Seven of the Biggest and Fastest Categories in Queensland to Race at the Lakeside Tribute.
Racing is back at Lakeside Park for the first time in 2017 on the 18th and 19th of March when competitors for the Lakeside Tribute take to the track. It’s been a five month break since the last race weekend at the historic track but come the weekend of the 19th it will roar to life yet again with the fantastic mechanical beasts from TA2, Trans Ams, Queensland Touring Car Championship, Queensland Clubman Sports Racers, Group N, HQ Holdens and Classic Sports Sedans. These seven categories promise a host of excitement over that weekend, with a MASSIVE 32 races and 8 qualifying sessions on Saturday and Sunday – thanks to QTCC having to split their giant grid over two groups.
The Lakeside Tribute, also features a Brock theme with Phil Brock as the patron of the event and Brock cars on show on and off track. Bringing the Brock festivities to life in QTCC, Steve Hay’s Brock liveried Holden VK, will make sure to keep the spirit running through all aspects of the weekend. The QTCC championship went right down to the wire last year, with Hay walking away with top honours in the last race. 2017 will be another showdown year for QTCC with 40 cars entered for the Lakeside Tribute across their two groups. Group A and Group B always provide an incredible spectacle of racing and are definitely not a category to miss at the Tribute. Two weeks out before their first race in 2017 isn’t too early to start title speculation, a number of QTCC competitors have been at Lakeside Park over the last few weeks tuning and preparing their cars and they are all looking mighty impressive. It should be another edge of your seat battle for the crown in 2017.
The new TA2 series launched in late 2016 at Lakeside with a seven car grid and Chad Cotton walked away from the weekend victorious. It was a spectacularly dominant display from Cotton on the weekend of the Lakeside 300, however, since then, the field has proved mighty competitive with outings at the Ipswich Classic bringing the grid closer together. For the Tribute, a further three cars have been added to the field, and competitors around the place have been coming to grips with these amazing machines. With a precedent already set last year, TA2 continues to live up to the hype.
The Lakeside Tribute will also see the Queensland Clubman Sports Racers duel it out for another year. These cars are the fastest competing in Queensland and seeing them draft each other up the front straight is an awe-inspiring sight. In 2017 there were just 8 points between the series’ Kevin Bartlett Trophy contenders with Grant Green just nudging ahead of Dave Rodgie. It was a tight battle between the two over the year to see who could secure the trophy, but the final round at the Ipswich Classic ended up producing the decider. 2017 should be another epic year for these incredible fast cars.
These three categories are guaranteed to bring the action on the Lakeside Tribute weekend with HQs, Group N, Classic Sports Sedans and Trans Ams also heading to the track to start their championship campaigns.
Most competitors are heading into their first race meeting of 2017, the summer break was long, all championships are now up for grabs, the big questions of 2016 all have answers, but 2017 is perfectly unanswered – the Lakeside Tribute however, might just provide a clue.
