Glenburnie Saleyards hosted the opening round of the 2024 Motorkhana Series with a smallish field of 16 competitors attending for a package of “tests” being prepared by Bruce Hamilton as director of the day.
Noted for not selecting tests from the printed handbook, Bruce generally places a minor change to the “normal” test, to catch out those that have been doing Motorkhana’s since the Ark came back to solid ground.
After the driver briefing and test sheets were produced, Cohen Hamilton led the day away, being awarded the coveted number one spot for the day.
Jason Sims set the pace for test one from Damien Wilson 2nd, Cohen made 3rd, closely followed by Tristan Crowe 4th, Henry Sims 5th, Josh Munn 6th, Phil Wilson 7th, Geoff Wilson 8th, Bradley Bliss 9th and Max Viitanen 10th.
Same test, second run, Tony Wallis let the Special loose and came home some nine seconds clear of Damien Wilson in 2nd spot, Jason Sims a tenth of a second behind in 3rd, Cohen Hamilton 4th, Tristan Crowe 5th, Harrison Bliss 6th, Phil Wilson 7th, Max Viitanen 8th, Aaron Bowering 9th and Josh Munn 10th.
Test number two looked a bit like the ABC logo, straight forward and simple to do, for most drivers that is.
Jason Sims got home quickest with Cohen Hamilton just behind 2nd, Damien Wilson 3rd, Harrison Bliss 4th, Phil Wilson 5th, Tristan Crowe 6th, Aaron Bowering 7th, Max Viitanen 8th, Henry Sims 9th and Josh Munn 10th.
The second pass at this layout, Cohen Hamilton made it look easy in the big Falcon for 1st spot, from Jason Sims 2nd, Henry Sims 3rd, Damien Wilson 4th, Harrison Bliss 5th, Phil Wilson 6th, Tristan Crowe 7th, Geoff Wilson 8th, Bradley Bliss 9th and Aaron Bowering 10th.
Next test layout set up and Jason Sims 1st, Tristan Crowe 2nd, Phil Wilson 3rd, Henry Sims 4th, Damien Wilson 5th, Max Viitanen 6th, Bradley Bliss 7th, Cohen Hamilton 8th, Harrison Bliss 9th and Dylan Bowering 10th.
Second run and Jason again topped the list from Tristan Crowe 2nd, Cohen Hamilton 3rd, Geoff Wilson getting it right this time 4th, Max Viitanen 5th, Aaron Bowering 6th, Phil Wilson 7th, Damien Wilson 8th, Bradley Bliss 9th and Josh Munn 10th.
Change number four and Cohen Hamilton 1st from Jason Sims 2nd, Tristan Crowe 3rd, Phil Wilson 4th, Aaron Bowering 5th, Bradley Bliss 6th, Max Viitanen 7th, Joshua Cameron, having his first outing, getting the hang of what to do, 8th, Damien Wilson 9th and Henry Sims 10th.
Repeat this test and Jason Sims again claimed 1st spot, Henry Sims 2nd, Geoff Wilson finding the correct way home, 3rd, Tristan Crowe 4th, Bradley Bliss 5th, Harrison Bliss 6th, Cohen Hamilton 7th, Damien Wilson 8th, Max Viitanen 9th and Phil Wilson 10th.
Next layout looked similar to Multiple Loop, laying on its side, with a “Bruce” modification to catch out the driver that did not study carefully.
Damien Wilson put this one on display, scoring the fastest time from Jason Sims, 6/100ths behind, Geoff Wilson three seconds behind, but good enough for 3rd spot, Harrison Bliss 4th, Henry Sims 5th, Phil Wilson 6th, Dylan Bowering 7th, Cohen Hamilton 8th, Max Viitanen 9th and Tristan Crowe 10th.
Second pass, Jason Sims got home 4/10ths quicker than Damien Wilson, Harrison Bliss 3rd, Tristan Crowe 4th, Henry Sims 5th, Phil Wilson 6th, Dylan Bowering 7th, Geoff Wilson 8th, Cohen Hamilton 9th and Bradley Bliss 10th.
Mutiloop variation was the next layout used, with Jason Sims enjoying another 1st spot, from Harrison Bliss 2nd, Damien Wilson 3rd, Geoff Wilson 4th, Bradley Bliss 5th, Tristan Crowe 6th, Phil Wilson 7th, Cohen Hamilton 8th, Dylan Bowering 9th and Aaron Bowering 10th.
Jason Sims ran a similar time in a repeat of this test and got home 1st from Damien Wilson 2nd, Henry Sims 3rd, Aaron Bowering 4th, Bradley Bliss 5th, Harrison Bliss 6th, Phil Wilson 7th, Cohen Hamilton 8th, Dylan Bowering 9th and Tristan Crowe 10th.
The next layout setup resembled 4×4 cone boxes and drove well.
Damien Wilson set the pace with Geoff Wilson nipping at his heels 2nd, Jason Sims 3rd, equal time with Tristan Crowe 3rd, Harrison Bliss 5th, Phil Wilson 6th, Dylan Bowering 7th, Bradley Bliss 8th, Max Viitanen 9th equal time with Henry Sims 9th.
The second pass at this layout and Damien Wilson lowered his previous time by nearly two seconds, holding out an excellent drive from Henry Sims 2nd, a little over one second behind.
Geoff Wilson lowered his last run but was only good enough for 3rd spot on this run, with Aaron Bowering dropping some four seconds off his first run and getting 4th spot, Phil Wilson 5th, Dylan Bowering 6th, Bradley Bliss 7th, Max Viitanen 8th, Harrison Bliss 9th and Cohen Hamilton 10th.
The final test of this day’s excellent competition, a 4-loop pattern, drew out the best of the drivers that had done the previous 14 tests.
Damien Wilson drove it well to capture fastest time from Jason Sims 2nd, Phil Wilson 3rd, Henry Sims 4th, Dylan Bowering 5th, Tristan Crowe 6th, Geoff Wilson 7th, Aaron Bowering 8th, Max Viitanen 9th, Josh Munn 10th.
Last pass, Damien Wilson repeated his previous run, holding off a big go from Jason Sims 2nd, Henry Sims 3rd, Phil Wilson 4th, Geoff Wilson 5th, Tristan Crowe 6th, Harrison Bliss 7th, Aaron Bowering 8th, Bradley Bliss 9th and Josh Munn 10th.
After packing up the equipment, all left with a smile after a good outing, some pleased with their results, others wondering how they would have gone if they did not get so many penalties.
The next event on the SEAC calendar is at SEAC Park, Megaw Road on the March 24.
Get your entry in on the Motorsport Australia website for the opening round of the 2024 Autocross Series.
