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ARDC News
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
Muscle Car Masters confirms race categories for new-look event
The Australian Muscle Car Masters has confirmed its line-up of racing categories and demonstration sessions for 2016.
The 12th running of the nation’s most successful retro motorsport event, to be held on the new date of October 29-30, will see the return of five popular race categories plus a class making its Masters debut, the Kumho V8 Touring Car Series.
The returning categories are Heritage Touring Cars (Group C/A), Touring Car Masters, Australian Trans-Am, Historic Touring Cars (Group N) and Group S (production sports cars).
The Kumho V8 Touring Car Series is the unofficial third-tier of V8 Supercar racing, providing a chance for the Commodores and Falcons of previous seasons to continue their racing lives. Many teams run their cars in period liveries.
In addition, there are dedicated demonstration sessions for ‘Supercars’ from the Australian 5.0-litre Touring Car Association.
The 2016 Masters will also feature a new ‘Sports Racing Car Invitational’ demonstration session for historically-significant vehicles. Invited cars will come from the ranks of Sports Sedans, GT cars, plus Can-Am, Le Mans-style and Big Banger sportscars.
Heritage Hot Laps will be rested for 2016.
A special all-Mini race, for cars from the Group Nb ranks, will be held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Morris Cooper S’s win in the 1966 Bathurst 500.
The ultra-popular Pit Straight Car Club Corral and Featured Muscle Marques display and parade will have twin focuses in 2016. Ford’s contribution to Australia’s performance heritage will be celebrated in the month the company winds up manufacturing in this country. Meanwhile, Brock Commodore owners will be encouraged to attend to mark the 10th anniversary of Peter Brock’s passing and 30 years since the launch of the VL Group A.
The Masters will also host the 2016 A9X Torana Club Nationals and a unique pitlane walk for spectators.
The Masters has been run at Sydney Motorsport Park (Eastern Creek) since 2005. The joint-venture partners, the Australian Racing Drivers’ Club Ltd and nextmedia Pty Ltd (publishers of Australian Muscle Car magazine), announced late last year that the 2016 event will move from its Father’s Day slot to the last weekend of October by popular demand.
The date change separates the Australian Muscle Car Masters from the venue’s round of the 2016 V8 Supercars championship as both meetings have been run in close proximity for the last three years, including twice on consecutive weekends. The move to late October was welcomed by competitors, officials and motorsport enthusiasts. The date change was especially popular with those previously unable to attend the retro racing event due to Father’s Day family commitments.
Main race day in 2016 will held on the exact same date of the first event, October 30, 2005.
Tickets are now on sale at musclecarmasters.com.au.
Tekno Autosports take Bathurst 12 Hour victory
Last weekend’s Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour finished in typically thrilling and nailbiting style, with the Tekno Autosports McLaren of Shane van Gisbergen, Jonathan Webb and Portugese driver Alvaro Parente emerging victorious after a record 1845km of racing.
Tekno Autosports, who are proud partners of Sydney Motorsport Park and the ARDC as our official Safety Car supplier, has danced around a Bathurst race victory for several years; the infamous circuit forcing more bad luck than good on the team during their V8 Supercars racing in years past.
This year, the luck was on their side for the debut of the team’s new McLaren 650S GT3; despite 13 pit lane stops, a drive-through penalty during the final stint, and a scary mechanical hiccup that forced Parente to stop and re-set the car on the main straight before resuming the race.
The team beat home the 2015 defending champions Katsumasa Chiyo, Rick Kelly and Florian Strauss in their Nissan GT-R, with Bentley Team M-Sport’s Matt Bell, Steven Kane and Guy Smith came home third.
Only 20 contenders from 37 finished the mammoth race, which saw a record 297 laps completed after the flag fall at 12 hours, with 29 lead changes – another record.
Van Gisbergen also recorded a new outright lap record of the Bathurst circuit with a 2m01.567s, and the team also took pole position and claimed the fastest race lap.
The ARDC congratulates the drivers and team of Tekno Autosports – well done to all!
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
New era begins for Muscle Car Masters
The Australian Muscle Car Masters has a new slot on the motor racing calendar for 2016: the last weekend in October.
The nation’s most successful retro motorsport event had been run at Sydney Motorsport Park (Eastern Creek) on the Father’s Day weekend in September for the past 10 years. In an announcement today from the joint-venture partners, the Australian Racing Drivers’ Club Ltd and nextmedia Pty Ltd (publishers of Australian Muscle Car magazine), the 2016 event will be run on the weekend of October 29-30.
By popular demand, this date change will successfully separate the Australian Muscle Car Masters from the venue’s round of the 2016 V8 Supercars championship. Both meetings have been run in close proximity for the last three years, including twice on consecutive weekends.
The move to late October will be welcomed by competitors, officials and motorsport enthusiasts and is expected to boost crowd attendance at both events.
The date change will be especially popular with those previously unable to attend ‘the Masters’ due to Father’s Day family commitments.
The full line-up of race categories and new on-and-off-track activities will be announced early in 2016.
The ultra-popular Pit Straight Car Club Corral and Featured Muscle Marques display and parade will have twin focuses in 2016. Ford’s contribution to Australia’s performance heritage will be celebrated in the month the company winds up manufacturing in this country. Meanwhile, Brock Commodore owners will be encouraged to attend to mark the 10th anniversary of Peter Brock’s passing and 30 years since the launch of the VL Group A.