Picture: TURN 8 PHOTOGRAPHY
MOTHER Nature did her best to intervene in the second round of the South Eastern Automobile Club’s khanacross series on Saturday.
Director Bruce Hamilton had to work hard to combat the natural forces, facing both lightning and steady rain.
He made adjustments to the course layouts to give the 20-plus competitors a bit of track in between lakes around the SEAC Park complex.
More akin to a boat race, the first couple of tests were challenging for most, but 4WD Subaru pilots Jason Winterfield, Ryan Poel, Sam Thomas and Ken Trimnell enjoyed the less-than-ideal conditions and were well in front of any of the 2WD contenders.
Youngster Bradley Harry looked to disappear on some of the standing water “lakes”, but put in a drive which would have been envied by those with many more years of experience.
Another “boat” floating around in the wet was the big Soarer of Phil Wilson, using all of his rally experience to guide the big, heavy car around and be up with the front runners.
All cars had a moment or two somewhere out on the very slippery track.
Further rain did not help and kept the water levels up throughout the day.
Front runner Winterfield was one of many who had a small misdemeanour on the edge of the track, making contact with the base limestone and altering the front of the very tidy Subaru to such a degree he had to withdraw.
That left Thomas to complete the day with the quickest total for the eight tests completed.
Poel kept it as tidy as was possible in the slushy conditions and came home in second spot with a total of 664.56 seconds, a little over 20 seconds behind Thomas’s clock time of 643.11.
Trimnell found skills he did not know he had and kept the little green Subaru under some kind of control to come home in third place with a total of 679.58 seconds.
Wilson could be accused of enjoying the testing conditions present throughout the day.
His style of driving managed to relocate a considerable amount of the standing water on his test runs.
The Soarer did well in the conditions and stopped the clock with a total of 692.97 seconds for eight runs, with a few penalties along the way.
At the other end of the scale the Toyota Starlet of Harry almost disappeared in some of the large water splashes which had developed.
He drove extremely well and survived the day with a total of 712.55 seconds, good enough for fifth outright.
Considering the track conditions Bradley showed driving skills way beyond his junior years.
Next home was Damien Wilson who managed to keep the Falcon firing for most of the day and slid his way to sixth outright with a total of 714.47 seconds.
Front wheel drives filled the next six positions, with Bailey Perryman seventh in a Hyundai Excel, Rian Boyd eighth in a Ford Laser, Michael Golebioski ninth in a Ford Laser, Matt Kirby 10th in a Ford Laser, junior Caitlyn Shephard 11th in yet another Ford Laser and Leanne Doddridge 12th in a Suzuki Swift.
Hamilton found enough momentum to keep his drowning Falcon moving after swallowing some water.
His exploits in the watery conditions ended with a total time of 835.10 seconds and 13th on the finishing list.
Brady Winterfield tried everything in his Hyundai Excel and had been going well, but succumbed to problems with inflation and had to retire.
Katelyn Bowering experienced her worst track conditions in her short junior driving time and rose to the challenge, completing the day trouble free.
Aden and Corey Brand were stuck with only rear wheel drive on their Subaru, but managed to finish the day.
Jason Winterfield scored points for his early quick runs, but penalty times for a DNF and non-start for the last rounds brought him back in the list.
Luke Winterfield drove the family Subaru and also suffered when Jason Winterfield put the car on the trailer.
Share driving the family Falcon ute, Cohen Hamilton managed to finish, with a wet ignition on a couple of occasions causing the car to struggle up the hills.
Next to achieve a finish on the day was newcomer Blake Golebioski, who drove the family Ford Laser in conditions he would not have ever seen before.
All results are still pending.
The next round of the Series will be held on October 20 at a venue yet to be advised.
