DAMP conditions greeted competitors for round four of the South Eastern Automobile Club’s motorkhana series on Sunday at the Mount Gambier saleyards.
First-time director Ames Lennerth rose to the challenge and selected nine course layouts to test the drivers who were serious about the points tally on
offer.
The wet surface reduced the advantage of the light and manoeuvrable “Specials” or more powerful larger cars.
Adelaide competitor, Tony Wallis hoped for a dry day and chose to bring his Mini powered Special, along with two sons Edward and
Harry, who looked the ones to beat, even in the wet.
Mike Exell, in another Special, also showed skills in the wet conditions and pushed Tony Wallis throughout the 18-run day.
Less than five seconds separated the two at the completion of the event, with Tony managing to hold off the fast-finishing Exell.
Junior Edward Wallis also had a good run, even beating Tony and Harry on one test in the family Special, enough to score the last step on the podium for the outright position, as well as being and first junior home.
A determined Patrick Hitchcock drove his 205 Peugeot well in the mixed conditions, but could not match the Specials for pace and had to settle for fourth outright and a Class “B” points win.
Wayne Casey followed the Peugeot home for fifth outright, some 10 seconds behind – about the time he lost when he had a rare spin on one of the tight tests and had some corrective driving to regain the test path.
Damien Wilson was next to master the conditions and used all of his skill set to attempt to catch Casey’s Mazda in his Nissan S13, but just missed out.
He settled for sixth outright, a mere 1.8 seconds in arrears and points for Class “C” to keep his tally moving along for the series.
Ken Trimnell spent most of the day helping with the Novice Juniors and squeezing in a drive when he could and his Suzuki proved to be up to the challenge when asked to do the job.
He finished just five seconds behind Wilson’s Silvia.
Phil Wilson’s Soarer was hard to tame in the wet, but he did just enough to keep the sideways momentum where he wanted it without pushing too hard.
Points for Class “D” were his, as well as eighth outright.
Geoff Wilson tried his hardest to catch the two other Wilsons, but had to settle for ninth outright after a demanding day at the wheel of the Peugeot 405.
Harry Willis brought the family Special home in 10th place.
With the scores split to show SEAC only competitors, Exell claimed top points with his time of 365.09 seconds and Class “F” points for the club series, ahead of Patrick Hitchcock with a total of 434.58 seconds and Class “B” points.
Wayne Casey filled the podium with a total of 444.01 seconds, good enough for Class “A” points.
The next and final round of the series will be held on a dirt surface on June 8 at SEAC Park, Megaw Road.
