GARRY’S PHILLIP ISLAND SUPERSPRINT SUPPORT WRAP – SATURDAY
Dale Wood lead the Carrera Cup race from the start – Photo: Rhys Vandersyde
Porsche Carrera Cup
DALE WOOD narrowly won the opening race to the Porsche Wilson Security Carrera Cup Australia Enduro Cup at Phillip Island, supporting the WD-40 SuperSprint round of the Virgin Australia Supercars.
The first race of round three was the longest-ever Carrera Cup Australia single-driver race contested, and Woods held out a quartet of close rivals for the entire 25 laps after starting from pole position.
He immediate adversary was Dylan O’Keeffe who made several attempts to wrestle the lead away. In the end O’Keeffe who finished second, had to contend with Alex Davison who passed third-placed Jaxon Evans late in the race, having previously relegated current champion David Wall.
Evans withheld a concerted attack from Wall, Jordan Love and Michael Almond to retain fourth place and the championship lead.
Max Twigg’s victory in the TAG Heuer Pro-Am class came after he qualified only sixth earlier.
He marched his way up the order, chasing Anthony Gilbertson who led the class from the beginning.
Twigg attacked at turn four on the 23rd lap, slipping past to take his first victory this season.
Gilbertson was second, Stephen Grove third and Roger Lago fourth – the pair having battled for much of the race.
Kumho Tyres V8 Touring Cars
Jack Smith dominated the V8 Touring Car race – Photo: Rhys Vandersyde
FROM POLE position Jack Smith made no mistakes in his lift-off in the BJR Holden Commodore VE and led race one of the opening round from start to finish, winning by 7.7 seconds.
Tyler Everingham (MW Motorsport ex-FPR Ford Falcon FG) had too much wheelspin at the start and ceded places to the fast-starting Geoff Emery (ex-Triple 8 VE) and Jon McCorkindale (ex-SBR Falcon BF).
However, he passed both and finished second while McCorkindale was third. Emery lost further places as the race went on and ultimately had a bump with Michael Anderson (ex-FPR VE) that cost more time. Shortly after the two would tangle again, with Anderson coming off worse.
Zax Best (ex-FPR FG) was also slow off the start and fought back for fourth ahead of Ryal Harris (ex-MWM FG) and the best of the Kumho Cup runners Jim Pollicina in his ex-TMS VE.
Toyota 86s
Liam McAdam won the opening Toyota 86 Series race – Photo: Rhys Vandersyde
AFTER QUALIFYING fastest Liam McAdam was an all-the-way winner of round one from Jaylyn Robotham and Tim Brook.
From the outset McAdam, a former winner of the V8 Touring Car Series, led Brook while Cam Walton held third spot. Adam Gowans was fourth ahead of Robotham who was the one on the move.
Robotham passed Gowans on lap two, then Robotham four laps later. Next time around he was second and ultimately finished just 0.04s off a victory. Walton crossed the line fourth ahead of John Iafolla, Cameron Crick and Nic Carroll.
Gowans slipped down the order to eighth ahead of Trent Grubel, Luke King, Jake Klein and the first of the guest drivers in Chris Pither.
Aussie Racing Cars
Kel Treseder won both Aussie Race Car races – Photo: Rhys Vandersyde
KEL TRESEDER won both races held today in the second round of the Aussie Racing Cars Championship Series.
In the first, the Camaro driver battled throughout with Justin Ruggier (Mustang), swapping positions a couple of times before Treseder withstood a final challenge on the last lap and won by 0.45 seconds. Joel Heinrich was between them on occasion before ultimately finishing a close third.
There was a similar three-way battle for fourth where Brendon Tucker (Camaro) headed Josh Anderson (Camaro) and Blake Sciberras (Mustang).
In the second outing, the top ten finishers from race one were reversed. Treseder, who had blitzed his way through from tenth, grabbed the lead on lap two and ran away to a comfortable win.
Kyle Ensbey (Mustang) quickly came into contention, getting to second with a lap to go. But Heinrich came back on the last lap to get past him for second.
Ruggier went out before half distance with a blown engine and Tucker was bumped off early at turn two. That left Anderson in fourth ahead of Sciberras, Chapman and Bowler.
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