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PCRA Round 4

ARDC News, Blog, Major Events, News Archive, SMSP News

Round four of the PCRA Club Championships on July 19th got underway on a cold and windy winters day on the Gardiner GP circuit. Notwithstanding a southwester gusting up to 50kmh and the temperature struggling to make it to 15 degrees there was a full field and plenty of excellent racing.
Group 4 featured a competitor list of 22 bikes. Battling with the strong winds Chadd Slade took pole on his P6 ZXR750 with a 1:49.9. Making up the rest of the front row were John Mckenzie and Steve Anderson both on P6 GSXR750’s and Marcus De Caux on his Forgotten Era Yamaha TZ750. True to the grid order, Slade took the wins in both race one and two while Steve Anderson settled for second in both races and John Mckenzie and Rick Kwok each shared a third. In the older classes of this group Matthew Burton (Norton 500) and Bob Sayer (Norton Atlas 750) each grabbed a race win in the Post Classic 750, while Bruce Ireland (Yamaha 750) and Terry Mckinnon (Yamaha 750) shared the spoils in Forgotten Era 750. Wayne Gow (Moto Guzzi 1000) seized both race wins in the Forgotten Era Unlimited.
Several of the riders commented that despite finishing midfield it was some of the best racing in which they had been involved.
A field of 33 riders in Group 7 started the first race which was soon red flagged as Martin Ball high sided off his Suzuki at turn eleven. In gusty conditions Stephen Ward ( Suzuki 750) took both race wins, Wade Lewis (F2 Honda CBR600) both race seconds and Ryan Young (F1 Honda CBR900RR) and Daniel Birch (F1 Kawasaki ZXR750) each taking home a third. Murray Garlin took both the P6 Unlimited wins on his Yamaha FZR100 while Troy Galvin ( ZXR750) grabbed both seconds and Zoltan Petri had the thirds covered.
In the Motorlites, Jason Dunn (Honda RS85cr) led flag to flag to win both races, Tyler Bradford (BBE CRR150) was a little slow on the getaway but quickly took second and there he stayed, owning that position for both races. Anthony Marsden had a bunch of work to do in reclaiming third back from both Lawrence and Wilcox, but eventually secured it and took the bronze in both races. Lawrence ended up succumbing to overheating from a blown water pump seal but you cant keep a good man down, and Ken got it fixed and completed race two to his satisfaction.
Commuterlite Pro race one was the epitomy of what spectators love to see. Evenly matched Nick Wendan
(CBR125) swapped the lead with Jack Robinson ( CBR125) every lap for the entire race, with Nick eventually grabbing the win by the smallest of margins. Minding his own business ready to pounce if the opportunity presented, Ron Pulido locked in third. Race two was almost anti climactic. Both Robinson and Pulido made poor race starts, and virtually handed Nick a free pass to the chequered flag. Second to Robinson and third to Pulido.
The Commuterlite AM class brought more fingernail biting racing. A breakaway group including Jason Blanch (CBR125), Adam Cameron (CBR125), Oliver Higgins (CBR125), Nicholas Miller (CBR125), Ron Wenban (CBR125), and Andrew Martin (CBR125) all were so close that they were swapping the lead at every corner. This was edge of your seat stuff. Commuterlite AM at its very best. Fun and great racing. When the dust settled Adam Cameron took the black and white, Wenban second and Higgins third. Race two was a testament to clever patience, with Andrew Marting steadily climbing through the field to steal the win by two tenths from under Camerons nose. Third went again to Higgins.
Thanks as always to the people who made this event happen, the flaggies out in the arctic conditions, the bike pick up crew, the medics who were kept a bit busy, the race officials, the office staff, the timing team and all those that take care of countless ancillary tasks.
By Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com.au
Thanks to Jim Murphy and John McKenzie for their valuable assistance with the details of this event. Also thanks to Rick Krasitki for the use of his photos from the event.

 

Event Wrap: NSW Motor Race Championships Round 4

ARDC News, Blog, Major Events, News Archive, SMSP News

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

 

Event Wrap: CAMS Supersprint Round 4

ARDC News, Blog, Major Events, News Archive, SMSP News

Round Four of the CAMS Supersprint Championships was held at Sydney Motor Sport Park on July 20th on the 4.5km extended Brabham Circuit. This was the first time this year that the gigantic field of 99 entrants were treated to this very testing track layout. They enjoyed a great day weather wise, and every driver got the opportunity to complete four solid sessions.
As we have come to expect in recent times, Andre Tan in his Radical was the fastest car on the day with a time of 1.50.179 although Marek Tomaszewski was not that far behind in his Stohr with a very close time of 1.50.793. Andre broke the Type 5 Record and Class 5D Record while Marek broke the Class 5D Record. It should also be noted that Marek also bettered Andre’s old Type 5 record.
Richard Perini was the fastest tin top on the day in his Porsche RSR with a
time of 1.58.837 which broke both the Type 4 and Class 4C Records. Four Type Records were broken and 12 Class Records were broken.
Records broken or set on the day were:
TYPE RECORDS
Type 2 – Warwick Morris in his Porsche with a time of 2.05.547. Warwick also
broke the Class 2C Record. This is the 3rd Type Record that Warwick has
broken this year only missing out at Wakefield Park at Round 1.
Type 4 – Richard Perini in his Porsche RSR with a time of 1.58.837. This is
Richard’s 1st Type Record this year but 3rd Class 4C Record.
Type 5 – Andre Tan in his Radical with a time of 1.50.179. Like Warwick
Morris, Andre has broken 3 Type Records this year, just failing to better
his own Type 5 Record at SMSP North at Round 3.
Type 6 – Kim Tai in his Mitsubishi Evo with a time of 2.01.019. This is
Kim’s 2nd Type Record this year.
CLASS RECORDS
Class 1C – Preston Peiris in his Mazda MPS3 with a time of 2.21.661. Preston
has broken the Class 1C each time he has run this year.
Class 2C – Warwick Morris in his Porsche GT3 with a time of 2.05.547.
Warwick didn’t just break the record, he shattered it, taking a massive
7.583 seconds off the previous record.
Class 3A – Perennial record breaker Jason O’Meara broke his own Class 3A
Record by almost 2 seconds in his Honda Civic with a time of 2.14.980 Class
4A – Chris Muir in his Honda CRX with a time of 2.15.373. This is only the
2nd time out for Chris in this car but he has broken the Class 4A Record
both times that he has run.
Class 4B – David Lawler broke his own Class 4B Record in his Mazda MX5 by
7.401 seconds with a time of 2.18.361. It worth mentioning that both Ed Cory
and Anthony Crott ran in the 2.18s and were both 7 seconds under David’s
previous Class 4B Record. Sorry that you don’t make the record books but
great effort guys.
Class 4C – Richard Perini in his Porsche RSR with a time of 1.58.837.
Another shattered record. Richard took 8.166 seconds off the old Class 4C
Record.
Class 4D – Drew Hall broke the Class 4D Record in his Nissan GTRV R34 with a
time of 2.03.193 Class 5B – Chris Kostakis broke his own Class 5B Record in
his MNR Vortx with a time of 2.01.672. Chris has broken the Class 5B Record
at each of the 4 Championship Rounds this year.
Class 5C – Marek Tomaszewski in his Stohr with a great time of 1.50.793.
Marek broke his own Class 5C record by 2.372 seconds.
Class 5D – Andre Tan broke his own Class 5D Record in his Radical by 1.249
seconds with the fastest time of the day of 1.50.179 Class 6A – Blake Jones
broke the Class 6A Record by 5.876 seconds in his Mitsubish R-Colt with a
time of 2.17.470 Class 6D – Kim Tai smashed the Class 6D Record by just
under 11 seconds in his Mitsubishi Evo with a time of 2.01.019
CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP
The Mazda MX5 Club has broken away from ARDC in the Club Championship
scoring a massive 513 Club points at Round 4 to ARDC’s 361. MX5 Club lead the Club Championship on 1,739 points and are now 156 points ahead of ARDC on 1,583 points. Manly Warringah are coming third with 844 points.
Words and picture by Rob Annesley
Special thanks to Bob Welsh for specific competitor details

 

Event Wrap: PCRA Round Three May 31

ARDC News, Blog, Major Events, News Archive, SMSP News

Round Three of the Post Classic Racing Association (PCRA) Championships were run under dark threatening skies on May 19th at Sydney Motorsport Park. Despite some lengthy medical delays and fading light, the full programme was completed. Late in the day Clerk of Course Terry Whalan deemed the light good enough to race, and the twilight enhanced the excitement as the flames shooting from the exhaust pipes on the down changes looked spectacular. Rider John Mckenzie commented that “…it looked great, maybe we should do more twilight racing.”
Group 4 including the P4/P5 Unlimited class bikes qualifying round caused the first lengthy medical delay as Martin Kraaymaat highsided his Katana on turn ten and was airlifted to hospital. As the qualifying resumed McKenzie took pole and completed a full front row of Suzuki GSX-R750’s with Steve Anderson, Simon Hills and Stuart Lomax. Race one was scheduled as six laps but declared as four Laps. Instead of the chequered flag the race was red flagged as Peter Macmillan came off his TZ750 at turn two, and despite getting a helicopter ride Peter was later given the OK and released. Steve Anderson on his GSX-R750RK dominated at the front with several P6 bikes giving chase. The race was declared with the positions at lap four giving Steve Anderson the win (1:12.10), with John Mckenzie in second and Stuart Lomax in third. Race two, four laps, Steve Anderson again took control (1:12.3) with some dicing for the minor places giving John Mckenzie second and Dean Scott third. Race three was also four laps and with the sun low on the horizon the race got underway, Steve Anderson again made a break at the front and made a clear getaway (1:12.3) leaving Dean Scott in second place with John Mckenzie in third edging out Troy Galvin on the ZXR750 by 0.009 seconds. It was a bumper day for Steve Anderson with a clean sweep of all three races, keeping his chances alive in the championship.
Group 7, Pre Modern F1/F2 and P6 Unlimited. had twenty-nine bikes entered including six P6 Unlimited, 14 Post-Modern F1 machines and 9 Post-Modern F2 bikes. Pole position was claimed by Drew Sheepway on a F2 Honda 400 (1:10.9, making up the front row was Ryan Young F1 Honda, Wade Lewis F2 Honda and Stuart Lomax F1 Yamaha.
Race one duration was six laps. John McKenzie commented”… on an otherwise dry day light drizzle started on the warm up lap but other than playing with the (riders) mind it was not enough to affect grip.” Drew Sheepway took the race win (1:11.4), second to Ryan Young and third to Bob Marriner. In race two Wade Lewis (1:10.8) edged out Ryan Young and Drew Sheepway for second and third respectively. It wasn’t certain that we were going to run this race, the final event on the program but after some consultation with a few of the riders the Clerk of Course Terry Wahlan made a good call and despite the fading light it was deemed good enough to race with the start taking place 5 minutes after sunset in the dusky light. The results in race three were a mirror of race two, with Wade Lewis taking the win (1:11.0) and Ryan Young and Drew Sheepway claiming the minor placings.
Another great day of racing thanks to the PCRA, race officials, the timing team, the medics and the army of volunteers. Despite some lengthy medical delays we still made it through the full program albeit with shortened races. Looking forward to the next round at Eastern Creek GP Circuit on the 19th of July.
Rob Annesley
look@shotbyrob.com.au
Thanks to John McKenzie for his contribution to this article

 

 

Vale: Jack Brabham

ARDC News, Blog, News Archive, SMSP News

The ARDC is saddened to hear of the passing of three-time F1 world champion Sir Jack Brabham overnight. Member #4 of the ARDC, Sir Jack was 88 years old. He is honoured at Sydney Motorsport Park with the extended circuit and the main straight bearing his name. The ARDC sends their condolences to his family at this sad time..

Event Wrap: 2014 CAMS Supersprint Championship Round 2

ARDC News, Blog, Major Events, News Archive, SMSP News

Round Two of the NSW CAMS Supersprint Championship on May 10th was run at Sydney Motorsport Park. The day started out foggy, and with a westerly breeze bringing in smokey conditions from the Blue Mountains hazard reduction burn.
This year CAMS NSW Supersprint organisers have found themselves with an enviable dilemma. The sport has grown in popularity to the extent that recent events have been fully subscribed. As well, this year it is only a seven event championship, not the usual eight rounds, due to track scheduling constraints. This has meant that they have had to institute a wait list for potential competitors wishing to gain entry to each event. Of course, not wishing to turn anyone away from enjoying the sport, organisers are however bound by track safety regulations.
Dennis Pietrobon, who was lucky enough to move from wait list to competition status, is a newcomer to the sport and is thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to test his skills in his Nissan Skyline.
It was great to see Kerry Redfern, president of the Manly-Warringah Sporting Car Club back at the track with his sense of humour. Following recent double bypass surgery, he is some time away from competition but was lending support to Robert Muir with the unveiling of their new “baby”, a Honda Type R which has been under construction for over a year. Apparently there is a another “under construction” vehicle coming out of the stables of the MWSCC, which will be seen in upcoming rounds. Stay tuned!
Garry Williams (1969 MGB) had a head shaking moment after his second pass of the day. Looking at his stats he found that his first “easy” run clocked him two seconds faster than his previous personal best yet he felt that his second run was quicker. Young Kyle Jackson pushed his personal limits and was having a day to forget as he spun twice in one session, and ended up in the kitty litter in another. Race control felt it necessary to have a chat.
Roger Heard’s usually smooth confident racing line received a nervous disruption late in the day as he dropped a 150m line of a slippery substance which caused him to do a couple 360 degree spins on turn four. In a spectacular cloud of smoke, Roger was almost completely obscured from view, which helped to cover his embarrassment. Later in the day, Roger commented that“…that was enough excitement for one day.”
One not so lucky to make it through the day was Jonathon McKinnon (Nissan 200SX) who sheered 6 head studs in the first session and headed to the showers early. Nice to see Supersprint veteran Luke Petrou (Datsun 260Z) with a new flashy livery this year. A large Gold foil checkerboard square pattern adorning both rear quarter panel sections. Looks great… is this Luke’s new strategy? Blind the competition?
Lap records were the biggest casualty of the day. Four out of seven Type records were broken, and a total of eleven class records fell.
In fear of repeating ourselves, Andrie Tan continues to grow his talent as he broke Type 5 and Class 5D records as well as being the only one to record a sub 1:30 sec time. Kim Tai was the fastest tin top of the day, shattering the Class 6D record by an amazing 10 seconds. Go Kim!
A cadre of Porsches who usually compete in their own competition came to up the ante in the Type 2/Class 2C category. Warwick Morris broke both the records with a time of 1:42.66 in his GT3. Warwick broke the record in this category at Wakefield in the first round. He is one to watch!
It should be mentioned that two other Porsches in the same category also broke the record. Here come the Porsches, boys!
Allan Marin broke Robert Kolimackovski’s record in Type 3 Class 3D. This might entice Robert back sooner than planned, as he is having a self-professed “gap year” this year. Jason O’Meara had a sweet victory today as he broke the 6-year mark of Benny Tran in class 3A with a 1:50.57 in his Honda 1600. Preston Peiris continues to break records with a 1:55 in class 1C. Adam Laura broke the Class 4C record in his beautifully prepared BMW M3 with a 1.39.82. Adam broke Tom Ainsworth’s old record by almost a second but Tom was nipping at Adam’s heels yesterday and was just over
1/10th of a second behind him. This was unfortunate as Tom also ran a sub 1.40 time also but it was just not good enough on the day.
Marek Tomaszewski lost one of his old records yesterday but came up with a new one in Class 5C by shaving over 10 seconds of the old
record. Again both Duncan Forrest and Al Palmer also shattered the old record with times of 1.30.900 and 1.35.712 respectively. Unfortunately only
Marek’s time will go into the Record Book. Chris Kostakis broke his own Class 5B record in his MNR Votrx with a great time of 1.37.90 and Blake Jones set a new Class 6A record in his Mitsubishi R-Colt with a time of 1.50.30.
ARDC still leads the Club Championship on 829 points just ahead of MX5 who are on 814 points. However, MX5 outscored ARDC on ARDC’s home turf by scoring 477 points to ARDC’s 437 on the day. Early days yet but it looks like third place will come from either Manly Warringah, HSV or the Clubman Drivers Club. Manly Warringah hold down a slim margin for 3rd place at the moment. At the conclusion of the days competition, the annual NSW CAMS Supersprint Championship presentation of the 2013 year trophies was held in The Garage.
President Mike Hicks conducted the official award presentations and a very healthy representation of the award recipients and supporters were on hand to receive their well earned trophies. Andrie Tan was presented with his NSW and Australian Supersprint Championship Trophies with his state and national special achievements from last year gaining special mention. Also singled out for notable mentioning was Kerry Butcher for his hard work and dedication.
– Words and pictures by Rob Annesley