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2023 NSW MRC Round 3 Wrap

Words by Garry OBrien
Pics by Andrew Ryan

It was a huge program at Sydney Motorsport Park for the third round of the NSW Motor Racing Championships with ten categories racing over the May 27-28.

The mega meeting was bolstered by round three of the national RX8 Cup Series which joined nine other categories vying for points advantage in this mid-season outing on the popular Gardner layout.

Two-time title winner Ryan Gorton who missed a year and the first round this year, continued his successful comeback to the RX8 Cup Series with the third-round win. He won the first two races before beaten away in the third by Brad Harris.

Harris qualified last, finished eighth, then second, and won the third. Gorton beat him in the fourth. There were good scraps going on for third overall with Tom Shaw who ultimately took the final podium place ahead of Jack Pennacchia and Justin Barnes.

Justin Lewis was next, although he DNF’d the last when he crashed into his spun brother Terry. Jackson Noakes was also involved in a clash with Luke Webber in race three, which caused a lot of damage to the Noakes Mazda.

The round for Production Touring Cars comprised three sprint races. Simon Hodges (BMW M4) won all three races. The first came ahead of Chris Sutton (Mitsubishi EVO X) and Matt Holt (HSV Clubsport) before Sutton was relegated to third with a penalty. Anthony Soole (M4) was second before he retired with a wayward turbo hose.

The latter fought back to third behind Sutton and just ahead of Holt in the second encounter before he finished ahead of the pair in the third. Michael Auld (M4) was next best ahead of Alex Bryden (Mercedes A45) and Brent Howard (BMW M3). They were split in one race by Andrew Miedecke in the Ford Mustang which had computer problems in the others.

The three races in the Industrie Clothing Supersports were won by Alex Kenny in his Nova Proto NP-01. In race one he finished clear of Nick Kelly (Radical SR8), Justin Tigani and Chris Perini in RX3s. Jonathon Canavan (SR3) didn’t get off the line while Paul Palmer (Stohr) and Steven Shiels (SR3) had contact and didn’t finish.

Tigani was second in the next encounter from Kelly, Gardner (SR3) and Canavan, and followed up with another second in the last. Garner was third ahead of Perini, and a tight finish between Kelly, Sergio Pires (SR3) and Canavan.

In the leadup to the Yokohama Improved Production Nationals in June, South Australian Adam Poole brought his Holden Monaro over to NSW, easily won the three Over 2.0 litre races, and broke the lap record twice. Ben Algie (Nissan 200SX) scored three seconds and Ben Sheedy (Holden Commodore VE) edged out Steven Engel (EVO) for third overall.

Kurt Macready (Nissan Silvia) accounted for the Under 2.0 Litre field each time where in close contest for second, Matt Birks (Toyota Corolla) finished ahead of Charlie Viola (Honda Integra), Graham Bohm and Aaron Giuntini in Honda Civics.

In Formula Fords, Kaleb Belak (Spectrum) took the Formula Ford outings. In the first he beat fellow Duratec runner Jason Liddell (Van Diemen). The latter had a moment in the race two which allowed Will Lowing (Historic Van Diemen) to get the first of two seconds ahead of Thomas Kalamakis (Kent class Spirit). Dan Holihan (Spectrum) was next but spun out in the last after contact from Christian Read (Spirit).

Racing in Formula Vees was at its usual competitive best over the three races between dual race winner Darren Williams (Sabre), race two victor Tyron Wiseman (Checkmate) and Craig Sparke (Jacer) with William Pym (Jacer) not far behind. In the older 1200s Stephen Butcher dominated.

Reigning HQ Holden champ Chris Molle dominated with three big wins. The fight for the minors was much more fanatic where David Proglio was second three times but relegated four spots in race two with a penalty. Jason Molle was third overall while Dave Allan and Jarrod Harber finished equal fourth. Jeff Mulligan was on for a good result before he ran into a (helped) sideways Proglio in the last.

Doug Barry netted his first Formula Race Car round win after two firsts and a second. In his Reynard 92D Formula Holden, he toppled AGI Sport prodigies Brodie Norris and Kristian Janev in Mygale F4s. Barry led all the way in the first, passed Norris on the final lap in the second, lost several places at the start of the last before he finished second to Norris in the last.

Production Sports had several additions over the previous round and George Miedecke won both half-hour races in a Bentley Continental GT. The minor places went to Porsche drivers Jacque Jarjo and Tom McLennan with a second a third each while Geoff Morgan (Porsche) withstood numerous challenges for a pair of fourths.

The NSW Motor Race Championships will return to Sydney Motorsport Park for round four, a day/night meeting on July 8.

NSW Motor Race Championships – Round 7

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open wheelersAnother year of racing excitement came to a close for many of the NSW Motor Race Championships regular contenders on Sept 17/18th. The very large and enthusiastic field of 237 entrants filled SMSP’s garages, carports and the skid pan with teams bustling with activity and good camaraderie.

The Spring weather brought blue skies to practice and qualifying, but Sunday was wet, wet, wet! At one point the mid-afternoon races were shuffled around and the SuperKarts final race was abandoned due to standing and running water. Anyone in an open top got a drenching. In the Formula Cars it was noticeable that the water was playing havoc with electricals as a couple of not so insulated cars spluttered and lost power.

This weekend the super quick Radicals joined the festivities as well as the SuperKarts. Lucky for some, and not others, as the Radicals finished all their races on Saturday, and the unlucky Super Karts drew the short straw and had to race in the wet on Sunday.

Aaron Cogger went into the weekend holding a commanding lead on the championship, and with three straight wins across the weekend he put a lock on this year’s silverware, followed by previous state champion, John Pellicano.

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Aussie Cars aren’t seen at SMSP very often, but they brought the most vibrant paint jobs and well presented midget cars seen here. It is hard-fought racing, with race one seeing two simultaneous accidents on different sides of the track taking out five cars. James Duckworth is obviously the gun driver of this category, taking out all three wins in his “Nissan Altima”.

Supersports Neale Muston impressively sped round the GP track layout in the 1:27s during qualifying . He could only take one race win, however, finishing with a DNF in race 3. Mixed fortunes for his final spin of the year. John Moyes similarly looked the goods in early qualifying, but ended up with exactly the same diagnosis and result as Muston.

In 2013/14 Cetin dominated the Sports Sedan championship, in 2015 Doulman and Lacey fought it out. This year Birol Cetin has had more top three finishes coming into this weekend to once again claim the ASSA club championship as well as the NSWMRC State Championship for 2016. His final weekend finished with a 3-6-1 and the two podiums helped to keep him once again ahead of Steve Lacey who picked up second.

The HQs always give a great show, and it’s been the Osborn and Baxter show during 2016, with Brett and John swapping the lead whilst racing side by side, and even though they still hogged the top step of the podium between them again this weekend, the field has responded to their quality driving and set up a challenge of their own. Scott Walker, 2016 debutante, has spent the year doing his “time” in B grade, however he grabbed a pair of thirds and wasn’t far off the rear bumpers of both Osborn and Baxter. He has gained a great deal of confidence and experience this year, and showed it in his 1st in B-grade and 4th place overall  in the association championship. As well, Deering and Cameron  stole a 2nd place each from the masterful pair, and showed excellent adaptive driving skills in the wet.

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Event Wrap: NSW Motor Race Championships Rnd 3

Returning to Sydney Motorsport Park for Rd3 of the NSW Motor Race Championships, competitors were forced to pull out their winter woollies and umbrellas for day one of racing. Rain, wind and cool temperatures spoke to the fact that we are entering the winter racing season, after pleasant but unseasonally warm weather lasted through to the end of autumn.

This dramatic weather change tested race craft thinking and teams preparedness was being challenged. As well, qualifying and first races were run before the track dried out, which gave incentive to competitors to get clear of leading cars as water spray was an inhibitor to good lap times and poor visibility was a very real concern to reaction times. Several cars didn’t make it through this period. Peter Boylan (car #28) suffered a weekend ending heavy impact, so hard in fact that the door popped off on his Porsche 911. Lucky Peter always carries a spare (Porsche, that is!).

The early qualifying categories were affected the worst, especially the lightweight Formula Vee’s with Pearce, Porter and Pace all skating and losing the racing line in this session. Formula Vee Championship leader Ryan Reynolds had a start to the weekend he’d rather forget. After throwing an oil filter in qualifying and being relegated to the back of the grid, his engine blew up in race one. Working from well behind the eight-ball, frenetic activity in his garage and help from a bunch of people, Ryan recovered in magnificent style with a win and a second in races two and three.

Without the pressure of Reynolds in the first race, Dylan Thomas was able to take an aggressive race line and led from start to finish to keep his c’ship points ticking over. Not so easy pickings for him once Reynolds returned, and Thomas had to settle for a second and a third.

After winning rookie-of-the-year Aaron Pace had a splendid weekend. The young man got a “new” car over the summer, (ex- Darren Williams Jacer) and it seems to be paying off. Seasoned veteran and top-field competitor (and Dad) Simon Pace, said: “…its a bittersweet day for me. I’m so proud of Aaron, he’s driving so well, but he’s just beaten me for the very first time.” In fact, by the end of the weekend, Aaron had beaten his Dad in all four outings. Simon beamed with pride as he introduced his youngest son, and soon to be Formula Vee racing rookie, Daniel. Watch that name, as it seems that the Pace family is creating a formidable Formula Vee racing dynasty. In other Vee racing, Jason Thorne was clipped in race two and completely lost his nose cone, causing all sorts of aerodynamic issues for him to contend with.

Following a heady call-up to be the “Am” in the Pro-Am Carrera Cup two driver format, partnering with Nick McBride ( 2nd place on Championship ladder) several weeks ago, a busy Dylan Thomas also competed in Production Touring. This wasn’t quite as happy an excursion for him. Being used to being up the front of a field, Dylan had to be content with an 8th place start on the grid. Race one was forgettable as a valve stem let go and that ended up DNF. Following a couple of mid field finishes in races one and two, he finally exerted enough competitive pressure on the weekend dominant trio of Oosthuizen, Skinner and Symes (who between them owned eight of the nine available podium places) to take the final weekend top podium spot.

Superkarts had a four race meeting and got their first race done in a down pour. Open karts give you no respite from the onslaught of weather hurled at you, and with several recent Australian Kart champions vying to relive their past glory, it made for an exciting spectacle. These pocket rockets, elevated off the bitumen only by 4 inch diameter tyres scarily scream down main straight at over 225 kph. So you can imagine that losing one of your tyres would be a rather hair-raising experience.

This is exactly what happened to race one leader Ilya (Illy) Harpas. Coming into turn 16 on the very last lap, John Dunn moved across Harpas’ race line causing him to execute a fast “tank slapper”. Colloquially named, (Definition: Wobble, shimmy, tank-slapper, speed wobble are all words and phrases used to describe a quick oscillation of primarily just the steerable wheel(s) of a vehicle) for the action required to “get the hell out of the way” of a possible coming together of vehicles. Unfortunately his avoidance manouevre caused him to make contact with a curb throwing his tiny lightweight kart up and coming down hard resulted in it throwing a shoe. Now this would be fair cause for an “all-up” lift and return to the pits on the back of Rescue One, but no, these fella’s don’t give up so easily. As Harpas hit the deck he was still pointing forward. With incredible presence of mind, Illy jammed on the throttle and with two good steering wheels in the front he drove that sloppy jalopy all the way to the chequered flag with only three wheels for a second place finish. True professional or simply crazy? You be the judge…

Reigning Kart champ Russell Jamieson showed why he is the incumbent No. 1. With classy runs netting two wins and a second, he kept Pecoraro and McIveen in his mirrors all weekend. Harpas made a strong claim as he pushed Jamieson back down the podium with two strong wins and his amazing second place. It should be said that if the wheel incident hadn’t happened only 700m from the finish line he would have had a third victory and been the debutante of the ball with even more reason to celebrate. Stay watching this young Illy Harpas.

Sports Sedans is like a motorised version of the Big Bash League. Big American cars, big engines, big speed and big sound! Following his season ending major accident late last year, Birol Cetin brought Billy’s Camaro v2.0 out and gave it a big kick in the guts. The weekend leader board bolted Cetins name up there in first place and left it there. That’s the way it ended. How it all unfolded was another story altogether. Laceys run of bad luck continued from 2015. Looking good and his Camaro ostensibly running well with good power and handling, Lacey fought Cetin throughout the whole race, the twin yellow Camaro’s side by side. Twice with passing opportunities thwarted due to parked cars on the side of his favourite overtaking spot, just out of turn 14 under the corporate hill bridge. Third time lucky and Lacey took Cetin and was enjoying the last lap lead up through turn 17. The ground commentator over the loudspeakers nearly barfed a lung he shouted so loud trying to egg Laceys slowing car down as it became apparent that there was a serious problem with the #1 car. Cetin sailed on by to reclaim his lead and the glory while McCready ran down the 16 second gap to the front runners as Lacey glided slowly with only momentum down the agonizing distance from turn 18 to cross the finish line, only to unceremoniously pull up alongside the pit lane track marshall’s cage suffering a broken axle. His inspired drive had gotten him enough of a buffer on the rest of the field for him to still claim third as a consolation prize, a far cry from the result he must have seen in his minds eye as he rounded that last bend before the sickening sound and no go under him.

Production Sports had their first Enduro of the season, with a Driver A and B race late on Sunday. A ding dong stoush between Matt Turnbulls Lamborghini and a gang of ten Porsches. Eventually the Porsches just outlasted the Lamborghini as it retired with gearbox issues, and Neale Mustons’ relentless pounding out the laps as he fended off fierce racing stalwart Geoff Morgans’ new 991 Cup car. After an hour race only 27 seconds split the single driver pair with the Cook/Meyer team one minute back. Young Andy Harris from Mittagong experienced massive disappointment as his newly purchased Mazda MX3 dropped a metre wide pool of oil from a blown engine under his stationary car. He’d been rotating in the top third of the field doing a good job in his first enduro.

HQ’s again featured the Baxter-Osborn show As reported before, these two guys are so evenly matched that again this weekends race finish times were as little as three-one hundredths of a second apart. With these two having locked up the two top spots, Molle shared third with King. Newcomer to HQ, but a regular around the local racing fraternity, Scott Walker acquitted himself admirably with a 4th place start off the grid, and a 4th place finish in race one.

In these difficult financial times for the racing industry, it was wonderful news to hear that Joe Lenthall (Improved Production O2L ) had secured sponsorship from MOTHERS care care products, who’s logos were emblazoned in huge white letters all over his red RX7 this weekend.

Last year John McKenzie Improved Prod O2L was in a quandry as to how to lighten his cars weight. His Commodore had plenty of straightline power, but was carrying to much weight to be nimble enough to dance through the turns and maximise his power advantage. It seems this year John has found, if not all, surely a part of the answer, as his front grid qualifying and two seconds and a third place have given his championship aspirations an excellent boost. Hounded by the fire breathing twin RX7’s of the Ingram brothers sandwiching McKenzie at almost every turn, it was like a “red rose between two thorns”. Graeme Watts didn’t have it all his own way, but did get a pair of convincing wins.

Words and pics by Rob Annesley
www.shotbyrob.com.au

 

Australasian Superbike/FX Superbike Rd 7 Finale 2015

Finishing the year at Sydney Motorsport Park is a huge highlight for the whole Australian SuperBike racing fraternity. With most of the category championships still up for grabs, and some very finely balanced with as little as one point separating riders, this final round is closely watched by team statisticians.

It is an especially nervous time for family, too. In fact, I stood beside Brayden Elliots’ aunt while Brayden rode for his tilt at the Swann ASBK Supersport championship on Saturday in which he was tied after six laps with arch rival Callum Spriggs, and my ears are still ringing from the enthusiastic yelling and screaming.

In a move away from the usual Saturday/Sunday race meetings, ASBK organisers elected to make it a Friday/Saturday schedule with racing starting later on each day in order to run the timetabling through into a “twilight” meet in an attempt to offer “after work” racing for spectators on Friday night. It’s a creative attempt by organisers to bring more spectators to the event and cater for our ever changing social habits.

Friday saw the completion of the FX Extreme 2015 racing calendar. Whilst most were racing to end the season strongly Sugar Plum Racings’ Richard Draper was just pleased to be back in leathers following an absence since May due to shoulder surgery. Also in Pro Twin Craig Masters had spent the morning sorting out serious brake issues only to have to push the bike all the way back from turn 18 due to an oversight when someone forgot to fill the fuel tank. As he said”…with a thousand other things going on someone forgot to fill me up”.

Race one of Pro Twin/Naked Bikes early on Friday was a terrible way for championship frontrunner Kris Keen to start his campaign to win his championship. Both his bike and Chris Perini’s both failed to start off the grid and had to be pushed aside. Ben O’Connor jumped the start earning him a 5 second penalty. Craig McMartin was having a stellar race until Beau Beaton, who’d been shadowing him closely, jumped him on the second last lap taking the lead. Not happy McMartin waited his chance and slipstreamed Beaton all the way from turn 18 crossing the line two thousandths/second ahead of Beaton. Visually there was no appreciable difference between the bikes at the finish line. They actually looked like they crossed the line in a dead heat. Race Two saw neither Beau Beaton or Craig McMartin start. This left the field wide open for series leaders Kris Keen and Adrian Pierpont to further stamp their ownership on the title race. Unfortunately Darren Jones had other ideas with an 8 second runaway win from Pierpont as he and Keen crossed like Siamese twins side by side with only five thousands/second separating them. It’s incredible that the timing equipment can record such miniscule time differences.

Formula Oz, sometimes known as the “race what you brung” event, saw double duty for McMartin, Perini and Beaton. Beaton was pushed off the start grid with engine trouble and Perini failed to finish. McMartin however was mixing it up the front with category champion Paul Byrne, leading for most of the race until a last lap charge from Byrne took the lollies away from McMartin . Third place Ben Henry stayed comparatively close to the leaders and had left the main pack well behind. Race two was also a close affair as Beau Beaton got his troubled bike going again and put on a spectacular race with Paul Byrne that had the crowd running back and forth across the pit rooftop not wanting to miss any of the action. Once again Ben Henry had a nine second lead on the main pack but was unable to find the extra second he needed to get past Byrne to challenge Beaton. Side by side across the line and Beaton just edged out Byrne for the win.

Fridays Superbikes set up a tension filled expectation that something awesome was about to unfold. The last race on the FX Xtreme calendar did not disappoint. As the lead group of Troy Herfoss, Wayne Maxwell , Glenn Allerton and Cru Halliday ripped up the track it was very obvious that the championship was going to be earned the hard way today. And so it came to pass that Herfoss finally got his championship when pushing so hard Maxwell took a tumble at turn nine leaving Herfoss the 2015 FX Xtreme champ. Unhurt but disappointed Maxwell could only look forward to Saturdays three-race ASBK program to avenge his loss.

Saturday the Swann Australian Superbike program was unleashed and the day started with the eFXC electric bikes. Making a medium-high pitched whirring sound rather than a throaty roar it was quite strange to see these bikes hurtling down the main straight at 239 kph semi-quietly. The Voltron Evo piloted by Danny Pottage is clearly the faster bike and competently ridden giving him the 5 race wins during the weekend.

The Ninja FX-300 battle deluxe was really about who was going to take the second and third place trophies. Paul Young has a significant point lead and his two race wins today solidified his championship position. Only 21 points separated the next four riders which included Tony Jones and Jack Dawes who split the best results for the minor placings with Jones recording a 1-4-4 race record and Dawes a 3-2-2 all podium day.

Supersports was earmarked on the program as a definite “do not miss”! In particular all year there has been a fierce competitive chemistry between Callum Spriggs and Brayden Elliot. Coming into todays racing only nine points separated the pair. Add to the mix Michael Blair who wasn’t out of contention either only 24 points back of Elliot. So when Blair took race one with Elliot in second, Spriggs lead was dwindling. They were coming after him. Race two and Elliot reversed the win-second relationship with Blair and Spriggs was relegated to fourth. The tension on the pit lane balcony was palpable. As I mentioned previously Elliots’ aunt was a nervous wreck. So race three, the absolute final race of the year and Spriggs and Elliot are separated by only one point. A real cliffhanger. Eight laps from glory. They line up, the starter sends them on their way and Elliot gets the better start. Spriggs hasn’t started particularly well all day and ends up hitting the first turn in sixth. Troy Guenther decides to throw it all down and squeezes Elliot wide in turn two to take the lead. Elliot seems to settle in to a “stay close to Guenther” mindset all the while keeping a watch in his rears hoping like crazy that Spriggs gets caught in traffic. Calculating on the fly it appears that all Elliot needs is for there to be one rider between him and Spriggs come the chequered flag.

By lap five Spriggs has jumped up two places sitting in fourth. Elliot turns on the power and is now trying everything he can to edge past Guenther. He does on two occasions through turn two only to be thwarted by Guenther holding him at bay both times. Its mid lap seven and Spriggs eventually gets past Blair into third spot and is hammering towards turn nine looking to try and put a final move on Elliot. Spriggs brakes super late into nine and finds himself so wide on the exit that he’s in the dirt. Lost opportunity and Elliot squirts away. Elliot now knows that he must get past Guenther if he is a chance to win the championship. Elliot jumps on the juice even before he’s out of turn eighteen trying to slipstream Guenther down the straight. He’s so so close… even riding the fastest lap of the race at 1:30.06 with a top speed of 256kph. He’s within two one thousands /second of Guenther across the line. First-Guenther…Second -Elliot…Third – Spriggs. BUT…its not over yet. The drama continues. Now both Elliot and Spriggs finish equal on 373 points. TIE!!! The rules say that a countback on quantity of podium finishes are the mechanism by which a stalemate is to be broken. With eleven podiums Spriggs is awarded the victory in this most enthralling series.

The Superbikes came to battle with an already tied series. Wayne Maxwell (Yamaha) and Troy Herfoss (Honda) are locked at 316 points. Allerton (Yamaha) is not out of it either only 34 points adrift. Three races away from deciding the “king of the mountain” Australian SuperBike Championship. And race one was exhausting to watch. It was by far one of the best races of the series. Herfoss held pole. Crappy start and all of a sudden in the blink of an eye he’s in fifth place by turn two. Jamie Stauffer (Honda) grabs lead but with superior straight line speed Mike Jones (Kawasaki) takes it away from Stauffer. Stauffer puts on an underarm move on Jones at turn two but runs his line wide and Jones takes it back with a “thank you very much” move. Stauffer using his craftiness takes and holds the lead while Herfoss took no prisoners moving back up to third and attacking Jones. Running wide on the last lap Herfoss’ chances went out the window and Stauffer held on for a magnificent win. Maxwell finished fourth. Advantage Herfoss! Race two and Mike Jones just went nuts. Herfoss hung on and Maxwell too. They both knew that there could be no other rider between them if they were going to keep the points differential to a minimum. Maybe there is something in the saying…” keep your friends close but your enemies closer”. Race two finished Jones to Herfoss to Maxwell. Just out of the podiums Glenn Allerton was only five onethousands/second away. Race three and for the first time all day Herfoss saw what the back of Maxwells bike looked like. Jones once again took off like a scalded cat and Stauffer, who didn’t feature in race two, suddenly unleashed the beast he had brought to race one. He and Jones ended up only one- onethousandths/second apart at the line and Maxwell so close they could have all been triplets. Herfoss was within two seconds of the lead group but one suspects that he already knew what the outcome of this race meant for him. If the fact that he came in the back gate standing on his pegs with arms outstretched to the heavens and one finger on each hand pointing skyward said anything then we all knew that we were looking at the new 2015 ASBK Superbike Champion.

Words and pics by Rob Annesley

www.shotbyrob.com.au

 

NSW Motor Race Championships Round 4

The mid-winter round of the NSW Motor Race Championships for 2015 arrived back at Sydney Motorsport Park in direct contrast to the bleak, freezing conditions the state has been beset by over recent weeks. The weekend brought forth predominately sunshine-filled days and much warmer temperatures; ideal conditions for drivers comfort. Only around 160 entries came out for the weekend however, with the Production Sports category headlining the weekends event schedule with a one-hour , two driver enduro race. In fairness, some of the regular state competitors were otherwise engaged assisting in this major event.

The Production Sport enduro brought out some glamourous metal. No less than four Audi R8 LMS vehicles with their coloured headlights beaming their no-nonsense “get-out-of-my-way” message, mixing it with a large cadre of Porsche GT3 Cup smartly liveried beasts loudly purring in amongst the vast field. Rounding out the eye-candy were a Gallardo, GT40, E-type Jag, Elise/Exige’s, Monaro, MX-5 and a Commodore. The day surely went to Andrew McPherson (Porsche GT3R) who started second on the grid after qualifying. Constantly pushing Rod Salmon’s Audi Andrew’s team took race one as well as the enduro, with his co-driver Brad Shiels winning the second “driver B” race. Clean sweep! Rod Salmon and Neale Muston placed second and third respectively.

Listed as a competitor in the program, perennial “owner” of this category second places this year, Birol Cetin did not line up for racing this weekend. This allowed Steve Lacey to take a lock on one notch up the podium from his usual third spot. Grant Doulman did what he does best, and stayed out front for all three races with as much as a one minute lead during race two. Chris Jackson and Anthony Macready split the third places.

Formula Vee gave us all a bit of a nervous time. Race one had only just begun when six cars got all tangled up at turn two ( where else) leaving fibreglass debris of nose cones and torn away bits of race car on the track. This caused a 40 minute delay as CXC racing identity Matthew Bode (Stinger 010) was cut free from his car after a heavy t-boning of Gary Hook ( Jacer F2K4). Amazingly Hook’s car was driveable and went on to compete in the following races. As a precaution Bode was very gingerly extricated and fortunately whilst not taking part in any further racing, was walking around the pits the following day. Recovery was very busy with the Manitou, a tow truck and a flatbed all needed to clean up the tangled mess of non-working vehicles after the incident. Race one was ultimately abandoned. Dylan Thomas (CXC Racing) and Michael Kinsella (KE Power) shared the remaining race wins, whilst Tim Brook converted an ordinary qualifying result, starting from tenth on the grid, to finish race one and two with a couple of second place podiums. Ever-consistent Simon Pace rounded out the placings with a pair of thirds. Simon’s son Aaron is a debutante this year, under his dad’s watchful and encouraging eye. Aaron is showing excellent signs of talent after a short time in competition. Starting eighth after qualifying Aaron finished with a fifth and sixth place.

Improved Prod O2L is all in the hands of Graham Watts. From early Saturday morning through to Sunday afternoon, his smooth driving style and excellently prepared Nissan Silvia purrs out the front of this category. Consistently lapping at 1:40/41’s, Graham kept a 30sec advantage on the field. Closest to him all day was John McKenzie, but in doing so John flaunted the new rules that prohibits drivers from drifting wide on turns like #5 and #15. If all four wheels cross the yellow lines, then a time penalty is awarded for each time this occurs. This has been judged to give a driver a “slingshot” advantage over other drivers. Whilst McKenzie got within 15sec of Watts, it came at a cost of 60sec’s worth of penalties. Paul White ( Mazda RX7) finished with a second and third place, sharing that distinction with Michael Posa ( RX3) in the reverse order.

Jason Grimmond from Queensland experienced SMSP for the first time, coming to Sydney combining a family holiday with getting some mid year track time. Jason said when asked what brought him to Sydney for this event ”…there are long gaps between events in Qld mid year, and I’m working on a new suspension setup, so this event gives me a chance to put some new thoughts into action.” He also commented that “….this is a big track. The corners are huge. Just when you think you through them, they keep on going.” Sam Maio was wanting to work on his understeer problem on Saturday evening, but this was put on the backburner as he ended up spending much of the night rebuilding his gearbox after problems on Saturday. He was back in his garage very early on Sunday morning tinkering with his setup to correct the understeer.

The NSW Motor Race Championships return to SMSP on Sept 26/27th.

Words and pics by Rob Annesley
www.shotbyrob.com.au

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