After he gave himself a scare, Dylan Thomas won the TA2 Muscle Cars Series framed by Hytek while debutant Jarrod Hughes was the Round 6 winner in a dramatic end to 2023.
Wet weather at Calder Park put a damper on the final day of the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series. The scheduled first races for the support races were abandoned and racing began at 4.00pm in the afternoon behind the Safety Car after an additional lap for each.
TA2s were able to get three races in after the opener on Friday. Hughes (Mustang) was clinical in the first race (Race 2) of the day. He took the lead off Race 1 winner Morris who ran wide at Turn 1. Two more instances at the same corner allowed fellow Mustang driver Gartner to close and eventually take second.
Morris finished in front of Jackson Rice (Mustang) and Thomas who crashed his Mustang into a wall when the field ventured out in the wet to appraise the wet track earlier. He and his crew were able to make the repairs for him to finish ahead of Jayden Jackson (Challenger) and title rival Josh Haynes (Mustang).
Track conditions remained wet and slippery into Race 3 where Hughes led throughout. Gartner held second until passed by Morris on the second race lap. Gartner was able to get the spot back on the final lap with the assistance of lapped traffic.
Also in the title battle, Rice was fourth despite a penalty for a starting breach. He held his spot ahead of Jackson, Haynes, Thomas, Nick Bates (Mustang), Graham Cheney and Lee Stibbs in Camaros.
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The last race had to be halted after two laps with an incident on the rise out of Turn 2. Stibbs had a spin and Russell Wright, in a bid to avoid him, had his Mustang hit the outside wall. Greg Keam (Mustang) couldn’t avoid Stibbs which resulted in contact.
With the resumption Hughes went onto win. Rice mounted a bid for second and was alongside Morris when Rice spun out of Turn 2. Morris continued for second ahead of Jackson, Haynes, Gartner, Thomas, Cheney and Masters overall title winner Bates.
The EFS Australian Hyundai Championship went down to the final race. Tyler Collins had a two-point advantage after Race 1, but Jaylyn Robotham put them back on equal terms in Race 2. He finished third behind Brad Vereker and Blake Tracey, and ahead of Collins.
It came down to the final race. Vereker and Tracey vied for the lead and the win. It went the way of the latter when Vereker went wide at the last corner. Tracey crossed the line first although he received a penalty post-race which gave the third round overall to Vereker.
Collins and Robotham battled for the whole 12 laps and touched on several occasions. In the intensity of their dice, Jack Wood was able to sneak through for third while Collins finished 0.09s ahead of Robotham to take the title.
Shane Tate won both races to secure the Legends Cars Australia national title. He beat Lachlan Ward and Billy Finnegan in Race 2 and then took the third ahead of Ryan Pring and Ward.
Craig Eddy (Holden Commodore VH) was able to pass Mark Houeix (Commodore VS) to win Race 2 of Vic V8s before the latter turned the tables on Eddy in the third. Mark Kakouri (VH) was third in both.
In his turbocharged Ford Falcon XR6, Brent Edwards won both Super TT races. He won Race 2 after Mark Tracey (BMW E36/Chev) grabbed the lead and then suddenly stopped. Michael Rickett (Nissan Pulsar) was second and was the runner up to Edwards in the last. RX8 Cup didn’t race at all. Justin Barnes was the national series winner.
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