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WHILE Mother Nature dumped some handy rain for the region in the week leading up to the long weekend, SEAC Park came up with a track which withstood two full days of racing to decide who would be crowned South Australian Autocross king for 2021.
The conditions did not slow Aaron Bowering down as he blasted around the course to claim the state title.
The Saturday time sheet had all top-10 spots filled with 4WD’s after the afternoon and evening runs had been completed, with places shuffled between the top six, some better in the dark than others.
Bowering kept a hard-charging Nick Cagney behind him at the end of the day, with Cagney making up some ground in the runs under lights.
Simon Feil was also quick in the day runs, but lost ground at night and finished in third spot.
Mid Murray competitor and past state champion, Bradley Clements had to settle for fourth quickest in the day runs and lost ground at night to finish in fifth.
Jamie Pohlner debuted his recently acquired Evo7 and immediately settled down to work, with fifth in the day run and fourth at night for an overall fourth.
Meanwhile the first of the two-wheel-drive competitors, Damien Wilson put in a good effort in the day runs for 11th but had a fight on his hands in the dark, dropping to 15th.
The combined tally gave him enough to hold the 11th spot outright.
Sunday saw a long track layout to give all drivers plenty of seat time and enjoying the Knopka WRX Buggy, Bowering out-drove all but one of the field in each of the four heats, with Nick Cagney just edging him out in heat two.
Cagney had to settle for second in heats one and three, with Pohlner getting into the act in heat four to give him a second, two thirds and a fourth.
Feil’s first heat resulted in a third spot, but he faded as the day progressed.
Bradley Clements did the opposite, improving as he went on, while Dale Cagney had a reasonable outing with consistent results.
Again the first of the two-wheel-drives was Wilson in a Nissan Silvia, ahead of Dion Becker in a BF Falcon.
At the end of the weekend Bowering claimed the state championship with his total of 19.48.64 seconds.
Nicholas Cagney was next with 19:56.93 seconds, while Pohlner found his groove quickly and claimed third outright with a total of 20:05.41 seconds.
The first 2WD home was Wilson with a total of 21:42.89 seconds.
