The Winton Motor Raceway victory last weekend is the third in the event for the New South Wales teammates who have been regular competitors for over 10 years.
They previously won in 2024 and 2022 and were second in 2023 to this year’s runners up, Victorians Andrew Magilton and Ryan Woods. Osborn and Baxter were leading in 2019 before a Turn 2 crash just two laps from the end.
The longest race held for the venerable Holdens went 125 laps, was split into two halves with two hours of racing on Saturday and another two on Sunday. Each half had three compulsory pit stops, two for wheel changes and one for a driver changeover.
Up to the final seven minutes Woods had led for 21 laps, but Osborn was closing and took the lead on Lap 120. Osborn led the last few laps to take the win by just 0.45 seconds. One lap behind in third place were Victorians Ken Wright and Jett Blumeris.
A lap further behind were South Australians Peter Holmes and David Lines, and Adam Leach and Kerran Pridmore. Fifth with 122 laps completed were Ray Jardine and Neville Haley.
At the end of the first half on Saturday, Osborn/Baxter led from Magilton/Woods and Andrew McLeod and Keven Stoopman in third place. The three teams were the only ones to have completed 61 laps.
The next five which consisted of Gavin Ross/Steve Banks, Wright/Blumeris, Aaron Ivers/Phil Aitken and Adam Leach/Kerran Pridmore. They would be the beneficiaries of the “lucky dog” rule which put them back on the lead lap for Sunday’s start.
Overall, there were 17 lead changes while Osborn and Baxter were in front for 53 laps. Fifteen laps into Day 2 McLeod/Stoopman had fuel pump issues that put them out while at about the same time, Ross/Banks were delayed with a gearbox issue that ultimately saw them finish 13th.
Seventh in the end were Aaron Ivers and Phillip Aitken, ahead of David Ling/Peter Brown, River and Rob Paterson, Neville Blight/Ross Wood, Leigh Lovering/Tony Whitehair and Perry Bekkers/John Mahoney. Wayne Potts and Cameron Stuart blew a head gasket after just 13 laps but ran faultless all through Sunday for 14th.
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