Nash Morris has completed a clean sweep of the TA2 Muscle Car Series races in Round 3 of the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series at Queensland Raceway, highlighted by an emphatic victory from a pit-lane start in the weekend’s fourth and final race.
A shower of rain just before the race start saw Morris and several other competitors diving into the pits at the end of the formation lap to change onto wet tyres. After joining the race from pit exit, Morris quickly charged to the front of the field before driving to a dominant 30 second victory from Josh Haynes and Dylan Thomas, who both stayed on slicks.
Earlier in the day, Morris also won Races 2 and 3; the weekend’s second race was marred by an incident between Nicholas Bates and Chris Pappas at Turn 3, and an even more severe crash for Brad Gartner at Turn 4, caused when the South Australian’s brakes failed. Fortunately Gartner was unharmed, but his car was severely damaged and took no further part in the event.
Haynes and Thomas completed the round podium, with Thomas extending his championship lead to 17 points over Jackson Rice.
Hugh McAlister, who finished fifth overall, received the Geoff Leeds Memorial Trophy for his display of sportsmanship and fair racing throughout the weekend.
Following his domination of yesterday’s EFS 4×4 Accessories Australian Excel Series races, Cam Wilson added another two wins to his tally to emerge from the weekend with maximum points; his victory in Race 4 was especially impressive, as he had to fend off a fierce challenge from multiple rivals while battling a front shock absorber problem.
Tyler Collins finished second overall for the round ahead of Jay Robotham.
Steve Hay secured overall honours in the Replica Tourers round by winning Race 3 in his VK Commodore Group A Replica and finishing second behind the VE Commodore of Stuart Walker in Race 4, which finished under Safety Car due to Shane Tuxworth (Commodore) and Ashton Gealy (Toyota 86) stopping on the track.
Walker finished second overall for the round ahead of Geoff Russell (Mustang), who battled for the lead in all three races before a spin in the final.
Following his impressive form in the Saturday races, Robert Bellinger secured the overall Queensland Touring Car Championship round win in his BMW E46 M3 after an exciting duel with Peter Bray in today’s two races. Bray held the ascendancy in Race 3, but Bellinger responded in Race 4, using the braking capabilities of his M3 to pounce on Bray in the second half of the race.
Alwyn Bishop won the Australian Trans-Am round in his Plymoth Duster by chalking up a pair of wins and a second-place finish from today’s three races; the other race win went to the Mustang of John Prefontaine, who finished second for the round. Sean English, also in a Mustang, rounded out the overall podium after Ian Palmer’s Pontiac Firebird faded in the weekend’s final two races.
Aldo De Paoli (Camaro) fended off a stiff challenge from the Mustang Ian Mewitt in the final Group N race of the weekend to finish the round with a perfect score of race wins. While Mewitt was De Paoli’s closest challenger in the last race, his non-finish yesterday saw Grant Wilson (Camaro) finishing second overall ahead of Grahame Wrobel (Mustang).
Following their back-to-back one-hour races yesterday, the Queensland Production Cars concluded with a short eight-lap sprint race today; it was won by Matthew McCutcheon (driving the Tony Quinn-owned Mustang) ahead of Tony Levitt’s Mercedes C63 AMG, with Paul Buccini bringing his BMW M140i home in third outright.
The Queensland Porsche Cup round concluded with a mini-endurance race which was won by the Cayman GT4 of Ryder Quinn, after his main rival Tom McLennan lost time with a long pit stop; Kevin Vedelago finished third, after Wayne Hennig and Shane Wilson fell off the lead lap due to a collision in the first corner.
The next round of the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series will be held at Morgan Park, 8-9 July.
