Even though Mother Nature tossed down some handy rain in the week leading up to the long weekend, SEAC Park withstood two full days of racing to decide who would be crowned South Australia Autocross King for 2021.
Spread across the weekend from Saturday afternoon to Sunday night, it kept all the competitors on their “A” game.
It was no surprise to see the top 10 of the Saturday time sheet filled with 4WD’s after the afternoon and evening runs had been completed with places shuffled between the top six, some better in the dark than others.
Local rally Ace, Aaron Bowering kept a hard charging Nick Cagney behind him at the end of the day, with Cagney making up some ground in the runs under lights.
Simon Feil was also in the mix during the day, but lost ground in the night runs and finished third, while Mid Murray competitor and past state champion, Bradley Clements had to settle for fifth after experiencing similia issues.
Finally getting some race wheels, Jamie Pohlner debuted his recently acquired Evo7 and immediately settled down to work with strong pace in changing conditions to seal a well-deserved fourth.
Another rally “gun” Dale Cagney had a moment or two through the day and shared the credits with Paul Knopka in the sunshine.
They both posted identical totals for seventh spot, but Cagney managed to do more in the dark.
Michael Clements shared the WRX with his son and the pair along with Paul Heenan and Jason Winterfield rounded out the top 10.
First of the 2 wheel drive competitors, Damien Wilson put in a good effort in the day runs for 11th but had a fight on his hands in the dark dropping to 15th.
The combined tally gave him enough to hold the 11th spot outright.
Sunday got under way early and director Kevin Raedel set up a long track layout to give all drivers plenty of seat time.
Enjoying the Knopka WRX Buggy, Aaron Bowering out drove all but one of the rest of the field in each of the four heats, with Cagney just edging Bowering out in heat 2, by 3 tenths of a second.
Cagney had to settle for second in heats 1 and 3 with Jamie Pohlner getting into the act in heat 4.
Feil’s first heat resulted in a podium berth, but he faded as the day progressed with fifth, fifth and ninth.
Bradley Clements did the opposite with a string of top-five placings completed by a visit to the podium in the last run.
Cagney Senior (Dale) had a reasonable outing with a sixth first run, followed by more solid results to prove a point.
Clements Senior (Michael) did not settle to the track as well as he has done in previous visits, having an average day floating around the back half of the top 10 for the WRX driver.
Buggy owner Paul Knopka found his place in the competition and pushed as fast as his WRX Buggy would allow him, resulting in a trio of eighths.
Heenan also had a mixed day with the VR4 good enough for a seventh place in the first run, a similar time for the second outing resulting in ninth even though he was a little quicker.
He improved by five seconds in the third heat, but the time still left him in ninth.
Subaru Legacy Pilot Winterfield bettered his times in each outing but had to settle for edge of the top 10.
First of the 2 wheel drive brigade home in what was a 4WD feast, Damien Wilson pushed hard all day in the Nissan Silvia and had a mixed bag for his efforts with a best result of 11th before slipping back.
He was closely followed by Dion Becker in the BF Falcon with 14th, 16th, 17th and 14th to leave these two separated by just three seconds after two days of hard work at the wheel.
The state champion crown for 2021 went to Bowering with his total of 19.48.64 seconds.
Next to get home with 19:56.93 seconds, Cagney drove his Subaru WRX very hard all weekend and pushed Bowering every outing.
Driving his latest purchase for its first outing, Pohlner found his groove quickly and had a good run to get home with a total of 20:05.41 seconds for the third outright trophy.
Feil had a mixed fortunes both days and ended the weekend in fourth spot, while Bradley Clements was the first of the visitors.
He had to settle for fifth spot with a total of 20:19.45 seconds including a few marker penalties collected along the way.
Dale Cagney experienced a couple of moments along the way to his finish time of 20:26.18 seconds, placing him in sixth outright.
The first 2WD home award went the way of Wilson in his Nissan Silvia, with a total of 21:42.89 seconds getting him home in 12th outright.
