GARRY’S DARWIN TRIPLE CROWN SUPPORT WRAP – SUNDAY

Michael Almond took the final win in final Carrera Cup race in Darwin – Photo: InSyde Media

IT CAME down to the final race to decide who would win in Porsches – as well as who would be left – while Aussie Racing Cars, Improved Production/Commodore Cup and HQ Holdens were far easier to determine.

PORSCHE PAYCE CARRERA CUP AUSTRALIA

VICTORY IN the third and final race of round four delivered Michael Almond the overall victory while Adrian Flack completed a clean sweep to win in TAG Heuer Pro-Am.

Championship leader Dale Wood won race two, beating Almond and race one winner Cameron Hill after he grabbed the lead mid-race. That set up a winner-take-all finale’ with the three drivers tied on points.

Wood led early before a mid-race move saw Almond take the lead at turn one and then hold out his Sonic Racing teammate Woods who also benefited on the pass for the lead.

The two races created plenty of drama with several contenders striking trouble. Jordan Love was the innocent victim in a crash on the opening lap of race two. In the turn six braking zone Liam Talbot was tagged by Dean Cook and was speared across the infield and collided with Love who would be diagnosed with a broken bone in his left hand.

After the Safety Car, the dash to the line went the way of Wood ahead of Almond, Hill, Warren Luff and David Wall.

Not even with a lap completed in race three and there was drama at turn five drama which had several off the road and put Thomas Maxwell, Nick McBride and Duvashen Padayachee out. Following the safety car, Almond wasting little time in passing the leader Wood to take the win. Luff was fourth ahead of Cooper Murray and Flack.

The latter took the overall Pro-Am class ahead of Sam Shahin and Roger Lago. Lago and Shahin filled the minors in race two before Tim Miles and Shahin filled the spots in race three.

AUSSIE RACING CARS

Justin Ruggier won the Aussie Racing Cars round – Photo: InSyde Media

TAKING HIS race wins for the season to nine, Justin Ruggier won the Aussie Racing Car Championship Series round three at Hidden Valley. He won the reverse top ten race three earlier in the day before finishing a close second to Kel Treseder in the fourth outing.

Despite starting out of tenth for race three, Ruggier (Mustang) drove brilliantly to win the race. Before he hit the front, there was a massive scrap where at times, there were five race leaders and many positional changes among the top 11 cars.

Race leaders included Dan Price (Camaro), Paul Morris (Altima) on a couple of occasions, Blake Sciberras (Mustang) and finally Ruggier. In the end, it was Treseder (Camaro) who was a close second ahead of Morris, Joel Heinrich (Cruze), Reece Chapman (Camaro), Sciberras, Leigh Bowler (Camaro), Price, Craig Dontas and Josh Anderson (Camaro) tenth.

Accumulated points determined the grid for the final race where Treseder led from the outset and withstood the race-long pressure from Ruggier for the win. There was a multi-car tangle at turn six on the opening lap which brought out a brief safety car and left some with damage.

On the resumption, Morris and Heinrich had contact at turn one that caused Sciberras to go off and lose several places. Not long after Morris and Price were in the wars with the latter crashing. Later it was Morris on the receiving end with a spin following contact with Adam Price (Camaro).

In the end, Josh Anderson (Camaro) hung on ahead of Heinrich and Woods to claim third while the next best were Sciberras, Bowler and Chapman. Post-race penalties would see Woods drop to seventh and Bowler to ninth.

IMPROVED PRODUCTION/COMMODORE CUP

Ray Hislop was unstoppable in Improved Production – Photo: InSyde Media

FOLLOWING ON from his domination of the first two races, Ray Hislop (Ford Falcon BF) continued his winning way with another two victories for a clean sweep.

Hislop was well clear as the battle for second was on between John Callegari (Holden Commodore) and Zak Hudson (Mazda RX7). During the day’s first event (race three) Callegari spun off, dropping to sixth before fighting back to third.

Throughout the race, there was a great tussle between Tim Playford (Mazda 808 Turbo) and Rob Braune (BMW E30) with the former finally edging ahead. Chasing that duo was Keven Stoopman (Mitsubishi EVO 7), clear of Ross Salmon (HSV VZ), Bryce Fullwood in the best of the Commodore Cup cars, Peter Cusato (U2L Ford Escort) and Tony Isarasena (RX7).

As Hislop disappeared into the distance of race four, Callegari and Hudson scrapped for second until a bump between them sent the RX7 off the track. Hudson did fight back for a close second – which became second when his rival copped a 5s penalty.

Third went to Braune from Callegari after the adjustment, Playford, Stoopman, Salmon, Gary McKay (Holden Torana XU-1), Cusato, and tenth-placed Barry Smith (Commodore) after he had an earlier spin. Next was Isarasena (RX7) while son and father Bryce and Brad Fullwood were almost side-by-side across the line at the head of the Commodore Cup class.

HQ HOLDENS

Jack Harrison took the win in HQ’s – Photo: InSyde Media

THE THIRD outing was another where Jack Harrison had another all-the-way win, maintain a 1s plus advantage over Adam Butler. The battle for third was far more intense and involved several where Phil Aitken was able to pass Tony Moloney in the latter part for third.

Starting at the back, Shaun Boland joined this pack and finished fifth, having passed Graham Francis and Peter Brown. Steven Ling also started rear of field and worked his way through to ninth behind Gavin Thompson and ahead of Marian Bujnowski.

The final race of the weekend was the fourth outing where Harrison grabbed the front running almost immediately and went on to a 6s plus win. Boland quickly jumped to third and after a couple of laps, wrestled second off Butler who in turn engaged in a good scrap to hold third but succumbed to Tony Moloney.

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