Big field for WASSSCA Round Two
Posted on April 26, 2017 Tags: Barbagallo Raceway Sports Cars and Sports Sedans
Image: ANDREI HEISTED.
WASSSCA report:
Barbagallo Raceway has just hosted the largest combined field of log-booked vehicles for round two of the Sports Sedans and Sports cars championship.
“It’s been nearly five years since the category fielded 20 cars for qualifying at Wanneroo. Close of entries saw 21 cars headed for the grid, reduced by one when stalwart Ron Moller was again absent due to a suspension failure in Friday’s practice.
“While thunderstorms were predicted, qualifying was held in perfect sunny weather that ended up staying around for the whole day. As with round one in March, Grant Hill again took Pole with a 58.3 lap time followed by fellow WASSSCA members Darren Boland, Ryan Humfrey, Rick Gill and Ken Coppin.
“Grant got off to a flyer in Race 1 with Darren chasing him hard in the early stages. Grant battled hard with a Porsche Cup car to end up with the win. Darren was locked in a race-long battle with another XV8SC and crossed the line in 4th outright. Ryan meanwhile had his own stoush with another of the three Porsche Cups cars, eventually following Darren home for 5th. The big fields ensured there were battle groups all the way down the order, with Ken getting to grips with his new Ferrari while fending off several Nissans.
“Race 2 and the thunderstorms were still nowhere to be seen, Grant again lined up for Pole but stalled the car. With a large field of very fast cars darting every direction to avoid contact, he could only sit, wait and hope the drivers were all super alert. Which they were! Then he casually started up and got on with the business of chasing down the field. Darren picked up where Grant had left off and went about hunting down the frontrunners, while Ryan kept up his day-long battle with a couple of Porsche Cup cars. Darren took out 3rd again followed by Ryan in 4th, with a hard-charging Grant overtaking 14 cars to cross the line in 6th. Ken Coppin brought home his improving new ride up to 10th, while Rick Gill finally had his XDJR Falcon out racing for the first time in four years.
Image: ALLAN KIRK.
Lighting Up the Tyres
“The final race was also held in perfect weather and saw Darren and Ryan start side-by-side on the second row. Darren got a great start while Ryan lit the tyres up, again dropping behind the Porsche Cars and Grant’s Falcon. Grant made quick work of the next three cars to jump back to second and begin chasing the front-running Porsche, leaving Darren and Ryan to battle with each other and the two Porsches. Rick had started 18th and worked hard to make his way back up to 8th by lap 6, dropping into the 1.02s, but spun on turn 1 and got stuck in the sand. Grant retook the lead on lap 5 while still pulling out 58 second laps at the end of the day. Darren and Ryan battled hard – with a few close calls on the dying laps – with Darren crossing the line 3rd, followed by Ryan in 4th and Ken in 11th.
“Grant Hill has now extended his club championship lead out to 18 points. Grant, Darren Boland and Ryan Humfrey were 1st, 2nd, 3rd in outright Sports Sedans and also WASSSCA division 1, with Ken Coppin 1st in Division 2 with Rick Gill in 2nd.
“Well done also to Cade Bell who is too busy building Porsche Cars to enter his own car. Cade prepared all three of them and they took out 1st, 2nd and 5th for Sports Cars!”
Up-to-date point scores for CAMS, WASCC and MSW at
http://competitiondriversclub.myclub.org.au/
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