Activity returned to a still damp SEAC Park on Sunday for the running of the fourth round of the McPherson Mechanical Autocross 2022 Championship.
Clashes with other State Motorsport Australia activities meant the event entry list was a touch on the small side with 27 eager competitors committing to a day at the wheel.
Keen to have a run, Justin Dowel made the trip over from Melbourne to give the Megabuck all-wheel-drive Fiesta Rallycross Special a bit of a workout and also brought his two sons over.
Having seen the awesome “Special” in full flight around SEAC Park when it is “grippy”, it has extreme speed available to the right driver, with the right tyres and decent tread depth.
Dowel drove to the available conditions and mixed grip on the soggy track, still in recovery mode from the championship event a few months ago.
Unable to unleash the enormous power on tap, the feisty Fiesta proved to be somewhat of a handful in the mixed grip on track and only survived for a couple of runs before being put back on the trailer with a gremlin in the paddle shift gearbox (real expensive).
John Whitehead was in his element in the tricky conditions, having the Phoenix buggy “on song” and enjoying the nippy frames handling on all but one of the five heats that were conducted through a mostly sunny days racing.
Heat 1 was Whitehead’s first number one spot heading Dowel’s Fiesta by a couple of seconds, with Matt Kirby another second back in third tackling the Mixed Grip level on the track, Daniel Oldaker drove the Commodore very well for the 4th spot points holding off Geoff Wilson’s Peugeot in 5th and Jayden Edwards 6th, Barry Edwards 7th, Sam Thomas 8th, Jason Sims 9th and Bailey Perryman rounding out the top 10.
A small sprinkle of rain changed the track somewhat, but Dowel found some grip to get the fastest time for the second heat from a hard charging Kirby enjoying a welcome return to racing after a couple of years away, just a couple of seconds behind in second slot with Thomas in 3rd spot another second away, Barry Edwards enjoying the big Commodore, 4th from son Jayden in 5th some three seconds slower and Wilson another second away in sixth.
Bailey Perryman pushed harder in his Excel and trimmed a couple of seconds off his first run to fill 7th spot, heading Curtis Boyd’s Corolla, improving some five seconds on the first run also, to lock in 8th, Daniel Oldaker finding the slippery stuff and settling for 9th in front of Jason Sims’ Datsun 180B rally car in 10th.
Heat 3 saw some dry lines start to appear and tram tracks in the recently repaired track surface, still soft from all the rain over the past weeks.
Recovering from a spin in the second heat, John Whitehead had a big dip in the Buggy and pulled a blinder to get the fastest time for this heat, with an excellent 1:49.03 seconds some five seconds clear of a consistent Matt Kirby (1:54.95) 2nd, Jayden Edwards 3rd (1:55.28) and Geoff Wilson 4th (1:56.68), Sam Thomas 5th (1:57.79), Barry Edwards 6th (1:57.95), Oldaker 7th (1:58.61), Jason Sims 8th (1:58.78), Bailey Perryman 9th (1:59.68), Aaron Bowering in 10th, finding some grip in the BMW with a 2:01.09 seconds lap.
After a short lunch break, action resumed on a now grippy track well marked in the tighter spots with some deep tram tracks, with the drivers taking on a double lap, just to test them out.
Whitehead kept the foot down and set the pace with a very tidy 3:39.87 seconds run, with Kirby driving the wheels off his Laser just under one second behind (3:40.84) and Jason Sims, finding some brain food for lunch, rocketing home in 3rd spot with a quick 3:41.70 seconds.
Barry Edwards showed off his speedway heritage and stopped the clock at 3:45.82 seconds for 4th spot, leading Oldaker in with his effort of 3:45.99 in 5th and Jayden Edwards having a little contact with a track marker added to his otherwise quick lap pushing him back to 6th (3:46.87) with the five second penalty costing him a couple of spots.
Still adjusting to recent changes, Wilson’s 3:47.28 seconds gave him 7th points, Aaron Bowering’s 3:47.35 seconds in 8th, Connor Cooper finally pointing the Commodore in the right direction all the way around the course, pulling a 3:50.41 seconds time for 9th and Sam Thomas, also finding a couple of track markers scored 3:52.84 and 10th spot with the 10 second penalty time included.
Heat 5, also a double lap, saw Whitehead again set the pace with a 3:37.71 second effort, to hold off a late charge from Jason Sims with a 3:38.43 seconds in 2nd spot, Jayden Edwards another to find more grip and less barriers, in 3rd with a 3:41.71 seconds run, Wilson in 4th (3:42.39), Aaron Bowering 5th with 3:42.59 seconds, Barry Edwards 6th (3:43.19), Kirby next in 7th (3:44.84), Bailey Perryman 8th (3:47.11), Connor Cooper 9th (3:47.67) and Jamie Shephard getting the Falcon to co-operate, in 10th with 3:50.07 seconds.
After a relatively clear day, most vehicles were driven onto trailers after packing up the track markers for more repairs to be done in the near future.
Course director Aaron Bowering and assistant director Curtis Boyd thanked all that turned up to compete and pack up.
Next event on the calendar is a touring road event in a week’s time followed by a Motorkhana in two weeks’ time at the Glenburnie Saleyards.
November is the Legend of the Lakes Hillclimb and has a full field of competitors for three full on days of racing at the Valley Lakes course.
