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[NATIONALS] A weekend of high drama
by Nationals Media
A weekend of high drama and mixed results..
Rnd#7 [FINAL] Shannons Nationals presented by Hi-Tec Oils
Phillip Island, VIC (November 4-6)
November 6
The sixth season of the Shannons Nationals presented by Hi-Tec Oils has come to its conclusion, and whilst there were few surprises in the end as to the victors, the racing - as always - was intense.
Coming into the final round, there were still plenty of life in many of the title battles, although both the Kerrick Sports Sedan Series and Saloon Cars had crowned their 2011 champions with Tony Ricciardello and Matt Lovell respectively locking up the coveted #1 plates prior the season finale.
Others, like Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Australia favourite Roger Lago were going to have to battle through the weekend and keep their noses clean.
Lago knew all about that, as it was the final round of the 2010 season that cost [then] reigning champion Matt Kingsley the chance to go back-to-back himself after a huge car destroying off in qualifying.. Perhaps it was those thoughts that kept Lago from pushing his Falcon Property Group Type 997 too hard during the weekend, the Queenslander doing just enough to stay within reach of closest title challenger (and race two and three winner) Jeff Bobik.
In the end the title belonged to Lago - by just 14 points from Bobik - who after feeling almost as if he inherited the win in 2010, showed from the opening round of the 2011 season that he was more than deserving of both titles as a true ‘Nationals’ champion.
Bobik claimed second in the championship with Terry Knight, the 996 Cup Class champion a deserving third outright.
Whilst Lago led into the final round and was the favourite for a second title, Terry Wyhoon actually came into his ‘home’ event on the back foot, with inaugural Kumho Tyres V8 Touring Car champion Chris Smerdon on top of the points table with a 20 point lead. Sadly for Smerdon (BA Falcon), his weekend quickly deteriorated after an engine irregularity was discovered at Sandown during the penultimate round, with the South Australian penalised all the points he had earned from that round, all but handing Wyhoon (Lubrimaxx BA Falcon) the title.
That said, Scott Loadsman (Beautiful Tiles VY Commodore) was still well and truly in the hunt just 29 points in arrears of the new points leader.
In the end though the Touring Car stalwart won all three races - and Time Attack - to put the title out of Loadsman’s reach, despite the Holden pilot claiming pole in qualifying.
Wyhoon’s run to the title wasn’t easy though, with a string of on track mishaps and reduced laps forcing the former AUSCAR champion to dig deep, no more so than in the opening race where Loadsman held the early advantage, Wyhoon working his way through after a poor start to take the lead as the race was called after a big off for Aaron Tebb (MacArthur Truck Serve VY Commodore) on the run onto the front straight on lap six.
Further incidents off the start of race two saw just two racing laps conducted after Chris Delfsma (Century 21 AU Falcon) came unstuck with Jim Pollicina (Poll Performance VY Commodore) taking Shawn Jamieson (Morphett Vale Garage VY Commodore) and fellow former Saloon Car champ Bruce Heinrich (Heinrich Performance AU Falcon) with him.
Whilst statistically Loadsman was in with a chance of title victory in the final race, that chance evaporated off the line after the Commodore pilot broke an axle, leaving Justin Garioch (Valley Longwall International BA Falcon) to push Wyhoon all the way to the line as he had done during race two.
It was Wyhoon’s weekend though, and it was a deserving win for a driver who has contested every almost Touring Car series in Australia over the last 15 years (including the V8 Supercar Championship Series), and been a strong supporter of the Kumho Tyres V8 Touring Car concept since its inception.
“It’s been a hard battle - it’s been a good series this year and I think it’s only going to get stronger,” Wyhoon agreed.
“I’ve got a bit of an unfair advantage over everyone else here in my crew. They just work their guts out, and it’s a credit to them the way they put these cars together.”
Tony Ricciardello (Red Rooster Alfa Romeo GTV/Chev) may have already been crowned the 2011 Kerrick Sports Sedan Champion, but that didn’t stop former champion Darren Hossack (Auto Union Deutsche Audi A4/Chev) from a clean sweep at Phillip Island, the two stars never far apart as they battled at lap record pace, Hossack resetting the benchmark in both races one and two..
With Hossack returning to the series alongside fellow former champion Dean Randle (Kerrick SAAB 93/Chev) in the car he engineered to the 2010 title with James Sera at the wheel, Ricciardello always knew he’d have his work cut out for him at Phillip Island, a venue that has traditionally better suited the Audi than the Alfa.
Despite that fact, it was Ricciardello who took pole in Q2, defeating Hossack’s opening session best by just a tenth of a second.
From there though it was Hossack’s weekend and even when Ricciardello got to the lead off the line - as he did in race three - the lead was short lived, Hossack pulling away to win by 15 seconds in a dominant display. Randle collected a couple of seconds, but courtesy of a DNF in race two (mechanical gremlin), fell behind the consistent Dean Camm (Corvette Trans-Am) who took third for the round and the 2011 series.
Adam Beechey (Donut King VS Commodore) has wrapped up his second consecutive V8 Commodore Cup title after an epic battle all weekend with rising star Matthew Hayes (San Marco Italian Restaurants VS Commodore) where at one point the pair were equal on championship points.
In the end Beechey prevailed, thanks in part to his ongoing consistency, a win (reverse-grid second race) and two second place finishes topping Hayes win in the final race, a second and a fourth.
“To be honest I came into this round a bit down after Sandown, and I pretty much came here thinking second will do,” Beechey said after race three.
“We did what we had to do in race one, we didn’t need to race Marcus [Zukanovic - race one winner] we just needed to stay in front of Hayesy.
“We always love the reverse grid race, we managed to pass half the field there, and in race three we just did what we had to do again.
“The first one [title] was good because I really wanted it, but I had a bit of a lead so I half expected it.”
The Australian Saloon Car Series was a fait-accompli at Phillip Island with Matt Lovell (Batteries Direct AU Falcon) having wrapped up the title during round six at Sandown, but that didn’t deter the South Australian from having a serious crack at victory in the final round.
He had some serious competition though with reigning champion Tim Rowse (Rowse Motors VT Commodore) returning for his first event this year, whilst fellow Victorian Andrew Nowland (Coffey Ford AU Falcon) was also expected to provide some serious competition.
And whilst the battle for the championship had been resolved, the fight was still on in earnest over P2 in the series with Geoff Brown (v8touringcars.com.au AU Falcon), Mark Primmer (Dial Before You Dig AU Falcon), Ian Chivas (Chivas Motorsport AU Falcon), Tony Evangelou (Salooncars.net.au AU Falcon), Sam Milton (Nippy’s AU Falcon), Harley Phelan (Kleenduct VT Commodore) and Kelli Stephens (Mal Wood Automotive AU Falcon) all in contention.
In the end it was Primmer who would take the runner-up position despite the dominance of race winners Nowland (victor in races one and two) and Rowse (race three), Brown hanging on for third.
After failing to make too much of an impression on title rival James Winslow (R-Tek F307/Mercedes) in the opening two races of Formula 3, series points leader Chris Gilmour (Gilmour Racing F307/Mercedes) recovered to win the final race and take a healthy 19 point lead into the series final in a weeks time at Symmons Plains in Tasmania.
After being beaten by both Winslow and John Magro (Magro Motorsport F307/Mercedes) in the two sprint races prior to the double-points, trophy race, Gilmour had watched his 20-point championship lead be halved as the weekend progressed.
But with one perfect launch and a controlled 10-lap drive at the front he turned the margin back around with what he described as his ‘best drive ever’ from his 116-race F3 career.
“That was just about as perfect as it gets,” the Queenslander beamed.
“I was a bit uncomfortable yesterday and not in the right headspace so I didn’t get the best start but today I knew what we had to do and was able to do it. The start was great and I was able to maintain the lead all race.
“I think it’s the best race I’ve ever driven and certainly one of the most satisfying. I want to win this championship more than anything else so this is a great confidence boost and gives us a great start ahead of Tasmania next week.”
And finally, 12-months after it appeared he had won yet another national Superkart title (only to lose the victory on countback to arch-rival Darren Hossack), Warren McIlveen (Stockman MR2) has taken victory again in the 250 International Class after four hectic races across the weekend for round two of the Australian Superkart Championships.
Former International sprint kart star Luke May (Anderson Maverick) added another Australian title to his name with victory in 250 National, whilst Jeff Reed (Stockman MR2) has emerged the victor in 125s.
So that’s it for the 2011 Shannons Nationals presented by Hi-Tec Oils, now it’s on to season 2012, with a nine-round program announced immediately prior to the Phillip Island final kicking off at Eastern Creek in Sydney on March 9-11.
2012 Shannons Nationals presented by Hi-Tec Oils
CALENDAR
Rnd#1 - Eastern Creek, Sydney, NSW (9-11 March)
Rnd#2 - Mallala, SA (13-15 April)
Rnd#3 - Phillip Island, VIC (25-27 May)
Rnd#4 - Winton, Benalla, VIC (22-24 June)
Rnd#5 - Eastern Creek, Sydney, NSW (13-15 July)
Rnd#6 - Queensland Raceway, QLD (10-12 August)
Rnd#7 - Phillip Island, VIC (21-23 September)
Rnd#8 - Wakefield Park, Goulburn, NSW (12-14 October)
Rnd#9 - Sandown, Melbourne, VIC (23-25 November)
SHANNONS NATIONALS presented by HI-TEC OILS
The Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships was formed in 2006 as a partnership between racing categories, circuit promoters and the Confederation of Australian Motorsport (CAMS).
Providing a regular and stable home for a wide variety of national-level motor racing categories, the Shannons Nationals presented by Hi-Tec Oils combines a mixture of touring car, sports car and open-wheel competition.
Events deliver value-for-money entertainment for motorsport fans, with non-stop quality racing and affordable admission prices, whilst spectators can also get up-close with the cars and speak to the drivers in the easily-accessible pit paddocks.
In 2011, the seven-round championship visited seven different circuits in four states whilst for 2012, the series will expand again to nine rounds across four states, starting in March, and ending in late November.
Shannons Insurance [http://www.shannons.com.au] continues their valued and enthusiastic support of the series and are joined by presenting partners Hi-Tec Oils [http://www.hi-tecoils.com.au] enabling the Nationals to continue to grow beyond its sixth year.
Racing from the Shannons Nationals presented by Hi-Tec Oils will be broadcast around Australia in 2011 free-to-air on SBS Speedweek and on Foxtel's new dedicated 24/7 motorsport Channel SPEED (Inside Speed and a dedicated Nationals program each round).
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