The third round of the Victorian Motor Racing Championship was a constant highlights reel as it featured not only the historic Winton 300 endurance race, but seven support categories from the Australian Super Trucks to NASCARs.
The Pitcher Partners Winton 300 returned to its glory days containing a field of 39 competitive machines and some fantastic young stars.
Names included Super2 race winner Zach Bates, TA2 Muscle Car Series frontrunners Josh Haynes and Brad Gartner, and third-generation racer Tabitha Ambrose (daughter of two-time Supercars Champion Marcos Ambrose).
A massive crowd attended the event on both Saturday and Sunday to watch all the on-track action.
Pitcher Partners Winton 300
Saturday for the Pitcher Partners Winton 300 competitors consisted of a warmup, qualifying session and Top 10 Shootout, while Sunday featured a final warm up and the 300km enduro.
At the end of an attritional and dramatic race Andrew Boydell and Todd Herring were crowned the 2024 winners of the race.
By taking the win, Boydell became the first driver in Winton 300 history to go back-to-back after winning the race alongside Jason Walsh last year.
His 2024 co-driver Todd Herring has claimed a number of 300km race wins in the past, but for him, it was his maiden Pitcher Partners Winton 300 victory.
Boydell started in the #791 Mazda and drove a very solid first stint, he stayed out of trouble early and as those around pitted early, he upped his pace.
Due to these fast laps and a perfectly executed stop, when all compulsory stops had been completed, Herring led by 30s.
In the closing 20 laps Herring’s lead was reduced significantly, but he was just cruising to the chequered flag, not taking any risks in the lapped traffic.
He judged it to perfection, taking the win by 6.5s, the closest green flag finish in the race’s history. Boydell and Herring also took the Division C honours.
Second place went the way of Matthew and Aaron Giuntini in their Honda Civic, they tried their best late on, but in the end ran out of laps.
For the second year in a row father and son combination Gerry and Leigh Burges finished the race in third outright and third in Division C.
Another father and son combination finished fourth. Rick Bates and Super2 race winner Zach Bates crossed the line in third, but were handed a post-race 1-lap penalty dropping them to fourth.
Rounding out the top five were Division D winners Josh Haynes and Mick Ricketts in their Nissan Pulsar.
Despite losing time by taking a second stop, youngsters Kiara Zabetakis and Jett Herring finished sixth.
Seventh and eighth outright and second and third in Division D went the way of Toyota 86 duos. Matthew Thewlis and Josh Ash Dyall beat home Daniel and Geoff Tierney by just 4s.
After taking pole position the race unravelled in the pitstop sequence for Daniel Kapetanovic and Adam Thompson, a consolation prize is that they finished ninth, good enough for Division B victory. Tenth went to James Hay in his VW Scirocco.
Division E was won by Charlie Viola and Ben Hanrahan in their Nissan Pulsar.
Despite being plagued by mechanical gremlins throughout the weekend in their new Hyundai i30N sedan, Nicholas and Simon Agar won Division A, finishing 15th outright.
Division B was not the one to be in, with luck against all competitors in class. Frontrunners Jimmy Tran and Damon Ashton were dealt a five-lap penalty for not completing both pitstops in the pitstop window, they were classified 11th.
The wheels literally fell off the #178 Lotus Exige which was fighting for an outright podium on the penultimate lap.
Despite 39 cars being entered, coupled with the high attrition rate of 13 retirements, the entire race ran safety car free, a testament to all drivers competing this year.
VMRC Round 3
Aside from the 300 there were a total of 30 other high quality and entertaining races from the trucks, Stock Cars, Australian Drivers’ Championship, 2L Sports Sedans, Super TT, Excel Trophy and Masters.
The Australian Super Trucks were entertaining on Saturday but turned up the wick on Sunday with three bonkers races.
Six-time champion Steven Zammit prevailed in two of the four races, while Shannon Smith and Frank Amoroso shared the other wins. Both Truck Teams races on Saturday were won by Harvey Dale.
Stock Cars Australia was a very welcome addition to the VMRC program at Winton, fans could not get enough of the V8 formula. With NASCARs that competed in America, half a dozen Aussie built AUSCARs, throw in a couple of NASCAR trucks, a TA2 Muscle Car and it was a recipe for pure entertainment.
The category delivered the entertainment and Scott Nind delivered the wins, taking victory in all four races driving his Ford Mustang Xfinity Series NASCAR.
In the Australian Drivers’ Championship Damon Stirling extended his championship lead by winning three races.
In the penultimate race, Hayden Crossland scored his maiden Australian Drivers’ Championship victory, however a spin at Turn 1 on the opening lap of the final cost him the shot of a round win. The man second in the series Dean Crooke finished third for the round.
The 2-Litre Sports Sedan round was dominated by Linda Devlin, she won three of the four races, however, a collision with championship leader Steve Howard saw her sustain damage in the final race. She limped across the line in 10th and allowed James Harris to steal the race win.
Super TT was a tale of two up front, Brett Ramsey in his Nissan Skyline R32 and Peter Ryder driving a Nissan S13 Silvia. Ryder won two of the first three races, however a mechanical DNF in the final race allowed Ramsay to win the round.
Bradley James prevailed in a highly competitive Hyundai Excel Trophy Series round, beating Ryan Phillips home in three of the four races (Phillips won the other).
In the Masters for elder statesmen, Daniel Webster showed the field a clean pair of heels by convincingly winning all four races.
The action wasn’t just limited to on-track, off-track there was plenty to see and do also. There were tonnes of stores around the venue, including a model car stall, and pit paddock access was free.
On Sunday a car show took place on the skidpan, while there was also a parade of rare and unique cars and was followed by a trucks parade on track.
All of Sunday’s action can be viewed for free on Winton Motor Raceway’s YouTube channel.
