Alazy cool breeze accompanied by a little sunshine gave the field of 20 starters a good reason to be in their warm cars for Round 4 of the 2024 South East Automobile Club Khanacross series, held at the Millicent Saleyards complex under director Paul Height.
Josh Munn scored the coveted number one for the day, allowing him a fresh track for each test to show what the well campaigned Datsun 180B SSS was capable of.
Sean Telford has taken to motorsport like a duck to water, having purchased a Mazda 3 from eBay and having a go this year.
He is doing well, scoring the fastest time for this first test followed by Jason Sims, Phil Wilson, Harry Bliss, Paul Razum, Henry Sims, Damien Wilson, Scott Bradley, Dylan Maloney and Blair Meek for the 10 fastest, with cone penalties costing some drivers massively to slot then down the order.
On the same course the second time around it was Max Viitanen who made amends for his wrong direction on the first attempt and got the best run from Dillan Young, Damien Wilson, Bliss, Telford,, Sims, Peter Gandolfi, Razum, Bradley and Phil Wilson to round out the top 10 of this run.
Swapping directions it was Viitanen who again showed the rest of the field a clean pair of tail lights from Telford, Phil Wilson, Sims, Maloney, Razum, Henry Sims, Young, Bradley and Geoff Wilson for the remaining spots in the 10.
Damien Wilson kicked it up a gear in the second outing on this course with a clean run scoring the quickest time for this test ahead of Telford, Phil Wilson, Cohen Hamilton, Maloney, Sims, Bradley, Razum, Justin Devlin and Geoff Wilson for the 10 best.
A small change to the simple, but tricky layout and Viitanen stopped the clock with the best run from Telford, Young, Bliss, Gandolfi, Razum and Damien Wilson tied for sixth, Hamilton, Sims and Devlin rounding out the top 10.
Second run at this layout put Viitanen to the top of the score sheet again with Young chasing ahead of Telford, Damien Wilson, Bliss, Gandolfi, Razum, Sims, Geoff Wilson and Meek in 10th.
Switching direction and Viitanen again set the time to beat with a good line through the maze of witches hats from Young, Telford, Damien Wilson, Gandolfi, Razum, Geoff Wilson, Devlin, Scott and Phil Wilson in 10th.
Same layout, second run and it was Young who pipped Viitanen for the quickest run by 0.09 seconds from Damien Wilson, Telford, Razum, Gandolfi, Sims and Bliss equal seventh, Phil Wilson and Bradley slotting in for position 10.
The course director made a nifty layout change to keep drivers on their toes and it was Young who made it to the top of the timing sheet for this test from Bliss, Sims, Telford, Gandolfi, Phil Wilson, Razum, Bradley, Damien Wilson and Meek in 10th.
On the second tour of this course Viitanen got all the gaps right and set the time to beat from Young, Bliss, Damien Wilson, Telford, Gandolfi, Devlin, Hamilton, Razum and Geoff Wilson.
Director Height set up the final change with a dual lap of the tricky layout and it caught quite a few out with the extra effort needed to miss the dreaded cone penalties, with nearly half the field getting a red mark or two driving a little too hard.
Young made it clear all the way and posted the time for others to beat, while Telford slotted in for second place from Bliss, Razum, Gandolfi, Viitanen, Sims, Devlin, Maloney and Bradley.
On the Final run for the day in reverse direction Viitanen secured the top time slot from Young, Bliss, Telford and Razum tied for fourth, Devlin, Bradley, Sims, Gandolfi and Phil Wilson in 10th.
