Morris beats Moffat in Phillip Island Trans Am thriller

Nash Morris has beaten James Moffat to victory in Race 3 of Round 2 of the National Trans Am Series at the Phillip Island Shannons SpeedSeries event by just 0.0473s.

Morris led virtually all 11 laps but series pace-setter Moffat briefly edged ahead on a handful of occasions in the closing stages, including during the last corner.

They were separated by virtually nothing at the chequered flag, with Lochie Dalton finishing just 0.7938s further back in third position.

Morris and Ben Grice shared the front row and it was the former leading the latter when they exited Doohan Corner for the first time, from Tom Hayman, Brett Holdsworth, and Moffat.

Dalton was eighth from 11th on the grid and Owen Kelly was 10th from 15th at the end of Lap 1.

The latter won Race 1 but failed to finish Lap 2 when he was turned into a wall by Garry Rogers Motorsport team-mate Edan Thornburrow, who would be issued a 30-second post-race penalty.

Moffat passed Holdsworth for fourth on the run to the Hayshed on Lap 2, then overtook Hayman for third on Lap 4, by which time Dalton had risen to seventh and Kelly to eighth.

On Lap 5, Grice outbraked himself at Miller Corner (Turn 4) and made contact with Morris as he ran long at the slow right-hander.

He dropped to fourth while Moffat took the opportunity to launch an attack for the race lead, which he looked to have prised from Morris before ‘Flash’ went as deep as he dared as they rounded the Hayshed.

A Safety Car was called on Lap 6 after Holdsworth and Tyler Everingham had separately stopped on-track.

Morris led from Moffat, Hayman, Grice, Dalton, and Kelly for the Lap 8 restart, when Hayman made an unsuccessful bid to round up Moffat at Doohan Corner.

Dalton passed Grice for fourth off Southern Loop on Lap 9, and Kelly soon followed the Tasmanian by Car #03.

Morris was becoming increasingly defensive as Moffat searched for a way through on the Supercheap Auto entry, and nearly did so as they ran down Gardner Straight at the start of Lap 10.

Dalton showed the nose at Hayman at Miller Corner on Lap 11 and made contact which moved the latter wide, making for a change of third position, and Kelly took advantage to nab fourth.

Up the very front, Moffat was still hassling Morris and nearly pulled off a pass for victory on the final lap, but came up just short.

Dalton took the chequered flag in third, from Kelly, Jaylyn Robotham, Cody Gillis, Hayman, Elliot Barbour, Elliott Cleary, and Joshua Webster.

UPDATE: Dalton 15sec penalty, drops from third to ninth; Cleary 30sec penalty, drops from ninth to 12th in classification

Grice was a DNF after he lost a wheel late in the piece and spun into the gravel trap at Lukey Heights.

Round 3 takes place at Winton on June 9-11, and will be streamed live and ad-free on Stan Sport.

Results: Race 3 Updated

Classes: O Outright, H Hoosier Cup, M Masters Cup