ROUND 1 - SUMMER SLAM MEETING REPORT
The 2008 Toyo Tires Sport Compact Group Championship series kicked off at Heathcote Park Raceway in Victoria. A good range of racers traveled from all over the country, keen to get a start in the championship points race, and there was a good local crowd to welcome the interstate racers.
Track conditions on the day were unfortunately not favourable for the high-horsepower Pro Turbo/Compact cars, forcing Meeting Director Harry Rowsell to make a tough decision in the interests of safety to essentially abandon eliminations for the Pro Classes, with the racers allowed to perform solo passes if they felt comfortable. Probably a wise decision all things considered.
Of course, there was one racer who flew against convention, Sam Sadek piloting his tough white RX-3. Sadek showed no fear recording a number of 7-second passes in his 20B RX-3. The GAS Motorsport Celica sounded great but was overpowering the track each pass. Rob Stanbury was behind the wheel of the ex-PACMAN RX-3, a long time since we saw it on the line at Heathcote. Dom Rigoli also did very well in his RWD WRX, with the crew setting the car up well for the track conditions.
One unfortunate incident occurred when Jake Aldous from South Australia suffered mechanical damage in his VL Commodore at half track dumping the oil onto the back tyres, sending him spinning across the track before collecting the right wall, rebounding and collecting the left, with the VL ending on its side. Fortunately Jake was relatively unharmed, it’s a pity the same can’t be said about the Commodore!
Super Mod saw some great racing with Fred Sadek jumping behind the wheel of the Green RX-3 Sedan to take the win over local Matthew Kernke’s wheelstanding “GASDRX”. Emmanuel Mann’s GADGET RX-3 also had some tough passes, and Ben Viceconte had a wild ride aboard the Rajab VL.
Outlaw Sports Bike was well supported and the final saw Jamie Bezzina take the win on his turbocharged Hayabusa, defeating Michael Donohue.
Sports Bike saw two Queenslanders in the final, with regular competitors Jason Hammelswang and Rowan Lind facing off in front of the tree. A close battle saw Jason just cross the line first and take home the win.
Extreme saw a couple of great matchups with long-time campaigner Rocco Tamburello in his 2JZ RX-7 take the win over Megan Anderson’s Turbocharged 4-cylinder dragster. Peter Pisalidis also went deep into the nines in his Chevy Camaro.
Street 289 was well represented with a good range of racers. Damien McKern put down a tough 8.23 early in qualifying. Dave Pender’s V&E Rigoli prepped UTE was also very impressive dipping into the eight second zone. Phil Awremenko has purchased back his old RX-7 and it was great to see it back on the Heathcote blacktop. The final saw good friends Pat Long and Rodney Spannenberg line up against each other. In one of the races of the meet Pat recovered well from a big launch to round up the 7SINS RX-7 and just cross the finish line in front.
Street RWD was full of Toyota Cressidas, with Kade Young taking the win over Shane Chriction.
A few of the smaller classes were combined on the day due to entry numbers, with Glenn Alcorn’s FWD Civic lining up against Robert Forte’s Mazda 1300 Wagon in what was a strange looking final, Glenn displayed his experience taking the win.
There was also a Show n Shine display area in the pit area and Heathcote Raceway manager Russell Clark gave his insane jet-powered RX-7 a couple of flaming good runs, certainly not something you get to see at most meetings that’s for sure!
Round 2 of the Toyo Tires Sport Compact Group Championship moves to Willowbank Raceway in QLD for what is shaping up to be a great event on Saturday March 1, 2008. We’ll see you there!
Don't forget to checkout the Event Gallery from the Round 1 HERE.
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2008 Toyo Tires Sport Compact Group Drag Racing Series
