ROUND 2 - MINI-JAM MEETING REPORT
Round 2 of the 2008 Toyo Tires Sport Compact Group Championship saw the series head to Queensland’s Willowbank Raceway. Entrant numbers peaked at 120 with plenty of new cars, quick times, and some tough action on the track. With the traction problems experienced at Heathcote in Round 1 the teams were itching to laid down the rubber on Willowbank’s legendary surface. As the time cards went on to show they weren’t disappointed with many racers laying down PB’s throughout the event.
Pro Turbo/Pro Compact Brisbane racer Collin Willshire had a great meeting with his 4G63 powered Datsun 1200 ute smashing his PB and entering the seven-second zone for the first time. After first recording a 7.89 at 170mph Collin then improved with a 7.861 at 171.04mph to become the quickest four cylinder sedan in the country. Joe Signorelli from GAS Motorsports had a busy week, with repairs to the GAS Celica not completed the team pulled the old Camry from storage, installed the 2JZ drivetrain and had the car stickered and ready to go for Mini-Jam. Joe went 6.91 at 203mph and also took out the final with a win against Collin Willshire in a close battle. Anthony Daquino’s insanely tough matte black RX-3 was also at Willowbank for the first time, with Anthony making a return after his wild crash some time ago. Anthony recorded a clean 7.84 at 173mph pass. Gold Coaster Scotty Whieldon was having one of his best meetings yet, with a string of sevens in his Dyson-prepped “NUT003” RX-3, including wins against Pac Performance’s George Rehayem and Anthony Daquino. Unfortunately, Scotty did not return after a tough 7.95 at 161mph pass. Brett Morgan’s stunning Morris Ute also put on a show, now sporting a turbocharger under the bonnet it will be one to keep an eye on in future.
Outlaw Sports Bike were one of the highlights of the show, with Jamie Bezzina and Leonard Azzopardi battling it out along with Dave Gilbert and Keith Mearns. Leonard went 7.75 at 191mph and also 7.93 at 193.8mph, insane speeds on a bike without wheelie bars. The 193.8mph also secured Azzopardi the OSB MPH Record in the process. Jamie Bezzina also recorded a tough 7.69 at 186mph in qualifying and Jamie edged out Leonard in the final taking home the winner’s trophy too.
Street 289 was a good mix of old and new. Jerry Kehl debuted his new 20B RX-7, a welcome return to the track for Jerry best known for his wild 13B PP “Rotorolla”. Archie Kajewski from Mazfix was on the verge of some quick passes but kept blowing intercooler pipes, although still recording an 8.68 at only 119mph! Tim “Bushpig” Kreis reset his PB with a very tough 8.29 at 162mph pass. Rod Spannenberg also moved back into the 9-second zone in his “7 Sins” RX-7. The final saw long time racer Pat “Critta” Long against newcomer Darryl Parker. Darryl had a great debut meeting in his TAS Performance prepared RX-7 with a string of eight second passes and also taking the win in the final against a wheelstanding Pat Long.
Super Mod saw 4WD vs RWD with Mark Jacobsen’s GTR and Rob Barac’s EVO Lancer bolting on some slicks and recording some quick passes. The final however was RWD vs RWD with Mick McGregor’s show-stopping Datsun 1600 defeating Anthony Bakalian’s tough blue RX-2.
All Motor has something for everyone with Hondas, Mazdas, Volkswagens all battling it out. Sam Raunio’s 20BPP RX-7 top qualified but the final saw Glenn Alcorn’s Honda leave a fraction too early giving Dave Butler’s VW the win in a FWD vs RWD final. Dave earlier recorded a very quick 11.00 at 121.46mph in qualifying, and it will be interesting to see when he moves into the ten-second zone.
Extreme saw Glenn Anderson make steady improvements with an 8.15 at 172mph aboard his 13B twin turbo altered. Corey Armstrong teamed up with Phil Laird from Graphic Skills Racing, with Corey Piloting Phil’s 20B Dragster, and after a few minor setbacks recorded a tough 6.99 at 181mph grudge pass late in the night for Corey’s first 6-second pass. Ron Newton took the win in his EFI LS1-powered hotrod, narrowly defeating Megan Anderson in her four-cylinder turbocharged dragster.
Street RWD qualifying was of course lead by Shane Crichton who had the Blacktrack Performance Cressida cranking with a 9.36 at 156mph pass on radial tyres! The final saw Anthony Faughey’s RX-2 defeat Adam Hackett’s neat red Datsun 1600.
Sports Bike saw a good range of quick late-model Sports Bikes battling it out for the title, and the final saw two nine-second bikes take the green light with Alex Tukavkin on his Suzuki GSXR just getting edged out by Sam Taylor’s Kawasaki ZX10, just 0.012 seconds separated the pair at the finish line!
Street AWD had a good mix of true streeters battling it out and again we saw the Hackett name in the final, this time Shane in his GTR took the win defeating Nathan Wilson.
It was no surprise that the Street FWD final saw Andrew Bode lined up. One of the most consistent racers running at the moment. In what was a great race Andrew unfortunately pushed too hard in his Mazda breaking out by less than one hundredth of a second, with Rod Moore taking the winner’s trophy. Dave Homer, Daniel Harding, and Ryan Bestulic put on some great smoke shows throughout the racing with a string of 11 and 12-second passes amongst them.
The E/T class saw one of our favourite cars take the win, with Phil Penny’s beautiful Honda S600 taking the win from Brad Cooper’s Ashford Racing-prepped Gemini.
There was also a small Show-N-Shine display area behind the grandstands to keep the crowd entertained, alongside the ever-popular Northfield Stage with the fans cheering on the beautiful girls in the Bikini competition, and the Babe competition.
Round 3 of the Toyo Tires Sport Compact Group Championship moves to WSID in Sydney for what is shaping up to be a great event on Sunday May 18, 2008. We’ll see you there!
Don't forget to checkout the Event Gallery from the Round 2 HERE.
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2008 Toyo Tires Sport Compact Group Drag Racing Series
