Jett Johnson chases maiden national TA2 title

The finale of the TA2 Muscle Car Series will see a battle for national honours at the Winton Motor Raceway this weekend as part of the AMRS-season-closer.

The Johnson family may need a bigger trophy cabinet after this round, with Jett Johnson leading the charge by 91 points for the four-race finale.

220 points are on the line at Winton, with a few drivers having a slight mathematical chance of claiming the beautifully crafted “Indianapolis style” championship ring; but their hopes will rely on Johnson collecting a few DNF’s and not finishing any races on the podium.

The TA2 Muscle Car drivers will be fighting it out the beautifully crafted Championship ring

Johnson will enter the race in his #117 Team Johnson Mustang, where his father Steve and grandfather Dick will be on-hand to help push the young star over the line for his first national title.

“I’m just going to cruise around and minimise our mistakes. I don’t need to win every race, just gotta keep it on track and make sure we have the points in the bank to seal the championship,” Johnson said.

“Dad and the team have just told me not to push it. We don’t need to race anyone or fight anyone, we just need to finish each race. We may end up being too conservative just to make sure we don’t make any silly mistakes and we can come away from the weekend with the championship.”

His closest challenger is Graham Cheney, with the Bathurst based #51 Chevy speedster needing a minor miracle of events to get over the line…precisely: a win in all four races, a Johnson DNF, and for him to finish outside the top two in every other corresponding race.

Cheney is making a brave return to racing this weeknd after a stint in hospital to challenge Johnson for the title at Winton

Cheney enters this round from a stint in hospital, but is going to put it all out there in his brave bid for the title or P2.

“I’m a little bit nervous, there’s a bit of pressure to hold that second and try and keep as close as we can to Jett to help us out in the championship,” Cheney explained.

“After Sydney I got an infection in my kidneys and it jumped to pretty much every organ in my body including my spline which didn’t help. While I was in the hospital I got pneumonia and spent a week in the ICU.

“Every day I’m getting better but still have a long way to go to get back to 100%. Last week I didn’t even think I’d be capable of driving a car, I struggled to walk 100 metres but we won’t know how I will go until we start pushing.”

The Dream Racing Australia Mustangs of Kyle Gurton and Jackson Rice will be making a return, with both drivers having good Winton track records; and for the Rookie of the year contenders, Nicholas Bates – of the prolific Bates rally family – sits third in the outright standings, 31 points off Cheney.

Fellow rookies Josh Haynes and Dylan Thomas will be notable absentees from the field with both showing talent in their debut years, and Queenslander Matthew MacKelden will be a notable return. His NASCAR-inspired livery on the #99 Mustang makes a return with a Team Johnson rebuild following his crash at the Bathurst 1000 12 months ago.

The TA2 Muscle Car Series will close off with a 15-lap race, and three 12-lap races, with the action kicking off on Friday for practice, before Qualifying on Saturday at 10:25am followed by a Top 10 Shootout and Race 1 in the afternoon.

The final three races on Sunday will be live-streamed on the TA2 Racing Australia and AMRS facebook pages, as well as the AMRS YouTube channel.

TA2 POINTSCORE

1st: Jett Johnson – 953
2nd: Graham Cheney – 862
3rd: Nicholas Bates – 831
4th: Zach Loscialpo – 806
5th: Mark Crutcher – 797
6th: Josh Haynes – 709
7th: Paul Hadley – 687
8th: Dylan Thomas – 641
9th: Michael Coulter – 603
10th: Murray Kent – 575

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