With club racing at Logan, Gold Coast and Brendale, it has been a busy weekend. The action at Brendale in particular was hot in more ways than one as drivers prepared for the Nats now just 4 days away…
With the EP Nats on our doorstop, our attention was focussed sqarely on the EP classes. There were a few Pro and Gas Tourers and a good field of 1/8, but it’s the EP classes that we watched with great interest.
In Stock, it was all about Keith Mackrill and Andrew Shapland. Both are shaping as serious contenders for the Nats, and the honours were split today with Shapland setting TQ before Mackrill went on to win both A finals – thanks to fast, mistake free driving. Both will be looking for just a little more pace later this week but could well be in the frame come Sunday. Further back Chris Peet returned to Brisbane for a warm-up and spent the day dialing in, while Nick Janjic was another southern visitor coming to grips with the Brendale layout.
In 1/12 there were mixed results. Some struggled to generate enough traction, while others romped away. In the latter category, Damien Barnier had his car working well and set TQ and won the single final easily. Damien will be one to watch next weekend in this class of mini-rockets.
In modified, the action was hot – quite literally. With air temps around 30, and track temps the wrong side of 60, the pressure on motors was extreme. Some coped well, others struggled to finish a run at all during the day with thermal shutdowns for brushless, and melted solder joints and blown winds for the brushed runners reasonably common.
Anthony was in great shape and goes into the week with the runs on the board. The result was TQ and two wins and (I think) a new track record. Lap times were quick and the fastest run of the day in the last final was 8 seconds quicker than Atack, Abbot and Cooke went at the winter-champs in July.
Elsewhere, Leonard Lai was looking strong as he dials in the new ride, Grant McDonald was going great guns – particularly in the last final, and Jeff Hamon showed that lack of track time in an electric car will be no barrier to being competitive next weekend. John Perkins was fast as usual but battled with traffic today, while winner of the “Tough Day” award was shared between Darren Perry and Andy Cooke with both failing to get a full run in due mainly to a variety of heat related woes. Melbournites Jay Dixon and Tony Parreiro were going well, and Drew Crawley popped up in the A final on a day with 17 fast runners.
Personally I had a great day. The Schumacher was excellent today – plenty of corner speed, good power down and just very solid everywhere. I even drove ok! The last final in particular was a fun race for me – with Anthony and I split by about a second for most of the run. Sadly for me, he was a little too fast when it mattered…. Still, qualifying and finishing second was an excellent warmup for me.
So all is in readiness. The track will be busy early in the week, but things will get into full swing on Thursday. It’s still to close to pick a winner, with heaps of the fastest drivers in Australia set to arrive over the next few days. It’s going to be intense….!