Hi-Tec Oils Super Series Winton Weekend Wrap
Weather conditions certainly spiced up the action and created some surprise results across the weekend at Winton Motor Raceway. The penultimate round of the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series was an event of non-stop action and excitement across all categories.
TA2 Muscle Car Series
After a very challenging weekend at the Shell V-Power Motorsport Park in South Australia, Brad Gartner bounced back emphatically.
He won three of the four races, and with it the round victory, this keeps him in the title fight heading into the final round of the season at One Raceway.
Josh Haynes won the opening race of the weekend and came home in position two in the remaining races, and as a result dropped just eight points across the round.
The two were in a league of their own this weekend, and this was highlighted by an incredible battle in Race 3.
Across the four races, four different drivers finished third, Joshua Thomas, Hayden Jackson, Mark Bailey and Aaron Prosser. Notably it was Prosser’s second round in the series, a very impressive result.
Overall, for the round, third place went to the consistent Bailey.
Graham Cheney has been Mr Consistent this year, despite a challenging weekend, he collected good points and finished fifth for the event overall. This means he retains second in the championship, but his margin over Gartner has been slashed.
On debut, Speedway legend Robbie Farr bagged a couple of top 10 finishes and finished 13th for the round, not bad for someone who had never raced a car on tarmac previously.
Formula RX8
Brock Paine may have won another Formula RX8 round, but his race winning streak came to an end.
Both Rob Boaden and youngster Thomas Derwent were able to take race victories around the technical Winton layout.
Race 1 saw a traditional result with Queenslander Brock Paine beating home New South Welshman Rob Boaden and South Aussie Ivan Vantagiato.
However, in the torrential rain on Sunday it was Boaden who prevailed, he was the class of the field in those conditions. It ended the insane winning streak of young Paine.
The inverted grid race saw a new winner crowned in Formula RX8, Derwent taking the victory ahead of Paine, while Boaden only made his way up to fifth.
Again, in the final race Boaden made little ground through the field. He finished down in fifth, while championship leader Paine took the race victory ahead of Vantagiato and Geoff Connell.
For the round Paine ended up on 79 points, Boaden 70, while Vantagiato beat Connell for third on a countback.
Legend Cars Australia
Despite winning only one of the five races, consistency paid dividends for Ryan Pring from the Australian Capital Territory.
Three fourth place finishes in the first three races, a win in Race 4 and a second place in Race 5 was enough to take the round victory with 470 points.
Despite taking three wins and a third, fourteenth in the wet and wild Sunday opener cost Robert Hogan the round honours. Nevertheless, he still finished second for the round on 464 points.
Brendan Hourigan finished towards the pointy end all weekend long and enabled him to finish on the round podium.
Ben Goodridge was the other race winner, he mastered the wet weather conditions and was rewarded with fourth for the round, only one point off Hourigan.
Other race podium finishers were Billy Finnegan in Races 1 and 2, however Sunday was did not go to plan for the driver of car #86. Shane Tate notably finished second in ultra-wet Sunday encounter, these two finished in sixth and seventh for the round behind Scott Morgan.
Australian Super TT Championship
With two race wins and two second place finishes were enough for Matt Sims to win the Australian Super TT event in his BMW E36.
Series regular Coey Gillett and Glen Postlethwaite also claimed race victories across the weekend, in what was a very competitive round of the championship.
Sims dominated the first race of the weekend, taking victory by over 21s from Victorian Commodore driver Postlethwaite.
Postlethwaite however turned the tides in Race 2, he got in front and was able to keep Sims at bay throughout the second encounter.
A third and a fourth was all Cory Gillett and his pristine Nissan S13 could produce on Saturday, however, came out of the blocks on Sunday with a race victory. He beat home Sims in a photo finish, 0.017s at the line. Postlethwaite finished down in sixth.
Race 4 saw Sims return to the top beating home, Sims and Postlethwaite which is how they finished for the round overall.
Australian Excel Championship
New South Welshman Blake Tracey was the man to beat over the weekend at Winton in the Excels.
He won three of the four races, but was pushed all weekend long by a whole host of drivers.
On Saturday Tracey took the win by just 0.5s from Matthew Boylett, with local Victorian Brad Vereker a distant third.
Race 2 saw him beat home Vereker and Caleb Paterson, while Boylett finished down in seventh.
The penultimate race of the weekend saw Tracey beaten for the first and only time. He was forced to settle for second, beaten to the line by Queenslander Paterson, the margin just 0.3s. Boylett recovered to third.
It was Tracey who was back on top in Race 4, he beat home Paterson and Boylett, the order in which they finished for the round.
Superkarts
Six Superkart categories were split into three racing groups, one for 125cc Rotax Max karts, one for 125cc gearbox and Stock Honda, the other for 250cc karts.
125cc Rotax Max Light saw Kiwi Tyler Edney and local Victorian Russ Occhipintiwin split the race wins, two apiece, with Occhipinti taking out the final. Johnathon Twigden won two of the heavy races, the others went the way of Shannon Noble and Colin McIntyre. Super Heavy saw the four race wins get shared incredibly by four drivers, Cameron Austen, Rod Clarke, Rick Setterfield and Joe Brancati.
Bradley Tremain dominated the 125cc Gearbox category by taking a clean sweep across the weekend, as did James Strah in Stock Honda, four from four for both drivers.
Nicholas Schembri won three of the four races in 250cc International category. However, he did not finish Race 3 allowing South Australian visitor Ilya Harpas to take a win.
The final round of the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series takes place later this month at the recently revived and revamped One Raceway (previously known as Wakefield Park).
From October 25-27, all your favourite categories will be at the New South Wales venue, headlined by the TA2 Muscle Car Series. Formula RX8 and Legend Cars Australia are on the bill as well as Formula Vee.
The incredibly loud Stock Cars Australia return, featuring NASCARs, AUSCARs and all things V8 muscle. Another addition is the return of the ultra-fast open-wheel Australian Drivers’ Championship.
Round 6 Tickets: www.hi-tecoilssuperseries.au/tickets