TA2 King of the West

Honours were split between Jarrod Hughes and Nathan Herne who had an added disadvantage. Herne started the second TA2 race of the weekend from the rear of the grid after taking two new tyres for his Dodge Challenger.

As he began the charge forward, Hughes was outpointed at the rolling start by fellow Ford Mustang pilot Ayrton Hodson. It was the second race in a row where Hughes was beaten away and this time it took four laps before he was able to grab the lead.

Herne was eighth at the end of the first lap and third by Lap 8. Hobson was his next target, and Herne was able to grab second four laps later. But he couldn’t catch Hughes who won by a second. Hodson was a clear third from Clint Raynor, Brett Niall, Jason Pryde and Domain Ramsay next, all in Chev Camaros.

Herne won the start of Race 3 and led Hughes for four laps when the lead changed. Hughes look set for his third victory until a slight miscue at Turn 7 with just over three laps to go. Herne went back to the front and won.

Hodson held third until retirement at three quarter distance with engine failure. That gave the spot to Niall who was always ahead of Raynor. Then came Pryde from Cheney, Jackson Callo (Camaro) who survived a wild spin out of Turn 6 as a result of contact with Ramsay.

Tyrepower V8 SuperUtes

There were two shifts in the points, halfway through Round 3 after Adam Marjoram (Isuzu D-MAX) and Cody Brewczynski (Toyota Hilux) had race wins.

Marjoram won the drag to the first corner in the first race to lead pole sitter David Sieders (Mazda BT-50), Aaron Borg (D-MAX), Brewczynski and Adrian Cottrell through the first lap after which the safety car was deployed. Glen Melling (Colorado) had spun off down the hill before Turn 7 and hit the wall.

After the race went green again, Marjoram continued in front while Brewczynski passed Borg and then Sieders to take second and be level with Marjoram on points. Cottrell retired before mid-distance with an electrical gremlin while Rossi Johnson (Colorado) improved from eighth early to finish fifth ahead of Jimmy Vernon (Mitsubishi Triton) and Craig Woods (Hilux).

The next two across the line, Jason Norris (Hilux) and Anthony Jewell (Triton) shared the front row for the reverse top nine Race 2. Norris led and Jewell went nowhere at the start as Vernon took second ahead of Woods.

Vernon was the next to lead before Johnson was able to pass him. All the while Brewczynski made inroads, picking them off one by one until he hit the lead with five laps to go and regain the points lead.

Johnson had second until he had a moment at Turn 1 on the penultimate lap and lost out to Sieders. Borg was next from Woods, Paul Morris (Ford Ranger), Vernon and Marjoram who dropped to 21st on the first lap, a result of a tap from David Casey (Triton) at Turn 7.

Battery World Aussie Racing Cars

Although beaten away at the start and over the first lap, Joel Heinrich won Race 2 of the third round by an impressive 5.4s. Once he took over the lead from Caleb Paterson on the second lap, he was able to break away as the battle for second became serious.

Kody Garland and Mason Harvey both passed Paterson who then had slight contact Harvey into Turn 7. The latter hit and spun Garland before the three continued, although Garland had dropped to ninth.

Harvey finished the race second ahead of Paterson as Garland fought his way back to fourth. In the tight contest for fifth, Diesel Thomas came out ahead of Scott O’Keefe, Brandon Madden and Josh Thomas. First race non-finishers Ryan Reynolds, Scott Dornan and Reece Chapman filled the next three places.

Historic Touring Cars

In two categories this weekend, Clint Raynor went pillar to post for the second time when he won Race 2 in his Chev Camaro. He won the 12 lap race by 3.5s over Jamie Tilley in a Ford Mustang. Cono Onofaro (Mini Cooper S) finished third, able to hold off Greg Barr (Holden Torana XU-1) who started 23rd after a DNF in Race 1.

Toranas in the hands of Stuart Young and Robert Poglits were next ahead of Don Behets who was 12th at the end of Lap 1 after he stalled the big Ford Galaxie at the start. Peter Pisoneri (Mustang) was another who started near the rear, then made it to 14th before he retired.