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| Race report by Ari Bakla |
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| The usually sunny Queensland turned on the weather for the practice days but let me tell you once the racing started so did the thunderstorms. Practice days were perfect, 33-35 degrees Celcius with perfect blue skies. The XRAY team we not the fastest come the first day, due to still learning the new T4 cars, but lets face it practice is not where it at, race day is!!! Race day Saturday started late due to heavy rain overnight and into the morning, forcing the club to run into the night. Similar weather on Sunday meant we started even later and thus the club decided to use the Rain day (Monday) to run finals, some stayed some didnt but it was the fast guys in the top 10 who hung around. |
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| 17.5 Stock Touring Cars |
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After 2 solid days of testing in some trying heat, Team Xray had a solid setup with everyone having their own custom changes to suit their driving style and we went into the first Qualification round with confidence. The first heat saw the home track drivers pull on their experience and knowledge of the track to pull a slight lead over the rest of the field, Michael Sherman 2nd, Clinton Livingston 3rd. Gavin Hatherly put down a time to get 5th overall, James Ainslie 6th. This was Keith's first run on the track as he was unable to make it for practice, or to setup his car. Even so he made a smooth clean run to put his car into 7th fastest run over all. Nathan Reece missed the start but a late couple of laps saw his lap time pace being the best of the field. Second qualifier saw all the Team drivers improve their previous run time.Michael Sherman topped the table, Clinton Livingston 3rd, Gavin, James and Keith placed 4th, 5th, and 7th respectively. With some drivers opting to use their second set of tyres it became obvious how much better new tyres were with the top 3 places going to those who used them. Unfortunately Nathans bad luck continued with car issues (loose Pinion) which forced an early stop and another non result.
We were interrupted at this point with rain just before our 3rd qualifier started, and sat down to re-strategise. Deciding to go out on new tyres for their 3rd run Team Xray were hoping to get a jump on the rest of the field on the low grip surface after the rain. Since the current leaders had already used both their allotted sets they would be on the slower second run tyre. During warm up, we were shocked with just how low the grip had gotten with the recent rain. We all knew that it was going to be a difficult and slow race, but had to put in 110% as the later heats would all be on a higher grip track. With all going to plan and Team Xray holding the top 3 spots early on during the qualifier, we were confident that we had made the right choice. Unfortunately a spun car ended Gavin's run with him only achieving a 18th overall due to the low grip and run-in. James and Keith ended up faring only slightly better with James posting 8th, and Keith coming in 13th. The grip was just too low for the initial race, and with the track getting better every run our times were just not quick enough. Nathan's luck turned around at this point, with his disappointing start to the qualifiers he rocked through his lower heat posting the best time of the heat, and a time that would of seen him in the top 5 of the earlier heats when the grip was higher. With a solid qualifier under his belt, he went into the last qualifier on a mission and stayed clean to claim 6th best time with Keith in 5th and James in 11th. Gavin managed to squeeze into the top 3 on the last lap with less than a second splitting the top 4 over the 6 min run.
Rain once again disrupted the meet, and it was decided that the allotted rain day be used to run the finals, taking our grid positions off the already ran 4 qualifier heats. This would mean Michael 2nd, Clinton 3rd, Gavin 4th, Nathan 5th, James 6th, and Keith in 7th. With the New Xray T4 easily the best represented vehicle in the top 10, and the whole team being able to place in the A final, we were confident in the car and our ability to push for the win in the finals. We now had plenty of track time under our belt to combat the edge the home track drivers held, and went out strong from the buzzer.
The first final saw the TQ holder get an awesome start, with Michael place having some grip issues early on, and slightly holding the rest of the drivers back from chasing him down. Gavin got through the pack first, and went on to chase down 1st place. Keith had a bad roll 3 laps in, which left him a long way back, and chose to keep his tyres fresh for the second run. Both James and Nathan worked their way up in the traffic and were able to hold off the pack to finish 3rd and 4th respectively. Gavin chased down 1st place, but with mistake in the last 5 laps turning his car around was unable to pull in the time he needed, and finished 1 second behind. |
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Second final saw Gavin get a great start and was able to take 1st position on the first lap. Pulling out a 13 second lead, his race was never challenged, and finished 1st to force a 3rd race decider. Nathan and Keith battled hard in a 3 way battle for 4th, 5th, and 6th, that lasted all race. Some great racing saw Nathan take out 4th, and Keith 5th. James was spun around only a couple of laps in, with his car jumping the barrier. This unfortunately left him a long way back, and decided to save his tyres for the 3rd and last final.
Nothing seemed to go right for Team Xray in the 3rd final. With the National Title still up for grabs for 3 different drivers, the tension was high. Unfortunately Gavin got the worst of it in the first corner and ended up in the dirt, a long way off the track. With all grip lost on his tyres, and a lot of ground to make up, he pushed hard making it up to 4th before hard driving took its toll, and making a mistake ended his run. Keith on his still good tyres pushed through to put pressure on the front runners, but ran out of time and finished only 1 second behind the leaders. Nathan and James had another great battle for 4th, 5th, and 6th from the outset, with Nathan grabbing 5th, and James 6th in the closing laps. Michael Sherman ended up winning the 3rd final, this meant all top 3 drivers were on equal points, no one know who won. It came down to the fastest time on the finals.
Although some bad luck with weather and traffic, Team Xray finished strongly with Michael Sherman 2nd, Gavin 3rd place, Keith 4th, Nathan 5th and James 6th. We were all a bit concerned about going into the National Titles with a totally new car, and only 1 or 2 runs under our belt with it. But there was no need. The New Xray T4 performed flawlessly and reliably throughout the event, with all Team drivers praising the changes over the outgoing T3 2012. The car is a great step forward, and we see some great racing ahead with it.
Stock class final results:
1. Tim Weier
2. Michael Sherman - XRAY T4
3. Gavin Hatherly - XRAY T4
4. Keith Chui - XRAY T4
5. Nathan Reese - XRAY T4
6. James Ainslie - XRAY T4
7. John LaSpina
8. Clinton Livingston - XRAY T4
9. Chris Shevelling
10. Chris Bismire |
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| Open Modified Touring Cars |
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Local young gun Corey Broadstock and Chris Sturdy were showing fast pace through practice, but it was QLD local Jason Dorn the quickest of the XRAY team. Ari Bakla started showing signs of speed late Friday... Qualifying was going to be interesting. Ari took out Q1 and Q2, finishing 2nd in Q3 and 3rdin Q4. Having the faster overall time in Q2 securing him the TQ honors. Chris Sturdy Q3, Corey Broadstock Q4, Oscar piastri Q5, Tim Lee Q6 & Mark Wallin Q10.
Finals: With Monday being used as the rain day and conditions back to hot weather it was going to be interesting how the cars would react to the hotter conditions. Ari mentioned one of the best things about the XRAY T4 is how versatile it is when it comes to changing track conditions, it just works. Final 1 saw Ari pull out a gap instantly, and was never threatened. Q2 was a different story, Simon Nicholson took the advantage of new tyres and passed Ari on the inside of turn 1, winning the final by 2 seconds. Final 3 was a little like the forst one, Ari was on new tyres to Simons second run, Ari had more grip and just simply pulled away, bridged a gap and held it for the whole race giving him the National Title. |
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| Modified Final Positions: |
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1. Ari Bakla - XRAY T4
2. Simon Nicholson
3. Timothy Lee - XRAY T4
4. Chris Sturdy - XRAY T4
5. Antoni Caretti
6. Oscar Piastri - XRAY T4
7. Corey Broadstock - XRAY T4
8. Rhyse Marshall
9. Peter Becket
10. Mark Wallin - XRAY T4 |
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