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Round 6 of the Shannons SpeedSeries took place at Sandown International Raceway. Heading the program on a cold weekend was the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series, its last round before the category is bolstered by TCR World Tour in November.
Reigning title holder Tony D’Alberto returned to form in the Wall Racing Honda with the Race 1 victory and a third in the last race. But it was Bailey Sweeny who gained the most out of the fifth round. He took the points lead off his Hyundai teammate Josh Buchan with victories in Races 2 and 3.
After he finished third overall at the last two rounds, National Trans Am points leader James Moffat struck back with three solid wins in Round 5. The GRM/Valvoline Mustang driver finished ahead of Camaro driver Elliot Barbour with Moffat’s teammate Lochie Dalton third.
The combined Monochrome GT4/Australian Production Cars had four half hour races across the two days. GT4’s Shane Smollen enhanced his points lead with four wins in his Porsche Cayman although pushed by Karl Begg (McLaren 570S) and Steve Jukes (BMW M4) on occasions.
Meanwhile Grant Sherrin was equal to the task in APC for four wins and strong outright placings in his Class X M4. His nearest rivals were Lindsay Kearns/Coleby Cowhan (A2 Ford Mustang), Dean Campbell/Cameron Crick (A1 Mitsubishi EVO X) and Sherrin’s brother Iain, also in an M4.
There were three frantic races in Kumho V8 Touring Cars where in his 55th round, Jim Pollicina in his Holden Commodore VE, recorded his first-round victory. Jamie Tilley won Race 1 before a crash in Race 2. Fellow Ford Falcon driver Jude Bargwanna crashed out of Race 1, lost the second race to Pollicina due to a penalty and won the last. Ray Hislop was second overall ahead of Tony Evangelou in their former Supercar Fords.
In Australian Formula Open, Ryan How won the first encounter, and trailed Trent Grubel across the line in the second before the latter was penalised and relegated to second. Grubel atoned in the last for the win and second overall.
Two races with pitstops and one sprint encounter made up the MARC Cars weekend. Cameron McLeod won the first and second in the MARC I Mazda but lost out to Dan Jilesen in the MARC GT he shared with Geoff Taunton in Race 3. McLeod took the weekend points ahead of Jilesen/Taunton with Jake Camilleri third.
Photos: Supplied – Shannons SpeedSeries.
