Ryan Simpson has gone one step further in his quest to beat his incredible Kumho V8 Touring Cars winning streak from 2013, by taking the opening race in round two of the series today at Winton Raceway in Victoria.
A safety-car filled Kumho Series opener was one of several dramatic races in a day that saw Tom Randle score his first Australian Formula Ford Series win of the year, Fraser Ross take a Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge enduro that ended in the dark and Travis Lindorff outrace his rivals to deliver an upset win in leg one of the Super Six Touring Cars Dial Before You Dig Classic.
Round 4 of the 2014 Shannons Australian Motor Racing Nationals continues tomorrow with a full day of racing, all of it streamed live via thenationals.com.au
Simpson started from pole in today’s 9-lap Kumho series affair and led the race from the opening lap, extending a comfortable margin over nearest rival Justin Ruggier (Eggleston Motorsport VZ Commodore) before the first Safety Car was called for Matt Chahda’s stranded BF Falcon.
Racing had only resumed for a lap before Tony Evangelou and Matt Palmer got together exiting turn 10, Evangelou’s ex-FPR Falcon stranded on the waterlogged verge.
One the second Safety Car intervention was cleared it was clear sailing for Simpson, who took his fourth race win of the year ahead of Ruggier and Tebb.
Tebb, driving an ex-Mark Skaife HRT Commodore, had to desperately hold off a fast-finishing Simon Tabinor’s Falcon on the final lap, only holding on to the position with a desperate lunge into turn one on the final lap, covering off Tabinor’s advances.
Travis Lindorff was a surprise winner in the Dial Before You Dig Challenge for the Super 6 Touring Cars, as early leader Shawn Jamieson fell out of the running with a broken gearbox.
The dramatic Super Six race started with more than six cars – including a majority of the first two rows of the grid – falling off the road at turn one, before Jamieson was able to execute a strong comeback drive to assume the race lead once the compulsory pit stops had been completed.
However, when his gearbox failed Lindorff was in the best position to benefit and assumed a lead he would never lose.
Kane Baxter-Smith finished second in his AU Falcon while a thrilling battle for third on the final lap was arguably a highlight of the race.
Second-generation racer Ben Grice (Falcon) and Commodore-driving Jason Leoncini swapped third twice on the final lap with Grice edging out Leoncini by less than 0.1s in a drag race to the line.
The Super Six Touring Cars return tomorrow for a further 30-laps to complete the Dial Before You Dig Challenge.
Tom Randle (Mygale SJ13) scored his first Australian Formula Ford Series win of the year, leading all of the ten laps to take race one ahead of James Golding and Jordan Lloyd.
Polesitter Lloyd was out-dragged by Randle on the run into the first corner and held second for the first half of the race before Golding worked his way past to snatch second on lap six.
Nick Rowe pressured Lloyd on the run to the flag but was unable to snatch third away from the resolute Queenslander, while Golding was unable to make any significant gains on leader Randle in the closing stages, the Mygale beating the Spectrum home by 1.6 seconds.
Hamish Hardeman rounded out the top five with Cameron Walters winning the ‘Kent’ class for Formula Ford 1600cc entries.
Fraser Ross has placed one hand on the Jim Richards endurance trophy after taking his second long-distance race win of the year.
Ross edged out John Goodacre in a dramatic race that started in the encroaching twilight and ended in almost pitch-black conditions – and also had to endure a brief rain shower in the middle of the race.
Jon McCorkindale was set for second place, or better, by the middle of the race after charging his way past Goodacre (who had stolen the position from McCorkindale with a traditionally storming start), however found the barriers at turn 10 on the eleventh lap, bringing out the safety car and ending his charge.
McCorkindale’s misfortune allowed Fitzgerald to score third position ahead of John Karytinos and Michael Loccisano.
The Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge returns for a further two races on Sunday, each of then 10-lap sprint races.
Tony Ricciardello took a dominant pole position for round two of the Kerrick Sports Sedan National series, the iconic Alfa GTV-Chev taking the top spot by 0.8s over a struggling Darren Hossack and his Audi A4.
Hossack missed all of the second qualifying session with apparent gearbox problems as Shane Bradford (Camaro), Steven Tamasi and Colin Smith (Monaro) completed the top five. The Kerrick Sports Sedans will tackle three races on Sunday.
Round 1 winner Roger I’Anson scored a thrilling pole position for round two of the Australian Sports Racer Series, edging out Adam Proctor by 0.03s with a last-ditch run at pole at the end of the session. The incredible partity between brands in the series was showcased today with I’Anson’s West edging Proctor’s Stohr by the smallest of margins.
Andrew McInnes, Aaron Steer and Darren Barlow completed the top five.
Sundays Shannons Nationals action will be broadcast live and free on the internet from Winton via the Nationals TV streaming service, available at www.thenationals.com.au, motorsporttv.com.au or the MotorsportsTV app on iPhone or Android.
For more information about the round, follow the links at www.thenationals.com.au
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