TA2 to fill Wanneroo void

Paul Hadley, Mark Crutcher and Graham Cheney

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: 14 May 2025

TA2 will step in for TCR as the final support category when the Supercars return to Perth’s Wanneroo Raceway next month.

The 2025 TCR Australia season was scheduled to begin at Perth, but the category pulled out due to “a revision of the category’s strategic direction.”

As a result there was a gap to fill with no schedule being presented less than a month before the fifth round of the Supercars Championship takes place on June 5-8.

TA2 will fill the void by staging a non-championship event where the “King of the West” crown will be on the line.

While Trans Am is a regular fixture, this will be the first time the TA2 class will be racing alongside Supercars.

The “King of the West” title will return having previously been held in 2023 across a three-round series.

As a result, TA2 Category Manager Matty Mack is confident of having around 15 cars on the grid.

“Due to our previous King of the West titles in Western Australia, there’s quite a number of cars and drivers already in Perth that are keen to compete,” he said.

“Previous WA champions Brett Niall and Ron Moller have entered, along with speedway star Jason Pryde and we are confident of delivering a field of up to 15 cars.

“We plan to send 3 or 4 cars from the East over to Perth to top up the field. It will be a super busy time between TA2 and Trico Trans AM with Perth, Darwin, Sydney and Queensland Raceway all in a space of 5 weeks!”

The big news arrives at the same time as takeover of Trans Am for the new owners take place.

Trans Am was previously run by Australian Racing Group and that is now run by HCC Pty Ltd.

The handover has just been completed with a new syndicate formed by regular TA2 competitors Paul Hadley, Mark Crutcher and Graham Cheney leading the way.

“All the formal paperwork with Motor Australia has been signed regarding the transfer of ownership, settlement has been completed, and we are now focussed on growing both the Trans AM and TA2 Muscle Car platforms,” HCC’s Mark Crutcher explained.

“We have already invested in a much larger trailer to service both series on track with parts and components, expanded staffing where required, ordered more new cars from Howe Engineering in Michigan, confirmed supply of Chevrolet crate engines as well as Holinger Engineering for the supply of an optional gearbox to the original G Force for both series.

“My role is to head up the new entity and continue the expanding trajectory for both categories and as well as being a quick driver, Graham has a good engineering and racing head and will support the technical side with ongoing product development.

“Paul brings an enormous breadth of business skills to the table, I believe we are a very complementary team.”

Either side of the bonus trip to Wanneroo, TA2 races at Sydney Motorsport Park and Queensland Raceway.

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TA2 to fill Wanneroo void

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