Golding cruises to Sandown double
James Golding has made a massive splash at Sandown, taking theTrans Am round in dominant style.
Not even Melbourne’s wintery weather could stop Golding as he completed his round win with a commanding lights-to-flag drive, winning by 2.5s.
After 17-year-old Blake Tracey wowed with his early speed to soar from eighth to second, the rest of the podium had a familiar feel.
Todd Hazelwood recovered from some early offs to salvage a strong second and regain more ground, while Aaron Love completed an impressive weekend for Marcos Ambrose Motorsport with another podium.
Nathan Herne put in the drive of the day, rising from 14th to fourth ahead of Jordan Cox as Tracey ran out of grip and slumped to 16th.
Sunshine greeted the Trans Am field for the 45-minute finale, but a wet track meant it was a delicate balancing act for the drivers.
Golding led the field as Love got a strong launch to pass Hazelwood for second, while Tracey impressed to get into the top four from eighth.
After a hit from Jack Smith, James Moffat wagged the tail coming out of Turn 4 and tagged the concrete, causing the field to fan out, but everyone stayed out of trouble. This continued a tough weekend for the second-generation driver.
By the end of the opening lap Tracey carried on his drive by snatching third from the reigning champion with a grand run down the main straight to shoot the rookie to the podium.
And he was not done there, snaring second from Love with a decisive move at the chicane.
Whilst the rookie captured the attention, all of these battles were bliss for Golding as he charged 4s up the road.
The wet conditions remained a challenge as Dylan Thomas caught too much kerb at Turn 3 and spun around.
A lap it was his higher-profile TFH Racing teammate, Hazelwood, who followed Love through the mud at the same corner.
Whilst Love retained third, it was more disastrous for Hazelwood as he lost fourth to Cox.
This brought the GRM driver to life as a lap later, he also pounced on Love to get himself onto the podium, while Hazelwood also picked off the Marcos Ambrose Motorsport driver.
These moments meant they had drifted 5s behind Tracey, who remained the fastest car on track.
He had halved Golding’s margin within three laps as the leading pair started trading fastest laps.
It was a fascinating battle was Golding pulled the advantage beyond 2s before Tracey would respond.
In the end the GRM driver’s experience paid off as he skipped clear in the final stint.
Meanwhile, Hazelwood completed his fightback to the podium with a dive down the inside of Cox at Turn 1.
One of the fastest cars on track was Herne, who had caught this battle pack and joined in the fun.
He pounced on Cox, who also lost a position to Maynes-Rutty to slip to seventh.
After challenging for victory, Tracey had Hazelwood breathing down his neck, and the #1 completed its recovery drive to second with another dive down the inside at the end of the main straight.
His attention soon turned to keeping grip of a podium place with Love, 5s back, but catching around a second per lap.
With Herne also pushing Love along, the pair picked off Tracey inside the final two minutes to deny the youngster a fairytale podium.
By the end of the race, Tracey had no grip left and fell to 16th.
Despite the conditions, the race was green from start to finish, even after some cars got faces full of mud.
After a slippery Sandown SpeedSeries, attention turns to The Bend on September 5-7, while the next Trans Am round is at the same location, but the following weekend, sharing the stage with Supercars.
Image: Supplied
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