SEAC season kicks off

ON THE PACE: Jamie Pohlner showed plenty of pace in his Mitsubishi Evo during the opening round of the SEAC season. Picture: TURN8 PHOTOGRAPHY

THE South Eastern Automobile Club kicked off its 2022 season with the South South Australian Khanacross title at the Heywood Wood, Wine and Roses festival at the Showgrounds layout.

A good field of 36 competitors entered for a challenging day of racing around the various tracks prepared by event sponsor Barco Tree Lopping and Traffic Management.

With 16 in the hard charger category, 2021 state number one, Michael Clements, led the way in the first track only to have engine troubles on the run to the finish to end the outing for Team Clements Subaru.

The Clements pair were then able to use his Subaru WRX wagon for the remainder of the day, a generous gesture from the Southern District Club.

Top guns from SEAC, Jamie Pohlner and Dale Cagney were on the attack from the outset, at the top of the time sheets for all six tests.

Pohlner claimed all six fastest times in his well-presented Mitsubishi Evo 9.

Subarus were all chasing the pair of Evo’s, with Sam Humphries, Michael and Bradley Clements, Kelvin Humphries and Ryan Poel shuffling through the next positions.

Wayne Casey enjoyed his day at the wheel of the neat Mazda 6, to get home just behind the 4WDs, in seventh outright and sneaking through in front of Lucas Kliess in his tidy Corolla, Ken Moore in the supercharged Commodore just 2/10ths behind in ninth spot and rounding out the top 10, Kelvin Humphries.

The SEAC section had 20 entrants and it was no surprise to find 4WDs at the top of the score sheet but they did not have it all their own way.

Ken Trimnell opened his day with fastest times in tests one, two and four, had a tour somewhere in the third and a second and third in five and six.

Kev Millard came out in the 1600 Datsun for a run and found some problems in the first test, had his own track in three and four, then came home in five and six with fastest times.

Nicholas Doll is still learning what the Subaru can do and locked in five tests at third fastest, with the consistent pace good enough to get the number one spot for the day.

John Whitehead gave his Phoenix buggy a run and where the track was flowing, he locked in second place times but struggled with the close left/right turns in the long third and fourth tests that suited the car setups more than the buggy.

He finished with the second outright.

Trimnell’s one bad run pushed him down the list to third spot, half a second in front of Leon Chugg’s Subaru.

Long-time rally campaigner and Autocross competitor Mick Cooper drove a clean line all day and his consistency paid off, finishing in fifth outright.

Another driver on the improve and coming from a competitive family, Kyle Johnson drove the Nissan Pulsar well and claimed sixth outright plus first Junior home.

Telstar driver David Coombe had contact with a couple of track markers in his third test and the subsequent 10-second penalty pushed him down the finishing order to seventh.

Justin Devlin drove a tidy line on each test and put in a clean day to collect the eighth spot for his effort.

Geoff Wilson took to the layouts on offer in his normal flat-out style in his Magna and finished in ninth position, while Connor Cooper finished his day in 10th, just half a second behind the Magna.

Next event on the SEAC calendar is a Motorkhana, to be held at the Glenburnie Saleyards Complex on Sunday, March 6.