What a fantastic weekend. After more than a year watching from the sidelines it was awesome to get back behind the wheel and race again. Particularly at such a special event – the final ever state round to be held at the Oran Park Grand Prix circuit.
All official race results can be found on Natsoft.
Qualifying on Saturday morning was a somewhat relaxed affair, given that the engine was fresh from a rebuild, so the running in process was to take place somewhat during qualifying. Given this, I qualified pretty much where I expected, right down near the tail of the field – hopeful of making my way through and up to the midfield during the first race on Saturday afternoon.
The Toyota stable of Youl and Jagger!
Things were all going to plan when I’d worked my way up to about 20th (from 27th) in the first few laps of the race. However, Geoff Fear (Pulsar) had an oil filter failure coming into the esses which left some oil on the track. I ran onto the grass as a result, and lost about 3 places. The rest of the race was run under safety car, as the Pulsar needed attention from the fire marshalls (no real damage done – he would be back to race on Sunday).
Race 2 on Sunday morning was to develop into an intense dual with Stephen Dellis (Mirage). Steve managed to get past under brakes coming onto the straight on the first lap (after a small series of love taps during the lap). However only one lap later I managed to get past him again at the start of the straight when he boxed himself in behind Phillip Larmour (Dolomite). For the remainder of the race he was never far from the rear bumper of the Corona. He had far more corner speed and grip, but the Corona had power (and size!) on its side. Despite being able to get alongside on a couple of occasions, I managed to hold him out for the whole race. It is a shame that the video (below) wasn’t looking out the rear of the car!
Race 3 on Sunday afternoon was another similar affair. This time Steve Dellis (Mirage) was able to get past early in the race and was too fast for me to keep up with. However he made a mistake at the end of the straight which resulted in the exit of both Dellis and Passfield (Datto 1600). I ended up finishing just behind Wildridge (Gridfilla Escort).
Once racing had finished for the weekend, one of the highlights of the whole weekend was to be able to have a BBQ on the main straight, and to actually walk the track for one final time.
Some enthusiastic racers walk the track to say goodbye
I need to say a massive thank you to Ashley Birks for the time he has put into the car over the past 6 months to rebuild the engine and get it ready for this meeting. Also, Al Palmer Repairs has continued to support MY Racing for the past 3 years. I appreciate Al’s support immensely. If anyone lives in the Penrith area and needs any servicing work done on their cars, I can’t recommend Al highly enough. (And make sure you let him know you’re a MY Racing supporter!)
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