Tim Berryman has taken victory in a dramatic Rose City 10,000 race, for historic Formula 5000 cars, held at the inaugural Winton Formula Festival on the weekend.
Driving his 1974 Lola T332, previously raced by Aussie motorsport legends such as Alan Jones and Jon Davison, Berryman played second fiddle to Tom Tweedie in the two F5000 sprint races on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.
Tweedie also bolted to an early lead in Sunday afternoon’s winner-take-all feature race, but a gear selection problem forced him into retirement and enabled Berryman to take the win ahead of Paul Zazryn.
The battle for the final place on the podium came down to the wire, with Dean Camm ultimately taking third place after starting at the rear of the field, overtaking David Crabtree on the final lap.
Josh Buchan, driving the car in which John Goss won the Australian Grand Prix in 1976, also ran among the lead pack and punched out the fastest lap before retiring with a brake problem.
Michael Kinsella won his third Australian Formula Vee title after an intense weekend of competition across six heat races and a grand final.
In the heat races, the wins were shared between Victorian Reef McCarthy (three victories), New South Welshman Kinsella (two wins) and ACT driver Daniel Reynolds (one win).
McCarthy started on pole for the final ahead of Kinsella and Reynolds, leading the early laps before being overtaken by his two rivals. Kinsella and Reynolds then pulled clear, leaving McCarthy to fend off an attack from Hayden Crossland in the battle for the final spot on the podium.
With just a handful of laps remaining, a spectacular collision between Adam Nicolson and Andre Curin saw Curin’s car rolling at the final corner; the Safety Car was deployed and the race restarted for a final-lap sprint to the chequered flag, with Kinsella holding out Reynolds and McCarthy in the run to the finish line.
In the Formula Vee 1200cc and Historic class, Stephen Butcher played second fiddle to Max Bonney in the first two races, but regained the ascendancy from Bonney in the third and fourth races as well as the final; Bonney finished second ahead of the consistent Myles Lockett.
The Winton Formula Festival was rounded out by Formula Ford, which was divided into separate races for the Duratec, Modern Kent and Historic cars.
In the Duratec class, Bailey Collins and Joe Fawcett shared the wins in the preliminary races before Edison Beswick prevailed in the final, overtaking Collins for the win on the penultimate lap. Jack Clifford edged out Fawcett for the final spot on the podium.
Queenslander Tim Hamilton dominated the Modern Kent class, winning all three races ahead of Victorian Luke Ellery and NSW driver Will Liston.
The historic class saw a good battle in the Fc (1983-89 class) between Andrew Reid and Andrew McInnes; Reid won a couple of the preliminary races but retired from the final with a mechanical problem, allowing McInnes to take a relatively unchallenged victory.
Honours in the Fb (1977-82) division went the way of Ian Edgar, who ran second behind Trevor Sheumack in the early stages of the final before Sheumack spun out of contention at Turn 7.
In the Fc (1969-76) division, Grant Walker took the win ahead of Warwick Foletta and Matt Scott.
The next major race meeting at Winton will be Round 4 of the VMRC on 12-13 November.
