GLENBURNIE Saleyards roared into life on Sunday with the opening round of the 2024 South Eastern Automobile Club’s Motorkhana Series.
A field of 16 drivers competed in the tests prepared by race director Bruce Hamilton.
Noted for not selecting tests from the printed handbook, Hamilton generally places a minor change to the normal test to catch out those who have been competing in Motorkhana’s for many years.
After the driver briefing and test sheets were produced, Cohen Hamilton led the day away.
Jason Sims set the pace for test 1-one, from Damien Wilson and Cohen Hamilton.
On the second run Tony Wallis let the Special loose and came home some nine seconds clear of Wilson, with Sims a 10th of a second further back.
Test number two looked straight forward, with Sims home quickest, ahead of Hamilton and Wilson.
The second pass at the layout saw Hamilton make it look easy in the big Falcon for top spot, from Jason Sims and Henry Sims.
Jason Sims led the charge in the next layout, ahead of Tristan Crowe and Phil Wilson to add some new names to the top three.
On the second run and Sims again topped the list, from Crowe and Hamilton.
On test number four, Hamilton again proved too fast, from Jason Sims and Crowe, while Phil Wilson, Aaron Bowering, Bradley Bliss, Max Viitanen, Joshua Cameron, Damien Wilson and Henry Sims filling the top 10 positions.
Jason Sims claimed top spot in the second run, ahead of Henry and Geoff Wilson.
On the next layout Damien Wilson put on a display, but just 6/100ths of a second ahead of Jason Sims, who cleared Geoff Wilson by three seconds.
On the second pass, Jason Sims was fastest, from Damien Wilson and Harrison Bliss in third.
A mutiloop variation was the next layout and Jason Sims continued his sharp driving to claim top spot from Harrison Bliss and Damien Wilson.
On the repeat, Sims ran a similar time for first place, from Damien Wilson and Henry Sims.
The next layout resembled four lots of four-cone boxes and Damien Wilson set the pace, with Geoff Wilson nipping at his heels second and Jason Sims equal third with Crowe.
The second pass saw Damien Wilson lower his previous time by nearly two seconds to finish ahead of Henry Sims and Geoff Wilson.
The final layout of the day was a four-loop pattern to test the drivers’ limits.
Damien Wilson drove it well to capture fastest time from Jason Sims and Phil Wilson.
On the last pass, Damien Wilson repeated his previous run, holding off a big charge from Jason Sims, with Henry Sims in third place.
Results
Jason Sims, first outright, first on handicap, 12:27.46 total time, class D; Damien Wilson, second, second, 12:32.95, C; Tristan Crowe, third, third, 13:08.47, D; Phil Wilson, fourth, fourth, 13:08.95, D; Cohen Hamilton, fifth, fifth, 13:28.87 D; Henry Sims, sixth, sixth, 13:34.48, Junior; Harrison Bliss, seventh, 11th, 13:54.45, Junior; Bradley Bliss, eighth, 12th, 13:54.82, E; Max Viitanen, ninth, eighth, 13:59.75, Junior; Aaron Bowering, 10th, sevenmth, 14:00.38, D; Geoff Wilson, 11th, 10th , 14:22.30, D (M); Dylan Bowering, 12th, ninth, 14:38.74, Junior (Novice); Josh Munn, 13th, 13th, 15:48.25, C; Joshua Cameron, 14th, 14th, 15:57.08, Junior (Novice); Levi Staude, 15th, 15th, 23:14.38, Junior (Novice).
Handicap percentage is applied to actual times, not including penalties.
The next event on the SEAC calendar is at SEAC Park, Megaw Road on March 24.
Entries are via the MA website for the opening round of the 2024 Autocross Series.
