CHENEY/HUGHES TAKE TA2 1-2

THE TA2 Muscle Car Series Tag Team Enduro at The Bend was taken out by the youngest pain in the field – Jarrod Hughes and Tyler Cheney.

Hughes, 19, and Cheney, 16, led a PHD Motorsport 1-2 with teammates Grahame Cheney and Zach Bates next best 21 points adrift.

The fight for second was a thriller with nine points covering three cars with the Jordan Cox, Elliott Barbour and Todd Hazelwood led entires falling just short.

Tom Hayman took pole by a tenth, while the co-driver session was a thriller with Hughes taking the honours by 0.03s.

But early on it was championship leader Josh Haynes, who led the charge taking two wins on Saturday.

Hayman led the opener from pole, but suffered gearbox dramas, which allowed Haynes to take over, while Thomas was penalised for contact with Hayden Jackson and Cheney.

In Race 2, it was the B driver’s turn and Hughes hunted down Tim Brook in a two-car showdown.

The #118 got the job done with just three laps to go and ended up winning by 3s.

With average results combining the grid for race 2, Haynes and Gartner led the field into Turn 1 where the thrilling sight of the leaders going four wide occurred.

Tom Hayman leads the TA2 pack into turn 1. Image: John Morris/Supplied

Bates was the big loser, running off, but more drama was to come.

Contact between Haynes and Gartner sparked a chain reaction into Turn 2 and 3, as the latter was turned and collected by Elliot Barbour, Nicholas Bates, Chase Hoy and Domain Ramsay.

The race was red flagged before Haynes collected a 4s win over the impressive Hayman, who flew from 21st to second, while Hazelwood just managed to avoid the first-lap chaos and salvaged third.

In the opening Sunday sprint, Hughes went back to back in a frantic Sunday morning sprint.

Tim Brook led early, only for Hazelwood to follow through.

But smoke started appearing from the front left corner of the TFH Mustang and Hughes hunted down the Supercars driver.

The youngster got him with three laps to go, while Hazelwood drifted to fourth on the final lap as Barbour and Cox also slipped by.

Gartner and Haynes had a battle Royale in Race 5, with Gartner having the early advantage before Haynes made the race winning move at Turn 1, Lap 3, while Hayman produced another massive comeback motion from last to third.

This set the scene for the sixth and final race of the weekend, the 17-lap enduro.

There was drama straight away as Brook, Hugh McAlister, Hayden Jackson and Russell Wright were all involved in a turn 7 incident.

No one could keep up with Hayman, who had so much pace he pitted with two laps to go and still emerged with a 2s win.

But critically Tyler Cheney and Hughes finished second, which was enough to secure the round win.

Meanwhile Haynes retained his championship leader over Cheney ahead of the penultimate round at Winton on October 4-6.

The fight for Australian Drivers Championship honours went down to the wire, but reigning champion Damon Sterling emerged on top.

Sterling had a weekend long battle with Hayden Crossland and despite the latter taking out the finale, the #26 ended up two points clear.

Upcoming Supercars debutante Brad Vaughan was also in the thick of the action early, taking a hard-fought Race 1 win.

Pole-sitter Lucas Stasi led early before his engine expired on Lap 3, which left Vaughan, Crossland and Sterling going for it.

Sterling showed off his speed in Race 2, setting a lap record before taking the chequered flag as Crossland rose from fourth to second.

There was high drama at the start of Sunday as several cars came together at Turn 2 after Bradley Smith and Brenton Davey made contact. Vaughan was another early victim due to a fluid leak.

Brad Vaughan had a fast start driving a HyperCar. Image: John Morris/Supplied

Out front Sterling charged to victory ahead of Crossland.

The final race saw Crossland take charge, but he had Sterling breathing down his neck.

Despite the significant pressure, the #6 held on by a second to be victorious, while Vaughan recovered to fifth. Second place was enough for Sterling to take a tight round win.

The Chevrolet and Ford rivalry was back at The Bend in the form of Legend Cars Australia with Lachlan Ward putting the “Bowtie” on top.

Ward was dominant in his Chev Coupe, taking four wins from a possible five.

Aidan Williams was a consistent figure fighting at the front of the field to amass enough points to be second, while Race 3 winner Robert Hogan was hurt by an opening race DNF.

It was all one-way traffic in the Formula RX8 Championship with Brock Paine taking pole and all four races wins ahead of Rob Boaden.

Despite being a small field, there were good fights in the Australian SuperTT Championship.

Blake Tracey took the opener, but was not seen again due to engine troubles.

This left Cory Gillett (Nissan S13) and Brent Edwards (Ford Falcon) to fight for victory and Race 2 was a thriller.

Gillett emerged victorious, but only by a slender 0.2s. After also being victorious in Race 3, his pursuit of a perfect Sunday was denied by Edwards as he turned the tables. But Gillett did enough to snatch round honours.

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