The seventh and final round of the Australian Formula Ford Series at The Bend Motorsport Park delivered Sonic Racing a one-two for the round and also the final outright standings.
After winning Race 1 on Saturday, Jake Santalucia took second in Race 2 and won the shortened Race 3 which finished under Safety Car conditions. With the title already secured, Matt Hillyer was second overall ahead of Zak Lobko and the Altatek Racing duo of Harrison Sellars and Kobi Williams.
The Sonic team-mates exchanged the Race 2 lead several times before Hillyer prevailed. Lobko was third, just in front of the Altatek duo.
On the last lap, Synergy Motorsport’s Eddy Beswick was able to wrestle sixth off Borland’s Xavier Kokai and they had Lachlan Strickland and Jack Bussey in close company. Conor Somers was next across the line but later penalised 30 seconds for contact that put Joe Fawcett out.
Race 3 was another close battle between Hillyer and Santalucia. This time Santalucia was leading from Lobko and Hillyer when the race went full yellows.
Cody Maynes Rutty bunkered at Turn 1 before Fawcett went off and into the wall at the same place. Sellars was fourth from Williams, Beswick and Kokai.
Alex Gardner continued his winning ways with another solid victory in the second 50-minute Radical race. Behind the Volante Rosso racer, Elliott Schutte was second as his Arise teammate Cooper Cutts climbed from the back of the field to finish third.
Adam Lisle and Jordan Oon combined to be next at the finish, ahead of Terry Knowles, Mark Rosser, Nick Kelly, Brad Russell, Peter Clare/Josh Hunt, Adam Naccarata and Glen Kenny/Melinda Price. Chris Perini, the 2022 series winner, was an early casualty with an electronic issue that hampered gear selection.
A five-second penalty in Race 3 failed to stop Mark Laucke backing up his Race 2 win with another in the Australian Prototype Series aboard his turbo Peugeot powered Wolf GB08 Tornado. Scott Bormann (Wolf F1 Extreme/Coyote V8) was second in Race 2 with John Paul Drake (Wolf F1 Mistral) third. Drake beat Bormann to the flag in Race 3 and that was enough to ensure the series championship.
Second places in Races 2 and 3 were sufficient for John Goodacre (MARC GT) to secure the MARC Cars Australia round. The first race of the day went to Max Vidau in the new TekworkX GT with Cameron McLeod (MARC I Focus) third. In the last Adam Hargraves (GT) was able to edge out McLeod for third.
There was only one race for Burson Auto Parts Excel SA which Charlie Nash won comfortably. Shayne Nowickyj was second, narrowly ahead of teammate Mitch McGarry as Kim Andersen and Cruz Fost were one second apart in striving for fifth.
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