Aday and night Autocross event was held at SEAC Park on Saturday for the final Round of the McPherson Mechanical J-Tech 2022 Autocross Series.
Dusty and firm, the track showed promise for a quick lap right from the start and after the compulsory “recce” look around, Kevin Raedel drew the number one for first car on track and put his Falcon rally car through the track with all the “flair” that he could muster, showing onlookers the track was quite slippery.
Nicholas Cagney put his Toyota 86 around the course for a fast 1:46.12 seconds to be the quickest car on this round, closely followed by the old fella, Geoff Wilson, cranking out a good lap of 1:48.56 seconds for second spot from a hard charging Jayden Edwards at 1:48.93 seconds in third.
Damien Wilson found good pace to be next home with a tidy 1:49.00 seconds, closely followed by Damien Brand’s CanAm stopping the clock at 1:50.44 seconds and claiming fifth spot before John Whitehead’s Phoenix Buggy toured the circuit in 1:51.00 with Dion Becker in his Falcon doing well for a 1:51.72 and seventh spot.
Always one to watch, Gary Brown had the Falcon sideways everywhere and a 1:52.43 second lap is reasonably quick considering the extra distance he must cover with the flamboyant driving style he is known for.
Another with plenty of sideways action, Barry Edwards pushed his Commodore as hard as conditions would allow, arriving home with a time of 1:52.62 seconds for his effort.
Junior Brand, Corey has been “learning” how to drive a car quickly from his Dad, Trent and Uncle Damien and is showing some excellent car control to progress faster with each outing.
His time of 1:53.07 seconds got him home in 10th spot in the tidy Subaru Impreza.
Round 2 arrived quickly and the circuit showed some “black spots”, indicating plenty of grip.
Dale Cagney let loose in the Mitsubishi Evolution, trying to make up for a poor first run after popping a tyre.
Cagney set the place alight with a very tidy and extremely quick lap time of 1:42.96 seconds to be a time that no-one could get near to.
Trying his best, Nicholas Cagney put in a similar time to his first run, with a 1:46.53 the best he could achieve which was enough to hold out Damien Wilson at 1:47.53 in third, while Dion Becker slotted into fourth with a 1:48.38 seconds an improvement of three seconds on his first run.
Matt Kirby also improved on his sighter lap by five seconds with a lap of 1:49.72 seconds for fifth spot, holding out Barry Edwards at 1:49.91 in sixth, Damien Brand with a 1:50.03 for seventh and Max Gartner – having his first outing in a CanAm buggy – getting in with a good run of 1:50.07 seconds for eighth spot.
Jayden Edwards could not match his opening lap, settling for ninth spot with his 1:51.54 seconds and Gary Brown rounded out the top 10 with his scenic tour of 1:52.13 seconds.
Third lap, in the day light and Dale Cagney almost matched his previous quick lap, stopping the clock at 1:43.85 seconds to hold out son Nicholas, 1:45.47 seconds from Damien Wilson’s 1:47.38 seconds in third spot.
Dion Becker, having an absolute blast, repeated his previous lap with a marginal improvement, to stop the clock at 1:48.03 seconds for another fourth spot closely followed by Matt Kirby’s Laser in 1:48.69 seconds, Jayden Edwards found a better line than the last run for 1:49.28 seconds, Damien Brand next with 1:49.71 seconds and Barry Edwards hot on his heels with a 1:50.12 seconds lap and eighth place.
Mark Jennings managed a good lap after a couple of “ordinary” outings and scored the ninth points with a 1:50.15 effort in the Falcon while Max Gartner rounded out the 10 with a 1:50.21 lap.
After a break for tea and to allow the darkness to occur, a well lit Evo again set the pace, with Cagney Senior matching his earlier lap with a well driven 1:43.47 seconds lap, closely followed by Nicholas doing his best to catch the old boy, stopping the clock at 1:46.81 seconds for second while Damien Wilson nipped at his heels with a well driven 1:47.75 time.
Improving on the previous outing, Jayden Edwards put a good lap together for a 1:47.37 run and fourth spot, followed by Dion Becker’s 1:50.34 for fifth, Damien Brand’s 1:50.81 for sixth, Barry Edwards 1:50.84 to slot into seventh, Max Gartner stopped the clock at 1:50.93 for eighth, Bailey Perryman pushed the Hyundai as hard as it would go to clock a 1:51.41 lap and lock down ninth place, while Gary Brown rounded out the top 10 with a 1:52.69.
Last run for the evening, no more sprinkles of rain and Dale Cagney finished off the day with a 1:43.81 second lap to hold out a big effort from Damien Brand at 1:44.63 for second, Nicholas Cagney’s 1:45.22 – his best run for the day – in third Damien Wilson slotted into fourth with his disco lights run of 1:46.09, Dion Becker claimed fifth with a 1:48.41 and Jayden Edwards next across the line at 1:49.53 seconds in sixth while showing his consistent style.
Barry Edwards also settled into a pattern, this lap clocking in at 1:50.29 for seventh, closely followed by the hard charging Gary Brown Falcon in 1:50.34 for eighth, Matt Kirby’s Laser at 1:50.44 for ninth and Geoff Wilson, nursing a “wounded” Peugeot all day scored 10th points with a 1:51.47 effort.
With scores yet to be checked, Dale Cagney recovered well from his flat tyre first round to hold on to the first place points with a total of 8:49.59 seconds from Nicholas Cagney with his consistent day at 8:50.15 for second spot points.
Damien Wilson enjoyed his birthday outing, getting home with a well driven total of 8:57.75 and third points.
Damien Brand pinched the points for fourth outright by his very quick last run giving him enough to hold out Dion Becker in fifth spot with times of 9:05.62 and 9:06.88.
Jayden Edwards’ total of 9:07.65 was good enough for the points at sixth, holding out dad Barry’s 9:13.78 for seventh.
Matt Kirby had a mixed day at the wheel and drove the Laser well enough for eighth spot with his total of 9:18.35.
Gary Brown drove way more distance than most of the others and totalled a respectable time of 9:19.59 seconds and ninth points.
Always at maximum effort, Bailey Perryman put in some good laps and made it to 10th outright in the Hyundai with a total of 9:20.32.
The season activities have now been completed and all club members can be proud of the events successfully run through a difficult year.
The presentation dinner is yet to be finalised, but should be held around the end of January, just before the first event for the 2023 season, the Twin Peaks Hill Climb at Port MacDonnell in early February.
