Weather was a bit iffy, but Donny had done great job prepping the track, and it looked pretty good.
Without going too deep, A Class got a few water trucks, so weren’t as high OR as sometimes, but Kevin Parkes (N14 Pulsar) had it over Nathan Suchting (Lanos), but Nathan did improve and closed the gap from Run 1 by half a second, so was on the up.
B Class was where the fastest 2WD time looked like it was coming from, and Allan Coles in the Pug 307 managed a quick 46.53 to be best 2WD, and class winner (7th OR), just ahead of Ric Ganderton (Excel big block), 46.87 and Barry Clark in the Bimmer with a 47.34. John Coles and William Harris were also in the 47s but just off the podium.
C Class had three, but at the top was Robert Clark in the lovely Orange YB Cosworth 2.3 MK1 Escort. Is a great car, and Robert drives it quite well, and is funny to comment on an Escort with R. Clark driving….Bruce dan in his BMW, and Graeme Haynes in the Beetle (making a return after an absence) actually did identical times to the 100th (50.78), but Bruce did his time first, so took second over Graeme.
D Class had the biggest field, with past Club Champion Danny Iken in the (now ) turbo’d EA Falcon, Ken Luxton in the VE 5.7 Ute, Lloyd Robertson in the 135 BMW, el Presidente Greg Woodbridge in the fixed VR V8 (coil issue last mtg) and Chris and Kristy Wedding in the Brock VH Commodore along with a couple of others. Ring in, Bondy, sat in the VE Ute and was firing from run 1, but Ken, Lloyd, Danny and Robert McLaurin were all close. The Weddings were looking good early, but a couple of thrown fan belts meant some slightly more cautious driving, to finish the event. To the final run and 007 managed to crack a 47.69 and cemented the top spot and 10th OR. Next was Danny and then the evergreen Lloyd. For those that are not on the same planet, do some searches on Lloyd Robertson. He has been in the game a long time and done some amazing things. It is great to see him still having a crack and giving it his all. And he is still bloody quick?.
Juniors had only one, Ashley McKenzie, but she put on a great show in her mid-mounted CRX Honda. From a first run best of 52.71, she layed down a run 5 time of 48.56, and did not do run 6. So a great improvement, and when in the tower watching, I didn’t really notice her, which means that she was smooth and not flicking up dust, so great job Ashley?
Next is Ladies class, which had 4 very competitive femmes. After the 4yh run there were three in the 47’s, Tracy Bavinton (EVO IX), Nikki Duclos (WRX) and Emma Crase (Forester GT). So getting to the last few runs, after Run 5Nikki had a 0.02 sec lead over Tracy…close, yes?. But the final run saw Tracy fire a great shot with a 45.5, and Nikki a 46.37, which did not improve her run 5 time. So great work by Tracy to take Ladies plus 3rd outright, with Nikki 6th OR and Emma 3rd with Stephanie just off the podium with 4th. Two of these cars also feature in outright/ E Class. Special mention to Emma for doing a picture-perfect spin in the sweeper, and grabbing first and taking off almost before the wheels were stopped – I know we hate stuff ups (as drivers), but it was pretty to watch her just grab first and crack on?)
So the fast E class cars put on a great show with Ant Bonnicci and Alan Weinert being very close in the first three runs, and the Crases ( all of them ?) not far off the top pace. Ultimately Ant had the Yaris GR wound up on the last run to lay down a FTD of 43.75, to Alan’s 44.98 and Michael Crase’s 45.84. Knocking on the door was Tim Crase in the Forester (rally car – not) doing some great Colin McRae impersonations with a 46.0, and Robert (Crase) 46.6 then Tim Baxter and Paul Schmolke in the Liberty BT-B and Jukka Ylinen rounding out E class in the 600cc buggy.
Was great day with 6 runs of 4 laps, which is 24 laps of the longer track, so great mileage for a sprint event. Thanks to all flaggies, track prep, scrutineers, event secretary and every other position that needs a person to do the work. The club needs people like you (yes, you reading this) to do some work, the usual crew (like Donny and Coggo for example) are not young and we need replacements to take over the running of the club soon. And don’t forget that we have 4 crucial positions currently held by one family – the Woodbridge’s. This is great for all of us, but only Greg actually competes…..
Anyway, just remember that any club needs people to operate, and this club will need some new blood to run it into the future.