Host club South Eastern Automobile Club (SEAC) held a multi-club khanacross at the Glenburnie saleyards complex for a round of the SEAC series and the Victorian State Championship series.
With a solid field of 43 drivers, director for the day SEAC club president Curtis Boyd “found” some interesting track layouts that he adapted to the area available at the complex.
Mother nature gave competitors a warning the day could – and would – be wet, windy or sunny and that combination of weather conditions added to the spectacle for the day.
Having a sea of orange track markers proved to be a bit too much of a challenge for a quarter of the field, with 10 drivers doing their own thing in the first test and earning a “wrong direction” for their efforts.
Adelaide’s Tony Wallis got into race mode, taking top spot in each of the two attempts at this layout, followed by Stephen Lanham and Mathew Webb on the first run, with Jeff Salmon and Chris Hortop chasing Wallis in the second attempt.
A change of layout for test three and four saw some quite tight left, right, left, right combination esses midcourse and these proved to be quite tight for those that did the course correctly.
“WD” proved to be popular, with nine drivers, preferring to do it differently and getting slowest time plus five seconds for their effort.
Edward Lewis in the Opel powered auto special had the right car for the job and a dryish track and put in a good run for each attempt to get the coveted number one spot for test three and four.
Mathew Webb literally threw the “mini” at the layouts and got the second spot for test three by half a second from Tony Wallis in the big “bini”, being chased by Jeff Salmon in fourth.
In the second pass at this busy run, Wallis improved by some three seconds to nearly catch the special of Lewis, with Webb in third spot doing a similar time to his first attempt. Jeff Salmon could not improve much on his first run and got the fourth spot again.
After a lunch break the test area had some more changes and Tony Wallis showed all that his “bini” definitely had the grip to get fastest times in both passes. Mathew Webb did all he could in his “mini” but alas, not enough power to catch the big brother. Mathew collected second points by 0.03 seconds from Jeff Salmon, having a big go in the Subaru for third spot. Fiesta driver Darren Colgan found some speed and got the points for fourth spot.
Nearly half the field got it wrong and scored the popular “WD” for their efforts.
In the last run of the day, Wallis again set the pace with Jeff Salmon now enjoying a little grip to get home in second spot from Ross Batson’s Mirage in third and Stephen Lanham having a big dip and getting it all right for the fourth spot.
The “WD” entry again proved popular with seven falling victim to losing their way around the tricky layout.
When the list was compiled with all the applicable times added, the top spot went to Anthony Wallis with a total of 192.71 seconds, from a very tidy Jason Sims in second spot, 218.40 seconds and Chris Harwood in third with 218.95 seconds.
Brian Shanahan had a good run through the day doing enough to claim fourth spot with his total of 223.93 seconds.
Interesting to note that all four spots were Class C front wheel drive cars.
In fifth spot, 4WD Lancer Evolution driver Dale Cagney struggled all day with his car not happy with the tight, twisty and wet surface. Pushing it as hard as he could, he drove well to only get the one cone penalty in his total of 223.98 seconds, that one cone pushing him down the list a spot.
Toyota Soarer steerer Phil Wilson wrestled the big car in his usual style and stayed away from all the track markers and his total time of 224.27 seconds was good enough for sixth outright.
Matthew Caldwell enjoyed the layouts in the Mitsubishi lancer and totalled 225.80 seconds with a penalty clear day and seventh outright points.
VW polo driver Stephen Lanham also had a penalty free day and looked to be enjoying his time behind the wheel, getting the points for eighth outright with his time of 226.10 seconds.
Trying as hard as he could, Jeff Salmon had to settle for ninth outright points in the Subaru STi with his tally of 226.24 seconds including a rare “WD” encountered on the first run.
Rounding out the top 10, Murray Height had an enjoyable outing in his Toyota Corona and his total of 227.00 seconds reflects his tidy driving style.
With the handicap scoring system applied there were no changes for the top four: Tony Wallis first, Jason Sims second, Chris Harwood third, Brian Shanahan fourth, Phil Wilson moves up to fifth, Matthew Caldwell up to sixth, Stephen Lanham up to seventh, Murray Height up to eighth, Darren Colgan up to ninth and Damien Wilson Gets the tenth spot points, up from sixteenth outright.
It would be fair to say the scores did not truly reflect the activity for the day with track grip ranging from dry to running water from a shower of rain, causing all sorts of hassles for those “serious” drivers and adding to the enjoyment level of those just out for fun.
Thanks must go to the Grant District Council for allowing the SEAC club to conduct these motorsport events on an excellent surface at a great venue, with the on-site canteen providing much needed hot food for those participating in some very ordinary conditions.
