A twilight event kicked off first round of the South Eastern Automobile Club 2022 Motorkhana Series recently at Glenburnie Saleyards with a small starting list of 15 willing and eager competitors including the regular hard chargers and four newbies hitting the tarmac.
Phil Wilson set the fastest time from Patrick Hitchcock on Test 1 at the eastern end with Ken Trimnell, Jason Sims and Geoff Wilson rounding out the top five.
The second run at this layout created the same result with Phil Wilson, Hitchcock and Trimnell filling the top three and Damien Wilson sneaking up behind them after some car setup changes.
At the other end nearly half of the competitors lost their way around the course, with the dreaded “WD” entry against their name.
Suzanne Crowe scored fastest time for this test, while two tenths of a second shy was Hitchcock.
In the second run of the same course Hitchcock improved a little to get top the time sheets from Crowe and Phil Wilson, while only the top six avoided a “WD”.
A layout change for the east end went to “Double Loop” and Hitchcock secured fastest time for both runs chased by Damien Wilson, Trimnell and Crowe.
Fleur-de-lis at the western end is a quick and easy drive, with fastest time going to Damien Wilson from Phil Wilson, Hitchcock and Sims.
Phil Wilson then stepped up in his second attempt to snatch some bragging rights away from Damien Wilson before the course changed again with the east eend now “Bowler” for a quick run.
The first attempt went to Hitchcock from Damien Wilson, Trimnell and Phil Wilson.
In the second run Hitchcock again took the honours from Damien and Phil Wilson to continue mounting his strong case.
The west eend track layout “Big Eyes” suits a well-controlled car, especially in the expert hands of Hitchcock, who recorded another fastest time.
He was again followed home by the Wilson brothers in both runs.
In the seventh test drivers took on the east end “Pentagon” layout and Hitchcock continued his stunning form by recording the fastest time.
Phil Wilson chased hard again while Jason Sims found his rhythm next in front of Trimnell.
Hitchcock repeated his earlier effort to hold on to top the time sheets in the second pass by just two hundredths of a second from Phil Wilson.
The west end hosted the long “Crossover” test and Phil Wilson showed how his Soarer worked, getting home nearly two seconds clear of Damien Wilson.
Phil Wilson put in a similar run on the second pass to hold fastest time from Trimnell and Hitchcock.
After a short break, “Atom” had been set up at the east end where Damien Wilson found his form collecting the fastest time from an improved Cohen Hamilton and Phil Wilson.
Hamilton continued his rise by scoring his first ever fastest time with a well driven effort in the big Ford Falcon. Next home was Damien Wilson more than a second behind followed by Hitchcock and Phil Wilson.
The west end layout called “Pine Tree” is short and sweet if you get it right and Phil Wilson found that out, heading the pack home with fastest time from Hitchcock, Crowe and Trimnell.
In the repeat run Phil Wilson bettered his last run by a half a second to go back-to-back with Trimnell and Damien Wilson keeping him company.
The “Atom Bomb” layout was used for the 11th test where Phil Wilson put the Soarer around for another fastest time with Hitchcock and Sims chasing.
Phil Wilson repeated his fastest time for the second run with Sims now finding some pace in second spot, while Geoff Wilson slipped to 10th.
The final layout “Serpentine” was located at the west end and Phil Wilson jumped well clear of the pack.
His fastest time was too good for the chasing pack of Hitchcock, Trimnell, Sims and Damien Wilson.
Phil Wilson then completed his day with another fastest time with Hitchcock, Damien Wilson and Sims in his wake.
After a long day with 12 test layouts, mother nature sent down some rain to take home.
With all the penalty times for the wrong directions encountered through a big day of competition, the results sheet had Phil Wilson in his Toyota Soarer at the top with a penalty free time of 662.00 seconds.
Hitchcock was next in his Peugeot 205 GTI with 684.65 seconds, while Damien Wilson completed the podium from Sims, Trimnell, Crowe, Cohan Hamilton, Geoff Wilson, Bruce Hamilton and Ashton Slotegraaf.
Novice juniors out for the first time were Ollie Pohlner and Henry Sims, who completed a busy day with huge smiles.
