The opening round of the McPherson Mechanical Autocross Series for 2023 took place at SEAC Park recently with a day/night run.
Director of the day Curtis Boyd and his merry band of helpers endured the dusty conditions the track presented for this round with competition beginning about 3pm in dry conditions and a little breeze to keep the track visible when driving.
With a reasonable entry list of 33 starting the day, a short presentation of last year’s trophies took place before the racing began with the “coveted” Number 1 spot presented to Dale Cagney for his 2022 win.
Peter Rogers drew the first number for the day of competition and took the well presented Datsun 1600 for a careful run around the SEAC Park race track, showing all watching that he has not lost the ability to “have a go”, returning after a spell away.
From the time sheets, the quickest on the first lap were 4WDs with Dale Cagney setting the pace at a respectable 1:48.69 seconds for what could only be described as a “very loose” track, followed by Ryan Poel at 1:55.31 seconds, Damien Brand 1:56.82 seconds, Dion Becker, the first of the 2WD brigade, 1:57.37 seconds, Damien Wilson 5th 1:57.40, Jayden Edwards 1:58.38 in 6th, Jason Sims next with 1:58.40 seconds in 7th, Geoff Wilson 8th with a 1:58.65, Adam Jesse 9th with a 2:01.20 second lap and a welcome return to racing after a year off, followed by Barry Edwards at 2:02.78 seconds.
Heat 2 and 1, two were the same 4WDs at the top of the list with Dale Cagney again clear of the rest with a 1:49.25 second lap, Ryan Poel tidying up this run and getting home with a 1:51.00 seconds blast around the still loose track Damien Wilson, now settled in for a good go, took the Silvia around in style and was rewarded with a 1:54.50 second lap, good for the 3rd spot and just in front of a hard charging Jason Sims, his 1:55.10 seconds placing him in 4th.
Dion Becker also went better time wise this heat, but had to settle for 5th with his 1:55.46 seconds run, with John Whitehead keeping the buggy on track this run, getting 6th for a 1:57.20 lap, Jayden Edwards also enjoyed the slippery track in his Commodore, putting in a slightly quicker time for this heat but listed at 7th with a 1:57.28 second lap.
Damien Brand could not repeat his first effort and dropped the pace a couple of seconds, finishing in 8th spot with his 1:59.09 second skid, Barry Edwards next home in 9th 1:58.44 seconds being his best run for the day, Rounding out the top 10, Geoff Wilson just held the 10th spot with his 1:58.97 seconds lap as good as the Pug would do in the slippery conditions.
Heat 3, same weather, same loose race track, now showing a bit of a groove in spots, one and two were still Dale Cagney at 1:47.53 seconds and Ryan Poel at 1:51.62 seconds, running at their best, to hold out on a big run from Damien Brand, having a big go in the CanAm Buggy and locking in the 3rd spot with a 1:51.66 second blast, some seven seconds better than his last run at the park.
Damien Wilson’s 1:53.25 second lap posted him in 4th spot, just good enough to hold off Jason Sims’ 1:53.50 second effort in 5th, from Adam Jesse, finding some grip in the Subaru Liberty to stop the clock at 1:53.75 seconds for the 6th spot.
Jayden Edwards continued with his speedway style and put in a good run for 7th spot with his 1:54.25 seconds lap, Dion Becker’s effort for the 3rd lap also was quicker than the previous two runs, but this run could only hold the 8th spot with his 1:55.09 seconds the best he could muster for the Falcon.
Geoff Wilson filled the 9th spot with a 1:56.22 his best for the day at the wheel, with Barry Edwards’ 1:57.28 seconds also his best so far, getting home in 10th spot.
Pushing on to get the 4th heat completed before the light faded, Dale Cagney (1:46.75) and Ryan Poel (1:51.03) again took one and two spots, with Jason Sims now well focused, ripping around the track in the Datsun 180B in a 1:52.50 seconds lap for the 3rd spot, followed by Dion Becker’s 1:53.59 second blast in his Falcon, in 4th.
John Whitehead’s hot and cold day continued with this outing tidy and stopping the clock at 1:54.10 seconds for the 5th spot.
Damien Wilson’s 1:54.25 seconds lap listed him in 6th, just in front of Jayden Edwards’ Commodore with his 1:54.34 seconds in 7th, Adam Jesse’s 1:54.70 good for 8th, Damien Brand 9th with his 1:54.90 seconds and Barry Edwards rounding out the top 10 with his 1:55.93 seconds run.
Albeit slightly slower, Dale Cagney and Ryan Poel continued on with their 1, 2 day, Cagney 1st with 1:50.81 seconds and Ryan Poel’s 1:53.28 good for another 2nd spot.
Jason Sims, quite comfortable racing in the dark conditions that he normally experiences when rally driving the Datsun 180B, put a good lap in for his final run of 1:53.72 seconds and listing in 3rd, from a hard charging Jayden Edwards 1:54.56 second lap, similar to his last daylight run, good for the 4th spot.
Damien Brand had a tidy run for his last go at the track and his 1:55.28 seconds lap posted him in the 5th spot, just ahead of Damien Wilson’s 1:56.03 seconds lap for the 6th.
Dion Becker rounded off his good day at the wheel with a 1:56.38 seconds lap and 7th spot.
John Whitehead made the most of the little buggy’s power, finding some grip on the track to get around the dark lap in a 1:57.82 seconds time and 8th position.
The 9th spot went the way of Geoff Wilson in his Peugeot 306, having enjoyed another day’s racing at the park, with his last run of 1:58.01 seconds securing the spot.
Barry Edwards’ day showed consistency in the Commodore, with another 10th spot for his last run of 1:58.40 seconds on the loose track surface.
