In his Holden Monaro, he finished ahead of Queenslander Ashley Isarasena in his Mazda RX7 with BMW pilot Victorian Robert Baune third. Meanwhile New South Wales’ Kurt Macready (Nissan) went back-to-back in netting the under 2.0lt title, although it didn’t come without issues.
Another who was aiming to make it two in a row was Adam Poole in outright and over 2.0lt class. The South Australian and his Monaro were the ones to beat, but the weekend did not go to plan.
Five heats preceded the final with Cherry the winner of three, Braune and Poole one each. The latter had the oil pressure alarm warning which forced him out. Although he won the next heat he was in, and undercut the lap record by 2.05s, he would start down the grid in the final.
The culmination of points had Cherry on pole with Braune alongside. Isarasena and Macready were on the second row ahead of Leigh Forrest (Toyota Celica turbo), Graeme Wilkinson (O2L Ford Escort), Rod Jessup (Holden VN Commodore) and Peter Cusato (U2L Escort).
The Safety Car was deployed on the first lap with Brent Upton’s Suzuki Swift stopped before Turn 1. Poole had made his way to third behind Cherry and Braune and on resumption and with overheating, briefly went to second before the BMW driver was ahead for several laps.
Poole had overfilled for the race and once the fuel burn kicked in and the temps had come down, he passed Braune. On the 10th lap, he overtook Cherry for the lead. But four laps later, Poole’s Monaro came to a halt out of Turn 1 with a crank trigger sensor failure.
It would be a two-lap dash to the chequered flag. Cherry was able to bolt away. He had a lapped car between him and Braune who was comfortably ahead of Isarasena before the second cautionary period. However, into Turn 1 on the penultimate lap, Isarasena passed Braune to secure the runner up spot.
Cherry won by 6.5s and became only the second West Australian to win the title after Kevin Ledger’s two in 2010 and 2014.
Jessup finished fourth ahead of fellow Commodore drivers Matt Logan (VE), Stephen Johnston (VP) and Lib Palermo (VE). Then followed Ian Statham (Mitsubishi Magna), Wilkinson and Forrest who was fourth until the second resumption.
Macready were in fifth position in the second half of the race, until the late resumption had him fending off O2L cars. Contact with another car at Turn 1 damaged a wheel and caused the tyre to delaminate. He was able to limp home in 13th while his class rivals Cusato and Craig Wright were DNFs.
