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Event Wrap: NSW Motor Race Championships Round 4

Round 4 of the NSW Motor Race Championships returned to Sydney Motorsport Park with a mixed bag of conditions. Staring out dry on Saturday, a freakish storm cell with strong winds rolled through mid afternoon scattering tents and creating 15 minutes of havoc both on and off track. This left the afternoon sessions with a wet track with which to contend, though Sunday started cold and bleak, but the sun shone and thawed us all out for a great day of racing.

This round saw the Improved Production category take a mid-year break, and instead the round featured a one hour enduro by the Production Sports Racing Cars Association; a real treat to see many of these cars in their annual sojourn to SMSP.

Enduros are tough on both drivers and cars, and this race was no different with nearly a quarter of the field failing to go the distance. A marvellous effort by the Mawer/Lazaris (Lotus Exige GT3) team, starting from 12th on the grid and holding on to a half race lead in the closing stages to take the win. Not so lucky was Anthony Soole, who’s birthday was spoiled by a late in the race gearbox failure which saw him drift to a stop out of turn one and hand the Class B race win to Nick Cancion (Mazda MX5). Class C went to Rob Hay in another MX5, managing to hold off the McGann/Stannard (Porsche 944) pair who were only seconds behind during most of the race.
Formula Ford was a see-saw affair all weekend, with Hamish Hardeman (Mygale ST13) and Nick Rowe (Mygale SJ10A), swapping the honours in all three races. Hardeman took the race wins in race one and three and Rowe took home a first, second and third across the weekend, leaving Jacob Parsons (Spectrum 014) to be content with a second and two thirds.

Thundering Sports Sedans racing saw a determined Steve Lacey, who has suffered race ending steering problems over recent months, come out in a determined bid to get his championship aspirations back on track. He finished with two third place finishes in race one and two. Starting from fourth on the grid in race three, he took a very aggressive race line early in the race to first edge out Chris Jackson (Holden Calibra) and then a couple laps later he pushed Anthony Macready very wide to slip by and eventually hold on for second spot in his best finish in quite a while. Birol Cetin (Camaro) took two race wins and his consistency is holding him at the top of his class. Grant Doulman enjoyed a rare race win and a second place, before exiting early in race three.

The HQ racing was a family affair with the Heinrich brothers squaring off against each other. Grabbing four podiums between them they hogged the front end of the field for most of their events. Both Joel and Bruce had race wins and a third place each. They are a competitive pair, giving no quarter as they swapped a bit of paint with each other in race two at turn two.

Aaron Seton blitzed the field with three straight race wins in the Production Touring category in his EVO 10, and absolutely hammered it in race two to record a lap record pass of 1:42.72. Congratulations Aaron!

– Words and pictures by Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com.au

 

NSW Motor Race Championships Rd 7, Nov 9-10 2013

The final round of the 2013 NSW Motor Race Championships was held at Sydney Motor Sport Park on November 9-10.
Over 150 competitors from the nine categories braved a mixed bag of weather conditions over the weekend, with Saturday’s hot and dry conditions changing to wet and windy for the Sunday. This affected team driving strategies, as well as tyre selection and of course the lap times, as driving rain and winds on Sunday, turned the track into a virtual skating rink.
The Superkarts had the worst of it, with their qualifying session and all three of their races being held on Sunday. Being open and so close to the ground, race organizers allowed them to wear rain covers over their driving suits for their races due to the conditions.
However, this didn’t help these powerful lightweight karts stay on the track, as the rain got heavier, the spinning ballet got worse, with karts sometimes two at a time facing the wrong way on turn two.
Robinson Transport had reason to be joyous on Sunday, as one of their newest recruits in the Formula R class, Rodney Brincat, qualified for the front row of the grid for race 2 on Sunday. Rod has only been in this car for part of the 2013 season. His fastest lap time was only 2.5sec off the fastest in his class. Warwick Robinson liked the wet conditions, posting two second place finishes to Garnet Pattersons win in all three races.
Calamity came to John McKenzie’s Lakewood Electrics team in Impoved Prod O2L, as a broken brake caliper saw John with no brakes coming into turn two on race one on Saturday. Repairs completed by Sunday morning, John was relegated to starting from the back of the grid. McKenzie said: I’ll wont be holding back, and we’ll see how far through the field I can get”.
McKenzie had sliced his way through the field of seventeen cars up into fifth place by lap six, until he aquaplaned out of turn one and through the gravel pits impacting heavily into a tyre wall. Bob Brewer took command of this category with a first, second and third place result.
Wayne Healey’s weekend didn’t get off the ground, as his HQ was shunted heavily on turn one, race one, lap one bringing his campaign to a close even before his engine had reached temperature. He was bitterly disappointed, but said he will be back.
After a spin at turn four, Rob Rowes’ Mondial M89S picked up an orange witches hat in his grill, and drove the whole race with it stuck firmly in place. It was returned to track marshalls at the end of the race.
– Words and pics by Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com.au