Day 1 is in the books as the EP On-road Nationals begins at Brendale.  On a cold, windy and not altogether pleasant day, there was nontheless lots fo fun to be had…

The day got underway with very poor track conditions. A liberal coating of dust from the blustery weather meant traction was practically nonexistent.  Traffic was the answer and as racers gathered from all over the country and began to lay down some laps, conditions improved rapidly.  In the end, grip was quite acceptable for the tourers and some serious practice was done.
In stock it’s a little hard to tell who all the fast guys were – but certainly Damien Barnier and Scott Parkinson were looking good. The guys from SA and WA were working hard on car setup and will definitely be close to the money in this class.
In modified there was plenty of horsepower on display, and with the unseasonably cool weather (it snowed in Queensland today!) there were few overheat issues. One notable exception saw a speedy literally go up in smoke – but this was the exception rather than the rule.  Jake Zarb was probably consistently the quickest today and looked good in all track conditions. Others to go fast at various times included most of the usual suspects – Cambell,  Jovanovic’s, Cookie and so on.   There were a few notables struggling at times, or absent from the practice session today – but we can expect both of those things to change tommorrow. 
1/12th scale was very difficult today. The pocket rockets really struggled for grip and its fair to say that nobody looked comfortable. There will be much head scratching tonight to try and find a solution to the grip issues.
Action continues tommorrow from 9am with open practice, before the afternoon sees two rounds of timed and controlled practice.  We can only hope that the wind stays away!