After the Valentines Day Massacre, we had a Total turnaround, Doubling the attendance!, with 18 Starters!! In fact we were actually expecting More, as a couple of people didn't 'Front' for This round.
Most of the 'Regulars' were there and Most of the Guys from the Innaugural event, along with (Once again), a couple of 'First Time Runners',..even a Female !!
Great to see, it was Certainly a 'Tough' and Very competitive field to Have a First Run,..but, I think a Good time was Had and You Are certainly Most welcome to Return and have a run Anytime Robin We also Had as hoped, Both Lindsay Byron and Our Own 'Tony P' !!,..
, being Tony Pye, a long time racer and one of the 'Hot' Wing Car Racers from the Era of My Last Return 20 odd years ago and still running.Great to see you guys,..As You Know it was Tough,..look forward to seeing you both at the Next round!
As 'noted' above,..Tonight, Really Has confirmed, the 'Lifting of the Bar',..as Far as Quality Fields and Damn Hard and CLOSE Racing,..especially in the Final !!
One couldn't Help but Notice, Just How Quick, Cody's Car was in practice,..AGAIN !!,..Grrr and Wayne's car was OK as well,..Then there was Fox's New car, which Really is Very good to Drive. and Pretty quick as well,..Oh But then so was Bevans,..and Dale's,..and,...
So Qualifying, Produced some interesting Times, with Cody Bramble Clearly TQ'ing with a 4.832, followed by Fox, with 4.912 and Wayne Bramble completing the Trio of Sub 5.0 second Qualifiers. Apart from Our first time Runners, the Slowest time was a 5.6, with Most around the 5.2 to 5.3 mark, so the Whole Field has become Quicker.
The Top 12 got the sit out's in the Semi's.
So, we Had 1 x Consie, 2 x Semis and a Main, with the Top Four in each Moving Up.
The Consie, actually saw some Very Clean running from All, Really, considering the Variance in Ages and Experience. It was a Good Race and Quite close!
Ivan Levanich ran a Pretty Smooth Race and Cruised Home from the First bracket to Take the Top spot, with 154 laps, followed by Dean Frazer on 147, who had been 'Tussling' with TonyP all race, finishing with 145, with Rob ?? also having a Look in at times in 4th on 135 laps. The Other Two New Comers also had a Fairly Smooth race, dueling it out themselves, with Joshua ??, just edging ahead of Robin, with 128 and 125 laps respectively.!
Hope you guys had a Good Time, it certainly was a Baptism of Fire tonite !!,
Semi B. Consisted of Myself, James Colfax,Steve Hutchesson, Mark Fox, Lindsay Byron and Troy Boldy, (sit Outs), with Dean Frazer and Rob joining us from the Heat.
This was a Damn good race,..(well I Would say that wouldn't I,..lol), BUT was quite a close run thing, with Fox and Myself, as well as Troy Boldy chasing the Four Move Ups, with James, chasing Troy and Making the Last Spot
Fox and I swapped 1st and 2nd a few times during the Race, with Myself finishing on Top (and Foolishly feeling Quietly confident about the Main,..Silly Me!), with 171 Laps !!,..AGAIN !!,..seems to Be My 'Nemesis' 171,...Fox finished with 169, Troy on 168, James on 163.
Our Old Mate Lindsay, made a pretty Good First time Retro showing on the Tricky HSC Johnson Road Course, (although he Was running some D3 in the States), and finished 5th with 161 laps, closely followed by Hutcho, on 157, who has I think had Better races!! I could Tell by the Exasperation that I could hear that it was one of 'Those' races for Hutcho,..'Next Time',..
Rob bringing up the rear, in a Tough and Very Fast Semi.Semi A.
Well, compared to Our Race,..this one was Like watching a Movie!,..lol Hardly Anyone Came off !! and with a couple of the Quick guys, it Looked like they Would set some High Laps and so it Proved.
This Semi, Had Charles Rickards, Wayne Bramble, Cody Bramble, Dale Anderson, Bevan Halloran and Daniel Harron, with the Sit Outs and Tony Pye and Ivan Leavanich joining from the Heat.
This was a Cody Creaming, with him turning 175 laps..followed by Bevan, with WayneB fighting it out race long, to end with 171 and 170 laps!
Dale Anderson, drove steadily to snap up the Last Move Up.
Which unfortunately 'This Time', left Charles Rickards in 5th with 165, Daniel on 156 and Ivan and TonyP having their Own little Tussle, finishing with 148 and 147 laps.
PHEW !!,..it's a Warm evening and we Have Yet to Run the Main !,..This is Serious Mum !!,..ROFL
The Main.
What Can I say,..a Great Field !!
James Colfax (the New Owner of HSC)
WayneB
CodyB
Dale Anderson
Mark Fox
Bevan Halloran
Troy Boldy
and Yours Truly,..Stoo
I must admit, perhaps I should have run the Lane rotation I ran in the Semi,..Hmm,..who Knows,..Oh well, It started out well,..but even though I also turned Good Lap totals tonite,..They WEREN'T Great Lap Totals, and as will be seen, Tonite they Needed to Be !!
A case of just Making those Few Too many silly Unforced self errors,..Doh !!,..Oh well,..It was tough !!,..but still fun!
Hardest I have Ever Raced to Come 7th !!!
Cody,..took Command of First at the End of the First bracket and Never Looked Back !! Well Done !! He had a Damn Quick car, (the same Warmack car he Ran Last time) and he Would have Won by Even More Laps if he Had kept the car on as Much as some of his Pursuers !!,..
This Really was a Very Close and Tough Race !!
WayneB had 'Locked In' 2nd, by the end of the third bracket, with Once again, Troy Boldy chasing 3rd and Driving Extremely well, with definitely NOT the Fastest Car !!
From about the 4th bracket to the end, almost ALL except the first three, were covered by A LAP !!
Like I said, this was the Hardest I have Raced, to Only finish 7th, Fox and I had a Good Tussle, as Did Pretty Much everyone,..OH,..except for Cody, who's Repetitive 'Lapping' was just a Little annoying !!,..ROFL,..
So,..a Well deserved Win in the End by Cody Bramble, who 'Blitzed' the Field, with 268 laps, followed up by 'DAD', on 264 and Troy doing Another Superb job of out-driving 'The Rest' of us, taking the last Podium spot, with 259.
It really was only in the Last two brackets that the other placings were sorted,..this Years racing Is Really going to be Tough !!,..
Cody Bramble 268
Wayne Bramble 264
Troy Boldy 259
Bevan Halloran 257
Dale Anderson 257
Mark Fox 257
Stewart Amos 256
James Colfax 252
We are Really going to Have a Tough time Beating this Son and Dad Combo,..Especially if they Both keep coming up with These 'Jet' motors,..
, Let Alone the fact that They are at the Track,..ALL the Time !!,..Tough Combo,... So,..sorry to Keep 'Harping on' about this Race,..but, with This Field, along with those Missing, being anything upto 4 to 8 More starters,..a Few of Whom are Also Fine racers,..we have the Beginnings of What could be a Really Fantastic Years racing !!
Great Racing Guys,..and Once again,..a Great, competitive Yet Fun and Friendly Racing environment!
And Isn't THAT What it Really IS all about eh !!
Pics to Follow
here and on the ASCRA Aussie Retro site http://aussieretro.ascra.com.au/ soon.See Even More of you at The Next Round !
