Vic State Championships

[Flaggie]

Guys and Girls....

If you want to see some racing this weekend and ya from Victoria, then Sandown's the place to be.

Victorian State Race Series Round 4 is on. Last I heard there were 330 Entries and entries hadn't closed.

Should be something for everyone, Vees, FF, HQ, Commodore Cup, U2L Sports Sedans, Big Sports Sedans, Marque Sports (including Paul Stokell in the GTP Lambo!), Group N, MG's, Porsche 944 Challenge and possibly two full Improved Production grids.

If I'm correct, Saturday's free, and will have each category out on the track for practice/Qual and a race in the arvo.

Sunday's 10-15 bucks and there's 2 races for each class. Should be huge... Come along if you want to see something other than Supercars...

[Jake]

With the Power Tour problems the Comm-Cup boys have put together 20+ cars, including several interstate teams. It should be a good weekend of close racing.

[flaggie1]

Plus theres a swap meet on the Sunday in the Horse CarPark area as well. Went past Sandown today and it looks as thou they have finished the new track layout. Couldn't get close enough to see for sure. Should be a good weekend Weather looks a bit suspect thou.

[Matt H]

Gudday all

Yes ill be at sandown this weekend, with commodore cup car number 77 (Andrew Parker) featured in last weeks motorsport news....

looks like a great weekend, any major changes to the track ??

regards

Matthew

[Crash Test]

If you can't make the treck down to Sandown, make sure you get along to QR on the 10-11th of August, or the big Historic Meet this weekend

Media Bulletin – 23 July 2002
August 10/11 State Championship Meeting- Queensland Raceway

After a winter holiday of over two months, a big field of cars from ten classes is set to line up at Queensland Raceway on the 10th and 11th of August, at the fourth round of the 2002 State Championship.

There will be over 30 events throughout the weekend, with about 150 competitors taking part, resulting in non-stop action for the fans.

There will truly be something for everybody, with the action coming thick and fast, including the best of open wheelers in Racing Cars, Formula Vee, and Superkarts.

For the lovers of tin tops, there will be the big banger Sports Sedans, Saloon Cars, and the variety of Improved Production and Historic Touring Cars, as well as one make madness from the Geminis and HQ Holdens, as well as the prestige of the Sports Cars.

So far this season at State level motor racing has been extremely close, with 11 races being decided by less than one tenth of a second between first and second place.

Included in that tally are two race finishes which were remarkably decided by less than one hundredth of a second; both races occurring at Round 3 on May 25/26 in the HQ Holdens and Improved Productions.

At a circuit that generally favours bigger, high horsepower cars, Matt McGrath has been well and truly over performing so far this season in his giant killing Austin Cooper S.

To date, he has a sensational four podium places to his credit, but more amazingly, he has captured pole position at his two most recent outings.

He currently lies third in the State Championship Pointscore, and will be looking to knock Bruce Dummett and Matt Jackson off the top spots, both will be driving Holden Toranas.

The Sports Sedan class has proven to be the most wide-open category this season, with five different drivers standing on the top step of the podium since February.

Even though he jointly leads the M.R. Automotive Championship, and is currently second in the CAMS State Championship, Morayfield’s Chris Donnelly has yet to break through for a victory in his 6-litre V8 Falcon.

Despite copious amounts of power from his Phil Laird prepared engine, Donnelly has been working hard at solving wheel spin problems exiting the slower corners, and doing work on the front suspension to cure a ‘roll oversteer’ problem.

Co-leader in the M.R. Automotive Championship, Colin Smith from Kurwongbah, will also be out for a good showing in his Chevrolet powered Rover, while Clayfield’s Geoff Gillespie hopes to retain the lead in the State Championship in his turbocharged Fiat 131.

Other competitors worth keeping an eye on include the ever-consistent Scott Hunter from Lismore in his Toyota Corolla, and Ashgrove’s Shane Bradford, who has made significant gains in recent times in his Mazda 323, which has a 13B Rotary engine under the bonnet.

Darwin’s Bob McLoughlin will also be a starter in his tough Chev powered Commodore, after taking out three wins last time out.

So far this year, the Improved Production class has been a Mazda RX7 benefit, with Toowoomba’s Adam Uebergang taking out the first eight races of the season.

However, all of that changed when a first corner crash at the last round knocked him down the order for the weekend.

Last year’s Improved Production Club Champion, Chermside West’s David Wood capitalised on other people’s incident’s to take his first win for the season at round three, and he will be looking for more of that good form in his Graphic Skills Mazda RX3.

In the Racing Car class, Troy Chaplin from Robertson is looking good to take victory in his Ralt RT34; the only other two competitors to win a race this, Ash Lowe and Bevan Carrick, are not expected to make an entry.

He will nevertheless come under pressure from a hungry pack of Formula Fords, however a fresh engine and new tyre combination should put him in good stead.

Clayfield’s Scott Nicholas is looking to continue his fantastic run in the Ford versus Holden Saloon Car class.

Nicholas’s record so far this season has been incredible; out of 16 races, he has picked up 12 wins, and four second places.

Nicholas’s Super Service Centre teammate, Kris Walton, however will be looking to turn around some recent bad luck, and add to his victory telly.

In the Formula Vee class, Trent Usher has dominated by taking eight race victories so far this season, however, he trails Shane Hart by 13 points in the State Championship series, due to the fact that three out of Hart’s four wins have come during the Championship events.

The Formula Vees constantly prove to be the closest out of the ten championship classes, with the ‘Vees responsible for six of the 13 closest finishes so far this season.

In the Sports Car class, Steve Cooper from Belmont will take the challenge right up to the championship leading clubmans, and Sports 1300’s.

Cooper has shown great promise so far this season in his Porsche 930, but he will have to be on the lookout for a swarm of Mazda MX5s, who have threatened all season long.

The HQ Holdens and the Geminis will also be making an appearance on the program.

The HQs have been the busiest class this season, racking up an impressive 22 starts coming into this round of the State Championship.

Queensland Raceway is fully catered and licensed- you will be able to park your car next to the fence, with commentary available over local FM radio as well as the PA system.

Fast Facts

Practice Starts- 8:30am Saturday August 10,
Racing Starts- 1pm on Saturday, and 8:30am Sunday August 11.
Admission costs Weekend- $15
Admission costs Saturday- $10
Admission costs Sunday- $10, Children 12 & under Free.
Students/Seniors- $5
Pit Entry- Free all weekend

Competing Classes- Sports Sedans, Geminis, HQ Holdens, Sports Cars, Formula Vees, Saloon Cars, Racing Cars, Historic Touring Cars, Improved Production and Superkarts.

Location- Queensland Raceway is at the end of Champions Way, Willowbank, adjacent to the Willowbank Drag Strip, and off the Cunningham Highway (just south of the Amberley RAAF Base).

Queensland Raceway Contact Details
Tel- 07 5461 9100
Fax- 07 5461 9111
Postal- PO Box 100 Amberley QLD 4306
Email- admin@queensland-raceway.org.au

Internet sites-

www.queenslandraceway.com.au - Homepage of Queensland Raceway

www.qrda.asn.au - Accelerate- for more stories and information on State level competition in Queensland.

Other Upcoming Events-
27-28th July – Shannons Historic Classic Car and Racing Festival
3-4th August – Australian Superbike Championship
14-15th September – VIP Petfoods QLD 500
2-3rd November – Improved Production Nationals
24-24th November – MG Car Club State Championship Meeting

Closest finishes for 2002:

0.0045sec HQ Holdens May 25
Gary Marks beat Trevor Edyvean
0.0058sec Improved Production May 26
Stephen Thompson beat Justin Keys
0.0280sec Formula Vee April 14
Shane Hart beat Trent Usher
0.0305sec Geminis February 17
Darren Suhle beat Ron Lange
0.0444sec Sports Cars May 26
Tony Quinn over John Campbell
0.0472sec HQ Holdens June 23
Ben Simpson beat Gary Marks

Race Winners so far in season 2002:
Saloon Cars:
Scott Nicholas- 12, Troy Norris- 12, Kris Walton- 12.
Geminis:
Benn Wilson- 5, Darren Suhle- 2, Kandice Walker- 1, Ron Lange- 1.
Improved Production:
Adam Uebergang- 8, Stephen Thompson- 3, David Wood- 1.
Formula Vee:
Trent Usher- 8, Shane Hart- 4, Russell White- 1.
Sports Sedans:
Geoff Gillespie- 5, Bob McLoughlin- 3, Trent Young- 2, Charlie Senese- 1, Wayne Parmenter- 1.
HQ Holdens:
Dave Blunt- 11, Ben Simpson- 6, Gary Marks- 4, Craig Yates- 2.
Historic Touring Cars:
Matt Jackson- 7, Bruce Dummett- 6, Gary Jackson- 1, John English- 1.
Racing Cars:
Troy Chaplin- 7, Ash Lowe- 6, Bevan Carrick- 3.
Sports Cars:
Colin Berneville-Claye- 4, Tony Quinn- 4, Kevin Johnston- 2, Stephen Morcombe- 2.

[RaceTime]

Can you make the promotional material any longer next time Crash???

[Crash Test]

Hehe, I can only try!

The thing is that a lot of the local papers will only run pieces on the competitors in their local distribution area, and so on. Plus some of the other places, like AA, Australian Classic Car mag, the Queensland Times, Courier Mail etc all seem to pull different pieces out of them to suit themselves. For the Hysterics, AA ran most of it, ACM was more on the show and shine, QT was on the tourers, CM used all different bits and pieces.

Thanks for running them, it's appreciated

[RaceTime]

I have no problems running them - just question the wisdom in here - especially in a thread about the Vic championships - surely warranted a thread of its own.....

As for the BS of promoting in local areas (like ProCar is now doing) is total garbage when the Internet is brought in - what is local on the INternet????

[Crash Test]

I'm not an expert on the demographics of it all, but I'd imagine that a person who reads something in the local rag probably won't be the same person who looks up something on a motorsport website.

It's the same sort of deal with the radio stations up here- a few community stations like to give the meetings a blurb. The one on the southside is likely to have a whole heap of different listeners to those on the northside, and they both tend to focus on different people, local to their area.