The 2022 South East Automobile Club season got under way last week with the running of the South Australian Khanacross Title at the Heywood “Wood, Wine and Roses” festival.

The event was held at the Showgrounds layout, behind the Football oval at Heywood.

A good field of 36 eager competitors entered for a challenging day of racing around the various tracks prepared by event sponsor Barco Tree Lopping and Traffic Management and they were not disappointed with the ever-changing layout.

Those who entered for the state event were able to use a more aggressive “Rally Tyre” as against those that only chose to do the SEAC event, using road tyres with a lot less grip.

With 16 in the “hard charger” category, reigning state number 1 holder, Michael Clements, led the way in the first track only to have engine troubles on the run to the finish garage ending the outing for Team Clements Subaru.

A quick chat and Kelvin Humphries allowed the Clements pair to use their Subaru WRX wagon for the remainder of the day, a very generous gesture from the Southern District Club mates.

SEAC Top Guns Jamie Pohlner and Dale Cagney were on the attack from the get-go, with the pair at the top of the time sheets for all six tests.

Pohlner collected all six of the fastest times in his well-presented Mitsubishi Evo 9.

Subaru’s were all chasing the pair of Evo’s with Sam Humphries, Michael and Bradley Clements, Kelvin Humphries and Ryan Poel shuffling through the next spots from third to sixth.

Wayne Casey enjoyed his day at the wheel of the neat Mazda 6 and pedaled well all day, to get home just behind the 4Wheel Drives, in seventh outright and sneaking through in front of Lucas Kliess in his tidy Corolla.

Ken Moore in the Supercharged Commodore just two tenths behind in ninth spot and rounding out the top 10 was Kelvin Humphries.

The SEAC section had 20 entrants, all wearing Road Tyres which had a lot less grip but heaps more enjoyment.

No surprise to find 4WD’s at the top of the score sheet at the end of the day, but they did not have it all to themselves through the day.

Ken Trimnell opened his day with fastest times in tests 1, 2 and 4.

He also had a tour somewhere in the third test, but bounced back to get into the top three in the final two tests.

Kev Millard came out in the 1600 Datsun for a run and found some problems in the first test.

He had his own track in 3 and 4 but came home in with fastest times in the final two tests, showing just how quick the little car can be when it is “on song”.

Nicholas Doll is still learning what the Subaru can do and locked in five tests at third fastest, with the consistent pace good enough to get the #1 spot for the day.

John Whitehead gave his Phoenix Buggy a run at this event and where the track is flowing, he locked in second place times but struggled with the close left-right turns in the longer third and fourth tests that suited the car setups more than the buggy.

His outing put a big smile on his face all day and he finished with the second outright position for his effort.

Ken Trimnell’s one bad run pushed him down the list to third spot, half a second in front of Leon Chugg’s Subaru, gaining pace on every outing.

Long time rally campaigner and Autocross competitor, Mick Cooper drove a clean line all day and his consistency paid off, finishing in fifth outright a fitting reward for his day out.

He also gets the gong for bragging rights in the C’Dore race brigade.

Another driver on the improve and coming from a very competitive family, Kyle Johnson drove the Nissan Pulsar well and got the sixth outright points and first Junior home.

Telstar Pilot, David Coombe had contact with a couple of track markers in his third test and the 10 seconds that comes with that as a time penalty pushed him down the finishing order two spots to seventh for the day, still a good result for the long suffering Telstar.

Next home, Justin Devlin drove a tidy line on each test and put in a clean day to collect the eighth spot for his effort.

Always up for a run, Geoff Wilson took to the layouts on offer in his normal “flat out” style, with the old Magna showing some good speed on the first and second outings.

With the Auto now “locked” in top gear, the rest of the day was a “Sunday Drive” and he finished the day in 9th spot pondering “what could have been”.

Popping a tyre off the rim (a common occurrence through the day by many) in the last test, Connor Cooper finished his day in 10th spot, just half a second behind the Magna.

Cooper had quite a mixed day, with some tests very quick and others quite the opposite.

Lookout Mick, when he gets it all sorted.

As this event had been assembled quite late, it appears that it will be a “stand-alone” event and not part of a series.

Officials were thanked for their efforts on the day, as were the recovery team attending to the odd mishap or two during the day’s competition.

Next event on the Club calendar is a Motorkhana, to be held at the Glenburnie Saleyards Complex on Sunday, March 6.

Entries for this event are through the Motorsport Australia website and need to be done by Thursday midnight.