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Hughes takes fighting TA2 wins

Hughes Herne battle ta2

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: 7 June 2025

The TA2 Muscle Cars are an unexpected guest to the Perth Super440 and are putting on a show with Jarrod Hughes leading the way.

Following the cancellation of the TCR trip to Perth, the TA2s have stepped up and entertained with two races already in the Kings of the West Invitational.

Erebus co-driver Hughes is the driver to beat, having gone back-to-back across two tight races.

In the Friday night opener, he went toe to toe with Trans Am star Nathan Herne in a hard-fought opener.

Despite Hughes starting from pole, it was Herne who got the initial jump, and he muscled his way into the lead.

Herne controlled the first eight laps until Hughes got a good run coming out of Kolb Corner and produced a side-by-side drag race coming into the final turn, where Hughes prevailed.

He kept Herne at bay by 1.7s while young Kiwi Ayrton Hobson was a distant third.

“I was annoyed that Nathan got the jump on me at the start but I was happy to follow and watch to see where I might be able have a crack at him,” Hughes said.

“After a few laps I could see his tyres were burning up so I just bided my time then went for the over under pass out of turn 6 and the full pass at turn 7 and got the job done.

“It was a ripper battle, and I can’t wait for the rest of the weekend.”

Herne received a significant setback overnight as he learnt he would start the remaining races from the back of the grid due to needing to find two new Hoosier tyres, which is against the weekend rules.

However, this did not stop him from putting in a mighty drive in his Dodge Challenger up to second on the grid.

In just 11 short laps, he rose from 13th to second and even ahead of Hobson, who was leading the early stages.

Once again, Hughes could not get the power down ideally, and Hobson soared to the lead around the outside.

The #32 Kiwi controlled the first four laps, but Hughes was a man on a mission.

Once again the “Bowl” was his target of choice and he snared back the lead.

He stayed in front and took a measured 1s win as Herne also picked off Hobson, while there were three DNFs.

There are still two races to come at 16.05 AEST Saturday and 14.20 AEST Sunday.

Supercars Perth Super440 (all times AEST)

Practice 1: 1: Jaxon Evans 55.0864 2: Ryan Wood +0.3596 3: Broc Feeney +0.3948

Practice 2: 1: Matt Payne 54.3903 2: Anton De Pasquale +0.0856 3: Thomas Randle +0.2214

R14 Qualifying: Sat 11.45-12.15

R15 Qualifying: Sat 12.35-13.05

Race 14 (50 laps): Sat 14.55

Race 15 (50 laps): Sat 18.10

R16 Qualifying: Sun 13.00-13.30

Top 10 Shootout: Sun 15.05-15.35

Race 16 (83 laps): Sun 17.15

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