brandon Demmery and Kyle Buckley have been the hottest riders all year. Coming into this weekend, Buckley only had a two point lead on Demmery. The round and overall championship was eventually won by Demmery who was just too strong for Buckley and showed incredible consistency with a race win and two second places to win the Championship and a brand new Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R.
Sophie Lovett won the womens class in the FX 300 Ninja Cup with a clean sweep of the series and won the Championship by 58 points. She was so strong all year that she came fourth outright in the Championship.
In the Pro Twin/Naked class KTM’s two-wheeled testosterone machine, the 1290 Super Duke R, now has an Australian Road Race Championship title under its belt.%u2028In the hands of master blaster Angus Reekie, the Super Duke R came from behind to claim the Australasian Superbike Championships Naked Bike category, while Reekie was also awarded the winner’s trophy for Pro Twins combined classification.%u2028
For Reekie, who crashed out during practice for the penultimate round in September, it was a resumption of regular service as he and his V-twin streetfighter performed yet another clean sweep of three wins for the weekend – in the process achieving the very enviable record of having won every naked bike race he has started in 2014.%u2028
The title is the ninth national championship for Reekie, whose cabinet already holds six Australian Supermoto, one Supermono, and one FX Pro Thunder trophies. Adrian Pierpoint and Darren Wilbow claimed second and third respectively.
Congratulations to Richard Draper’s Sugar Plum Racing team. This small but close knit privateer team from western NSW contested the Naked Bike F2 class and this year also had an entry in the Ninja 300 class.
Raschelle Sherwood’s first year in competition and she finished with third place in the womens category in the Kawasaki Ninja 300’s. Richard fought mechanical issues all year ranging from brakes to fuel to overheating but his gritty tenacity and with Lisa and Linda pit crewing for him they overcame these obstacles and Richard honoured their incredible commitment with trophies in both series over the weekend as well as the taking out the Naked Bike F2 class championship.
FX Pro Twins was a hotly contested class. In all three races, it appeared to be the Craig McMartin and Kevin Curtain show. McMartin shot off the line in both race one and two, but Curtain reeled him in on both occasions, partly due to some fuel issues suffered in race one by McMartin and in the second race the veteran Curtain relentlessly took back seconds on each lap to eventully overhaul McMartin closing out the first two races by over 8 seconds in front of McMartin on both occasions. Race three again McMartin shot of the line and grabbed the early lead, this time he feverishly held on like a man possessed and refused to relinquish the lead eventually holding Curtain at bay to take the race win by only five-tenths. The championship series was won by Simon Galloway, who had already wrapped up the series after Round Five at Wakefield.
Maxima Yamaha rider Aaron Morris claimed the coveted Supersport championship by the narrowest of margins. Morris went into the final race of the day in Sydney holding a three-point lead over closest rival Aiden Wagner (Yamaha), with a brand new R1 up for grabs to the championship winner. In the final race, Wagner claimed victory making it three race wins from three on the day, however Morris’ second place had the championship tied on points overall. Third overall for the round was Callum Spriggs (Yamaha). On a countback, Morris took the outright championship honours with his season tally of 11 race wins compared to Wagner’s seven, enough to clinch the title.
New champion Matthew Harding swept the Formula Oz ranks in a Kawasaki trifecta, winning all three races to take the overall from Brayden Carr and Phil Lovett. There was only a 3-point gap in the championship between Harding and Lovett leading into the final round and Hardings clean sweep saw him finishing with a well deserved 20–point lead. British Superbike regular David Johnson also made his way on track riding a ZX-10R, finishing sixth overall.
Four riders competed in the e-FXC category. The title races in the eFXC class was a battle between two; Danny Pottage (O’Hanlon Electric Motorsports) and Daniel Ripperton ( Ripperton Racing) . Pottage finished more than ten seconds ahead of Ripperton in both races. So dominant was Pottage that he also posted a new lap record for the category of 1:46.568. He clinched the championship victory with a race to spare.
Team Honda Racing pilot Wayne Maxwell has comfortably taken out the 2014 YMF Loan Yamaha Australian FX Superbike Championship at Eastern Creek. Maxwell wrapped up the title after two of the scheduled three races for the day – his sixth and fourth place finishes enough to secure the title heading into the final race. Teammate Troy Herfoss would have been disappointed with his day on the track, and despite some issues throughout the day (he claimed fifth, 10th and fourth from his three races) managed to finish the championship in second. An inspired day of racing from Mike Jones (Crazy Dog Kawasaki) handed him third place in the overall championship. Robert Bugden (YRT) and Glenn Scott (Insure My Ride) rounded out the top-five in the overall standings.
Words and pictures by Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com.au
Event Wrap: FoSC Finale