The three-day family-friendly event was presented by Burson Auto Parts and the South Australian Government through the Tourism Commission. It had an attendance of almost 27,000 and was headlined by the venue’s first-ever Country Music Festival, the largest of its kind in South Australia.
There was a big field of Historic Touring Cars that competed across four races. Josh Axford (Ford Escort RS1600) dominated in the up to 1600cc class. In 1601-3500cc Robert Smith was first in three after fellow Holden Torana XU-1 steerer Evan Gobell headed him home in the first.
Jamie Tilley (Ford Mustang) was on for a quartet of outright and over 3500cc victories until an oil leak, three laps from the end of the last race. Despite not able to win a race, Paul Stubber (Chev Camaro) took the overall honours over of Andrew Beard (Camaro), Adam Smith (Ford Falcon XW GT), Tilley and Aldo De Paoli (Camaro).
Andrew Robson (Brabham BT30) won the opening two Groups F, M & O races, then David Kent (BT21) and Norman Falkiner (Elfin Mono) took out the next two. In combined Formula 5000 and Groups P, Q, R, Paul Zazryn (Lola T332) had two strong wins over David Hardman (Hardman JH1) and one over Fran Harris (Chevron B24) who won the last where Zazryn DNF’d.
The event kicked off on Friday afternoon with the Bull Throttle Rodeo and Motorcycle Stunt Show at on the temporary arena. The Classic reached its peak when country music stars Lee Kernaghan, Kasey Chambers, Beccy Cole and Brad Cox performed on Saturday afternoon and evening.
“We are absolutely over the moon with the way crowds from across the country have embraced this event and travelled to our Murray River, Lakes and Coorong region to enjoy some truly world-class entertainment,” said Alistair MacDonald, CEO, Shell V-Power Motorsport Park at The Bend.
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“We have never done an event of this kind, and we just need to commend all who attended, particularly those who camped, for collectively creating an enjoyable atmosphere for anyone who walked through the gates.”
The crowd numbers surpassed the previous weekend’s 25,058 at the Top Fuel Drag Racing meeting. Together 51,926 patrons attended the park over the two weekends.
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