NSW MOTOR RACE FINALE 2020

By BLENDLINE MEDIA TEAM

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Some state titles were still to be decided with the late addition of round six of the NSW Motor Racing Championship to the calendar – at Wakefield Park – on December 12-13.

SPORTS SEDANS:
Brad Shiels qualified fastest and won the first two Sports Sedan races in Joe Said’s refreshed Fiat 124/13B Rotary Turbo. Driving his Tranam Chev Corvette, Stuart Inwood finished second in the opening race ahead of Mark Duggan and his Aston Martin/Chev.

Grant Doulman retired early with his Chev-powered Falcon stuck in second gear. The Chev Camaro of Steve Lacey broke an input shaft and Nick Smith elevated his Mazda RX7/Nissan Turbo to second before fuel dramas. 

Shiels won the second as Doulman came through for the runner-up spot. Duggan was third after Inwood had a rear suspension failure and Smith again had fuel issues. Smith was out before the third race started with electrical issues. Shiels went out early with an electrical glitch which allowed Doulman the win clear of Duggan who withstood the late challenge of Inwood.

HQ RACING NSW:
While Brett Osborn’s part time participation in this year’s NSW HQ Holden Championship resulted in a final round clean sweep, Glen Deering overcame drama to take the title. Osborn won the three races ahead of his teammate John Baxter. After race-long dices, Matt Barker passed Chris Molle on the last lap in the first two. In the last Molle again led Baxter until a broken fan belt put him out.

The championship was on between Deering and David Proglio. In race one the Proglio pipped Deering for the first of three fifths. Deering had the spot in the second until a diff failure. He borrowed another and finished seventh in the last. When he dropped of his worse round points, Deering took the title.

SUPERSPORTS:
Overall in SuperSports, Nick Kelly in his Radical SR8 was the outright winner. He won race one ahead of the similarly-mounted Peter White who was challenged early by Brad Shiels in the smaller engined SR3. A brief rain squall in race two made things slippery enough for White to snatch the win before Kelly hit back with a first in race three where Shiels relegated White to third.

Despite the win, Kelly lost the title to Stephen Champion. The latter’s chance of going back-to-back diminished significantly in race one. He was caught up in a first race incident with fellow SR3 drivers Peter Clare and Ryan Godfrey at turn one. Champion needed good points from the remaining races and got them with a couple of hard-fought fourths.

FORMULA VEE:
Despite Simon Pace’s overall win in the final Formula Vee Championship round, it was his son Aaron who won the title, ahead of dad. In a Sabre Daniel Reynolds came out of the leading three to take race one ahead of Simon Pace in his Checkmate and Jacer driver Reef McCarthy. Dylan Thomas in a Stinger emerged from the second group for fourth ahead of the Jacers piloted by Craig Sparke and Aaron Pace.

Simon Pace held off McCarthy and Reynolds to win race two before a comfortable victory in race three. Reynolds managed to wrestle second off McCarthy after a slip-up while Aaron Pace and Sparke were fourth and fifth in races two and three. Meanwhile Stephen Butcher had two 1200cc class wins in his Stinger and secured that title

FORMULA FORD:
Noah Sands won the final round of the state Formula Fords, while Tom Sargent scored enough points to take the championship. Cody Burcher in a Spectrum won the opening race, barely holding out Sargent in a Mygale with Sands in another Mygale third. Fourth was Fletcher Harris in front of fellow Mygale steerer Zach Bates and Jordan Mazzaroli in a Spirit.

Burcher and Sargent clashed in race two which allowed 16-yeaqr-old Sands to get his first race win. Bates and Jake Donaldson in a Spectrum filled the minors ahead of Burcher while Sargent was last. Sands also won race three, clear of Bates, Burcher, and Sargent. In the Kent class Spirit driver Mitch Gatenby secured his second title when he won the round ahead of Cameron McLeod in a Van Diemen.

FORMULA RACE CARS:
Leading home the mixture that makes up Formula Race Cars were Greg Muddle with two and Lawrence Katsidis on one race victory in their Formula 3 Dallaras. Adam and Nathan Gotch in their pair of Formula 4 Mygales made them work hard for them. Adam Gotch had the race one lead initially before Muddle went ahead. A minor miscue by Gotch allowed Katsidis past and he snatched victory off Muddle on the final lap.

Muddle took out race two where he beat Gotch, Katsidis and Rob Rowe and Dallara, and then followed up with victory over Katsidis in the last. Little separated Adam Gotch, Nathan Gotch and Doug Barry (Reynard Formula Holden) in the scrap for third.

RX8 CUP:
The round win by Ryan Gorton enabled him to secure the title. He won the first and third races and was second in the shortened second race. Second for the round was Steve Devjak with Justin Barnes third.

In race one Jake Lougher was prominent until he was buried in the turn two gravel trap. When the race resumed Marcus La Delle was second when he speared off at the same corner. Ultimately Devjak chased Gorton to the flag ahead of Barnes and Andrew O’Keefe.

The second race was circumvented when O’Keefe, Lougher and La Delle crashed together. Devjak led from the outset and won ahead of Gorton, Barnes, and Matt Butters. In the last Gorton shook off Devjak’s early challenge while Jackson Noakes came through to third ahead of Ben Silvestro and Barnes who was slowed with a manifold leak.

PRODUCTION SPORTS:
Nick Kelly qualified fastest for both the half-hour Production Sports Car races but in each, he was beaten off the start by David Wall in his Porsche GT3 Cup Car. Wall then determinedly held off the Audi R8 LMS driver to win both. 

Third in each race was Porsche driver Drew Hall ahead of Adrian Wilson in his shared BMW M4 and Stephen Wan the Lotus Exige driver having three spins. Wan was fourth in race two ahead of Michael Sheargold in his Porsche, Glen Townsend in his Exige, and Nader. The latter drove Wilson’s BMW and were declared joint championship winners.