A HUGE field gathered for Sunday’s motorkhana event at the Mount Gambier Saleyards, with three series combined for an entertaining day of motorsport.
The event was round three of the South Eastern Automobile Club series, round two of the South Australian Championship and round three of the Victorian NGK Championship.
Director for the day Ken Trimnell had a handful of track layouts to choose from and settled on six to test the near-capacity entry list of 46 competitors.
SEAC attendees numbered 21, just under half the entry list, with nine from Adelaide and the balance of 16 from Victoria.
The first two test layouts were run on dry bitumen and with many of the past Australian Motorkhana Championship winners and cars attending, the competition was tight.
Hand built “Specials” showed plenty of pace, with seven in the field.
That included five-times Australian champion Bill McCarthy driving a recently revamped Subaru-powered Delta.
David Beames drove another Delta he had used to reach Australia number one, which was originally built and owned by McCarthy.
Stephen Ormond also drove an ex-McCarthy Delta, while Blair Jones and Mike Exell built their own Specials, Jones using a Ford Fiesta engine/gearbox and Exell with a Honda motorbike engine/gearbox.
Outright positions for the multi-club event were unsurprisingly all Specials.
Tony Wallis just pipped Beames for the top spot on the podium, with total times of 297.12 and 297.56 seconds respectively after the 12 runs completed.
Next home was Ormond with 307.98 seconds, followed by Jones with 316.20 seconds.
McCarthy proved 80 years is no deterrent to ability and finished right behind Jones at 332.08 seconds and in front of Exell.
First of the normal vehicles home was the Mini Moke of Craig Williams, who had a rare moment in one reversing test and suffered a penalty for his effort.
The resulting time penalty incurred pulled him back a distance from the Specials, but the rest of the day he was in his element, flipping the Moke about with excellent car control to finish with a total time of 353.30 seconds.
Mathew Webb again showed how quick a Mini can go and came home next with 374.39 seconds, just edging out first junior driver home, Ed Wallis in his dad’s Special, with 374.71 seconds.
Rounding out the Top 10, Adelaide Mazda MX5 driver Wayne Casey had a trouble-free run to amass a tally of 378.56 seconds.
The mix of dry-damp-wet and drying conditions changed grip levels through the day and, judging by the times, quite a few of the drivers may have been guilty of enjoying the slippery track a little too much and suffered the loss of time with a huge grin.
While the challenge was always there with the test layouts, most drivers had clean runs and wrong directions were few.
Breaking up the day into club results, SEAC points went to Exell with 332.76 seconds, second to Wayne Casey with 378.56 and third to Patrick Hitchcock with 397.79.
Fourth place went to an entertaining Phil Wilson, again proving big cars can fit sideways with a total of 401.00 seconds.
Next home with 410.34, Damien Wilson had made contact with a few witches hats too many, which placed him further down the list from where his SA champion motorkhana skillset driving style should have seen.
First club junior Bradley Harry had a reasonable day and drove well to be next on the score sheet, with his Starlet home with a total of 428.36 seconds.
That was good enough for sixth and ahead Geoff Wilson’s Peugeot 405 with his tally of 433.40.
Russell Fisk did enough with the Hyundai Excel to come home in eighth place with 456.89, just in front of Suzuki Swift pilot Leanne Doddridge.
Her steady-as-she-goes driving style saw a clean sheet and a total of 460.65 for ninth outright.
Hard-charging Sam Becker was in full enjoyment mode in the family Sigma.
Always one to watch, he had a good day and managed to avoid all the witches hats for a clean-sheet total of 465.10 to round out the top 10.
Round four of the SEAC motorkhana series is on May 12 at the Mount Gambier Saleyards.
