NSW categories visit Winton
Photos: Priceless images
Winton Motor Raceway in country Victoria played host to Round 2 of the New South Wales Motor Racing Championship.
The event is quickly becoming a stable of the NSW calendar, as the venue is around one hours drive south of the border.
Categories were, Sports Sedans, Improved Production, RX8 Cup, NSW Formula Ford, Formula Race Cars and NSW Production Touring.
Notably both the Sports Sedans and Improved Production fields were combined grids of NSW and Victorian competitors.
Sports Sedans
The State of Origin battle in Sports Sedans was action packed all weekend, with a Queenslander representing New South Wales coming out on top.
Geoff Taunton won all three races in his Innovation Race Car, he may have dominated the event, but it was all to play for behind.
In Race 1 his nearest challenger was fellow IRC driver Steven Lacey who ended up 3s behind, with BMW driver Matthew Sims in third.
Lacey’s engine let go in spectacular fashion on the opening lap of the second race. Second place went to former national series winner Darren Hossack in an RX7, with Sims third.
The State of Origin battle became a war in the final race with many incidents across the course of the encounter.
Taunton went on to take the win by a staggering 46s, it was a NSW 1-2-3 with Sims second and Chris Jackson third. The best Victorian hope, Hossack retired with a broken axle.
Improved Production
Due to the amount of Improved Production entries, the grid was split into two separate race categories, one for over 2-litre cars and the other for the unders.
In the overs it was a Victorian victory, with thanks to youngster Royce Lyne in his BMW E30
A blown fuel pump in qualifying saw Lyne start Race 1 from ninth place on the grid, but this created a real spectacle.
He marched through the field up to second position and caught the very powerful Commodore driven by Danny Timewell in the lead.
Lyne took the lead on the final lap of the race through the tight section of the track, but he was vunerable on the straights.
Lyne exited the final turn in the lead, but was pipped to the finish by Timewell, the margin less than 0.2s.
Race 2 was a truncated affair with a red flag and safety car due to mechanical issues.
In the end Lyne took the win, Timewell retired mechanical issues, allowing Michael Hazelton to finish in second.
Race 3 again saw Lyne take the win by over 17s, Hazelton did not greet the finish, instead second went to Scott Tutton and third Joseph Lenthall.
Despite New South Wales domination in the unders all weekend, victory ended up going to Victoria.
Matthew Birks controlled the under 2L category all weekend long, however a mechanical failure in the dying stages of the final race robbed him of the round win.
Victorian Brett Porter picked up the pieces and took the win, he finished a distant second in Race 1 and 2, but with the win in the final the Honda Civic driver took the round honours.
It was a Victorian Honda Civic podium lockout with Paul Grziwotz and Larry Merrifield finishing second and third in the final race and round.
RX8 Cup
Stiaan Kriel was a force to be reconned with in RX8 Cup, he crossed the line first in all four RX8 Cup races, only a post-race penalty in the final affair would stop him taking a clean sweep.
Two-time Bathurst winner John Bowe made a guest appearance and was a great benchmark for the series regulars.
Kriel won the first race by 12s, the reigning champion Robert Scott fought off the Gray Bray and Jackson Noakes to finish in second position.
Race 2 was much the same, Kriel taking off into the distance by 15s, with Scott holding off Bray and Noakes once again.
Kriel in a Maise Place Motorsport Mazda RX8 won by over 10s once more in the penultimate affair. Scott finished a comfortable second as Bray and Noakes fought for third, the latter came out on top.
At the start of the final race Scott took the lead and put up a good fight early on, eventually Kriel made his way by and was followed through by Noakes.
Kriel won on track from Noakes and Scott. However, a post-race penalty of 10 seconds for a warmup lap breach demoted Kriel to second. Despite this he won the round from Scott and Noakes.
Bowe finished eighth for the round, highlighting the competitiveness of the series.
NSW Formula Ford
It may have been a small grid for NSW Formula Ford, but the racing action more than made up for it.
Giuseppe Imbrogno, Lachie Mineeff and Tabitha Ambrose were locked in a three-way duel all weekend long.
Race 1 saw them finish in that order, however a post-race penalty went the way of Mineeff for a start-line infringement dropping him to third behind Ambrose.
In Race 2, Ambrose took the lead early, several laps in Imbrogno attempted a move to take the lead back but ended up running off the road and falling behind them both. He regrouped and was eventually able to pick them both off.
Mineeff, attempting to get a run on Ambrose caught her tyre. It broke off his nose cone and gave her a puncture. Imbrogno won from Mineeff and Ambrose.
In the final Mineeff took the lead before he spun at Turn 3 early in the race, this let Imbrogno off the hook to take the win, with Ambrose second.
Gavin Dumas won all three races in the Kent class.
Production Touring
This category had four races across the weekend, two sprint races and two enduros.
The first enduro was led almost all the way by the #31 BMW duo of Simon Hodges and Ryan McMillan, however, they suffered a puncture with just three laps remaining.
This allowed Matthew Holt to take the win ahead of Jayson Williamson and with Hodges and McMillan a disappointing third.
They did respond on Sunday winning both sprints and the enduro. Holt was second in the enduro.
Formula Race Cars
The little Performer P1000 of Michael Doherty took the win in the Formula Race Cars round.
Doherty crossed the line in first after a great battle with Rodney Baker in Race 1, but Baker was awarded the win, as Doherty was found to have crossed the blend line on his out lap.
He responded in the second encounter to take the win, as Baker spun out at Turn 10 and could not refire the car.
Doherty again took victory in Race 3, Baker made his way up to second, but was miles behind the winner at the end of the race.
All the racing was streamed on Blend Line TV