Calder

ROUND 5

Hi Peoples, Boris Slabovic, your roving race reporter with a wrap up of round 5 ..

Well didn’t the weather surprise us at Calder, I was sort of homesick for the mother land. Quite a few guys were out there on the free Friday and cutting some good laps in prep for a good weekend. I think all that went out the window Sat morning when the hail and rain came to play. I saw all the guys out there tippy toeing around in practice,ahh if only someone drove a Lada!!. I think there was more ice skating that race car driving. Dave Skilton tested the strength of all pit wall and came off second best, but all was fixed by race time and he managed good results for the round.

Shane Brown had the new Gemini out and about and did a good job in qualifying to have it in the top five. Unfortunately it went backward from there with more spins then he cares to remember.

Mike Kyval retired in qualifying with a broken gearbox, leaving A class unrepresented all weekend.

Brad Toye had the Stanza well placed in qualifying, Jamie was on P1 and Brendan Woods on P2 but having to go to a Mentone wedding was not there to make any use of it.

Race 1.

No Woods on the front row and Jamie Augustine slow off the mark left a gap for Cammy to take advantage and go from 6th to 2nd by turn one and on to a race win. Brad was having a strong run until the wheel nuts let go and the left rear wheel parted company leaving him high and dry at turn 1. Kochy settled into second with Jamie recovering for a respectable third. Stevo was the highest placed of the C class guys, coming home in 7th with a brigade of C class of James Need, Warrick Spooner , Rob Evans and Clive Ablitt.

Race 2.

Cammy and Kochie of the front row, the reigning champ got the jump and led the first half of the race, Cammy taking over with an outside move at turn one. Shane was sliding about and was not far off being lapped in the cars debut weekend. Result Gemini sent home and trusty ex newing 1200 in for Sunday. Craig Hill was limping along with a fuel/ ignition problem all weekend. Stevo was flying in the Corolla to finish 4th . Skilto got the bandaged Escort on to the podium, its amazing what race tape can fix.

Race 3

Sunday brought a much better day with plenty of sunshine to deal with. Cammy off p1 got a slow start and was beaten to turn one by Kochie and Skilto. Cammy retired a lap later with a sticking throttle. Woodsy was on a mission with a last to 2nd drive and boy was the corolla on fire. JB was besieged by gremlins (must have been parked too close to Hilly’s Stanza and was out for the remainder of the weekend after such a strong showing thus far.

Race 4

Was a bit of a strange race, I think the drivers were struggling to concentrate with all the attention by the professional photo shoot and I think those legs caused some eye strain for the guys. Woods was still flying and managed to put in a great effort to finish 1st , Skilto was still powering along in the well bandaged Escort to come home 4th. Jamie did a copy of Brendan and got to 2nd from the back of the grid, and Kochy was being Mr. consistent finishing 3rd. Stevo was having a good run till his rear axle gave out and sent him to the pits for a quick and well practiced axle change.

Race 5

The Big one! Jamie blasted away in the final only to get a black flag and come into get the once over from the official, he managed to finish but well down. Brad was doing well till his window net came way making a pit lane drive through the only option to solve the problem. He went back out and it became a limping Stanza race at the back. James Needs took over from Shane in the final as the spin doctor, looping the popular yellow mini and getting close to Stilton’s part of the wall on the front straight. Woodsy took out the final with Kochy hot on his heals, and Mr. perseverance Skilton in 3rd. Shane had the datsun flying in 4th (which car will he race at next round?) . Rob Knight was putting in some consistent results in the Datsun 1000, although at turn one it appeared he was using his undertray as a bump stop.

I think it was a interesting weekend’s racing with weather from one extreme to the other and am array of cars up the front of the pack. Check out the pointscore elsewhere on this site to see how everyone performed, bring on Winton!!!. The 6th and final round of the year and its also the Nationals. I may event have the Lada entered if all goes well!!!! Till next round…………………………..Boris.

Winton

ROUND 4

Hi Peoples, Boris Slabovic, your roving race reporter with a wrap up of round 4 ..

The second half of the season has begun, and boy was it an eventful round 4 at Winton. With a huge grid of 24 to begin the weekend there was plenty of action throughout the field and plenty of retirements to shake up the championship.

Race 1 form up the 1st half

The 24 car grid... Race 1

Race 1 form up the 2nd half
Kochy was the standout of the meeting with an almost perfect score. Peter Lane had a consistent run with good finishes in all races as did Clive Ablitt. Trent Harrison had JB’s Alfa flying on Saturday only to have the gearbox jamb in gear, putting him out for the weekend. It seamed to be contagious as Stevo’s gearbox suffered a similar fate luchtime Sunday. After a close clean round at Calder the gloves were off at Winton. There was action plenty. Mark diggerson had a huge moment in race 1 collecting both Mark Shepherd and the flaggie tower.

Race 3

Stevo, Mike Kyval, Dave Barnes, Dave Skitlon, Mark Shepherd & Peter Lane in the esses

In race 2 it looked like a scene out of mad max coming along the old back straight with Warrick Spooners future racer on fire in the braking zone andBbrad Toye and Dave Skilton littered on opposite sides of the same straight. It appears brad got a little air after a wild lose in which Dave walked into the middle of. The collision put brad out for the weekend but Dave was able to get back out Sunday morning after a little panel beating overnight.

Race 3

Peter lane leads Rob Evans

Sunday mornings race was a far as Kevin Roberts got at this round when his crank angle disc sliced through his oilfilter and sent him sliding off in his own oil at the esses. The race was red flagged on lap 3 and we were gridded up for a full 8-lap restart. Cammy managed to break an axle on the restart and went from the front row to the back at a fast rate of knots. Kockie had to take it easy with a short supply of fuel on board. Brownie had the ex newing 1200 flying in its first outing in a long time, and Woodsy put in a great race to score a race win.

Race 1

Steve Howard leads Brad Toye just.. race 1

Dave Barnes brought his two car team of Datsuns to the track with mixed results, but its only early days so we should see more speed from both Barnesy and Rob Evans, at future rounds.

Race 3 form up

Anthony Koch, John Camm & Shane Brown, form up race 3

The DNF list for race 3 included Shane Brown, Dave Skilton, John Camm and Craig Hill. I know that we have spoken about reverse grids and the dangers thereof and have erred on the side of caution and been reluctant to have such races but boy did we have one for race 4.

Everyone seemed to get through the traffic without too much grief, Cammy had a good run getting up to 2nd before the engine shut off and refused to re fire for race five. Shane went well finishing a healthy 3rd and Dave Skilton scored a second place after a bit of an altercation with the future racers at Penrite. Race 5 saw a depleted grid venture out for the final; the racing was fast and furious with Kochy winning from a well-recovered Dave Skilton and Shane in 3rd.

Check out the pointscore elsewhere on this site to see how everyone performed!
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Round 5 is just around the corner. Its on the 16th to 18th September at Calder, hopefully we’ll have even closer racing with less dramas.

Boris ………………..