Race Report: HSRCA Wakefield Park, February 19-20

The Historic Sports Racing Car Association held round one of the 2010 season at Wakefield Park Raceway. Competitors raced over 50 laps, as long as they could last in the warm conditions or due to mechanical issues.

PRBs were the first out, which saw Class A competitors Adam Moore and Chris Barry (the 2009 champion) consistently swap the lead with Adam taking a clean sweep of all the races, with Chris right behind him; Stig Richards came third. Class B honours went to Mike Barry and David Savage.

Regularity competitors were out to get close to their nominated times with Graham Henshaw in his 1970 Mini Cooper taking race one.  In race two went to Barry Bates in his 1958 Lister Jaguar Knobbly Replica narrowly took the points from Kevin Kirk in a 1969 MGB Roadster. Andrew Begg in the Porsche managed to get close to his nominated time and took the points in race three from Graham Henshaw, only to have Graham turn the tables in race four. Jake Williams in his 1974 HQ Holden worked hard all weekend and managed to outdo the pack in races five and six.

Race one fro Group N was stopped after 5 laps when Ron Shepherd, in a 1972 Holden Torana XU1, lost control after hitting fluids coming out of the fish hook to eventually collide with the flag marshal’s station at turn nine.  Bob Cox, won the race in a 1966 Mustang from Max Ullrich, also in a Mustang, followed by Wayne Rogerson in Mazda RX2, and Andrew Whiteside in a Valiant Charger. They all crossed the line in the same order in the only Nc race. Nb and Na saw a close race between Phil Taylor in a EH Holden, Santino Di Carlo Mini Cooper and Mark Broadhead, also in a Mini, as they changed swapped the lead throughout race, with Phil crossing the line ahead of Santino. The annual relay race was cancelled as there were only 18 cars remaining, which allowed all the competitors out on the circuit, the race was won by won by John Wright in a Torana XU1 followed by Alan Mayne in a Mazda RX2, and Paul Cameron, also in a Torana XU1, came in third. Their last race saw Wayne Rogerson and Alan Mayne fight it out; Wayne crossed the line ahead of Alan, and John Wright came in third.

The most mixed group of 20 competitors was JKL, M&O Sports & Racing and Formula Vee. Which saw M&O group leaded the other groups around the circuit with Tony Simmons 1967 Hustler, Colin Haste 1962 Brabham BT2, Geoff Varey 1968 Gyphon and Ian Pope 1964 Lolita BMC well out in front. Tony Simmons took a clean sweep, with Colin Haste and Ian Pope both taking two second places each.

The leaders from Formula Vee went to Leigh Hemmings with John Medley taking the spoils in JKL.

There was also a handicap race for groups JKL with Sa and Na competitors. Paul Kenny 1934 Harris Special, Geoff Rose 1957 Simca Aronde and Wes Dayton 1949 MG TC Special, they managed to be the first away and stayed there until the chequered flag. Colin Goldsmith 1960 Austin Healey 3000 did work his way through the pack (from the last group away) to finish fourth.

Group S, normally sees an all-Porsche battle out front, however, this weekend there was only 3 on hand with Bob Fraser in his 1977 Porsche 911 taking the honours, He was chased by Colin Dodds 1967 MG Midget, George Nittis 1996 Shelby Mustang, Laurie Burton 1969 TVR Tuscan and Greg Thomson 1975 Porsche 911, swapping places throughout the weekend. Both George Nittis and Greg Thomson won the last two races because the attrition rate became worse as the weekend progressed.

Another mixed group was the Q&R Sports and Racing, where Formula Ford had 17 competitors on the track. Ross Hodgson in a 1974 Birrana won all the races as he was chased by Kevin Lewis in 1986 Cheetah Ransburg in race one, with Justin McClintock in a 1983 Galloway Clubman second in race two. Race three saw Justin push Ross around the circuit to cross the line 1.5 seconds behind, Phillip Verwoert in the 1972 Graduate M8F, blew his engine in race one, to come back to finish third. Geoff Walters was the highest finisher from the Formula Ford competitors, across the weekend.

Russell Windebank

Images: rswphotos.net