Experienced Queensland racer Wayne Wakefield held off Nathan Pretty to record his maiden V8 Utes Racing Series victory in race two on the streets of Adelaide.
Wakefield started the reverse grid battle from pole in his Bacardi OakHeart Ford, and he made the most of the position to head Pretty into the first corner.
The former Bathurst 1000 polesitter held his nerve throughout to take the chequered flag from Pretty and Jesse Dixon.
“I’m back. It’s been a long time coming, last year was pretty frustrating, we got amongst it a few times but my car wasn’t quite good enough,” said Wakefield.
Reigning champion Ryal Harris recorded his first retirement in four years after a coming together with Ryan Hansford and Kris Walton on lap five.
Harris felt the incident could easily have been avoided.
“Three into one of the tightest corners on the track never works, I don’t know what Ryan was thinking. I shouldn’t complain too much – it’s the first DNF I’ve had since 2010 so we’ll recover, everyone else does, so we’ll figure a way out to make it happen,” said Harris.
Rhys McNally came home in fourth just ahead of Elliot Barbour and Utes returnee George Miedecke.
David Sieders, who will start on pole for Sunday’s third race, finished seventh while Craig Dontas, Andrew Fisher and Grant Johnson completed the top 10.
Touring Car Masters Race 2
Mark King avoided start line carnage to sprint to his first victory in the ENZED Touring Car Masters Series.
King, behind the wheel of his Chevrolet Camaro, managed to come through a start line accident which brought out the safety car.
After slipping underneath Jason Gomersall’s Holden Torana for the lead shortly after the restart, he eased to the chequered flag.
John Bowe fought his way through the field to grab second with a last ditch move on Keith Kassulke at the final corner of the last lap.
The talking point o the race came at the start when the front row starting Carey McMahon appeared to falter from the line. This in turn caused Bill Pye and Brad Tilley to make heavy contact.
Race one winner Tony Karanfilovski was caught up in the impact and forced out of the race as a result.
Gomersall led the early exchanges after the restart before King forced his way into the lead. A five car battle for second developed but in the end it was Bowe, who came through to take the spot ahead of Kassulke.
Australian Formula 3 Championship Race 2
Team BRM’s Simon Hodge continued his impressive Australian Formula 3 debut by recording his second commanding victory of the Clipsal weekend.
The former Formula Ford racer led all 15 laps on the Adelaide streets in his Mygale M11 before taking the chequered flag from Gilmour Racing’s Ben Gersekowski and Arrie Maree.
While Hodge seemed in control from the start, Gersekowski leapt from fifth on the grid to finish the race comfortably ahead of Maree in third.
Team BRM’s Chris Anthony finished fourth ahead of Jon Collins with Chelsea Angelo heading the National Class in sixth overall.
A faulty clutch put experienced racer John Magro out of the race.
Aussie Racing Cars Race 3
Brendon Pingel came through a frenetic reverse grid Aussie Racing Cars encounter to claim victory in race three.
Pingel and Darren Chamberlin fought hard for the lead in the opening laps before a spin for Chamberlin dropped him down the order.
In the end, Pingel came through to take the chequered flag as he held off Adam Uebergang and Trent Young.
Race two winner Peter Carr finished in fourth position.
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