A BLAST FROM THE PAST WITH THE LAKESIDE CLASSIC

Tony Alford’s Nissan GTR in Heritage Touring Cars at the Lakeside Classic – Photo: Mark Walker

A WEEKEND of cars from the past, ones that looked like them, and the combination of a couple of categories with newer cars. That was the Lakeside Classic held at the iconic track, now called Lakeside Park.

The Heritage Cars, of the Group C and A era, were headed up by latter cars, Tony Alford’s ex-GIO Nissan Skyline, Duncan MacKellar’s ex-Japanese Touring Car Championship-winning BMW and Terry Lawlor in his ex-DJR Ford Sierra.

It was five outing triumphs of six track appearances for Alford for he had to settle for second in qualifying behind MacKellar before winning the five races. In four races MacKellar took the challenge up to Alford, even briefly leading two races. Lawlor scored one second place but otherwise finished third.

The best of the Group C brigade was Ed Singleton in his ex-John Goss Ford Falcon XC. He had some great battles with Glenn Gerster until the ex-Murray Carter Falcon XE had a worrying engine gremlin that sidelined it from the last couple of races.

David Wall in the ex-Ian Geoghegan Ford Mustang GTA at the Lakeside Classic – Photo: Mark Walker

In Group N Historic Touring Cars, the real deal cars of David Wall (ex-Ian Geoghegan Ford Mustang GTA) and John Bowe (ex-Bob Jane Holden Monaro HQ) were at the forefront. But they were split by the Nc Holden Torana XU-1 driven by Peter Baguley in the opening races.

Bowe pulled a second in the second-last encounter with a last lap move on Baguley, setting up an intriguing last race (the feature) encounter between the team mates.

Unfortunately, the Monaro had a master cylinder failure on the form-up lap which locked the brakes on and caused a start delay. It left Wall a clear winner over Baguley while Stuart Barnes (Mustang) headed a keen bunch in the fight for third.

Ian Palmer came away with the Trans-Am Challenge round win in his Pontiac Firebird after a second in race one which he followed up with three wins. Anthony Tenkate (Ford Mustang) finished second overall with three seconds and a third.

The final podium spot went to Ron Prefontaine (Ford Mustang) after Mark Bowtell (Firebird) blotted his copybook with a spin at Hungry in race three. Polesitter and race one winner Shannon O’Brien (Firebird) won the opener but had an alternator issue that put him out of race two, and an accident in the fourth.

Russell Wright was the overall victor in TA2 – Photo: Mark Walker

Overcoming several close encounters with Chad Cotton, fellow Ford Mustang driver Russell Wright was the overall victor in TA2 where Anthony Tenkate (Mustang) finished the weekend third. Craig Harris, in another Mustang, missed the opener after power steering failure before a solid run to second in race two and further issues in next outing.

Queensland Touring Cars at the Lakeside Classic – Photo: Mark Walker

The Queensland Touring Car Championship put up the closest racing in both their groups – A and B. In the former group, the intensity was evident between Stephen Hay (Holden Commodore) and Murray Kent (Holden Torana). Hay took the round honours while in the second group it was Chis Begg (BMW E46) best overall ahead of Commodores driven by Stephen Coe and Gary Anger.

For more of the latest form motorsport events around the country, pick up the the current issue of Auto Action Magazine, on sale today. In the mean time make sure you follow Auto Action on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for updates between issues.