THE high-octane action of Motorkhana returned to the Glenburnie Saleyards Complex for round three of the South East Automobile Club (SEAC) 2024 Series.
A small field entered for this round as the event clashed with the Ararat Hillclimb.
Aaron Bowering assembled some interesting tactics from the Motorkhana to give the 13 starters a challenge for the day.
Five of the Junior entrants were first timers while four of the parents had also decided to compete.
The first test layout for racers was a Straight Slalom which eased newcomers and provided a challenge for the seasoned drivers.
Jason Sims made it look easy in the family Celica as he topped the time sheet with a very tidy run stopping the clock at 23.47 seconds, closely followed by runner-up Damien Wilson (23.57) and Aaron Bowering
(23.87).
In the second run, Bowering was able to push himself further to take the top spot (23.05) from Henry Sims (23.62) and Geoff Wilson (23.87).
The next course was the Forward Reverse Slalom, which involved reversing at two points.
The course was a challenge for the newcomers, but each competitor was able to make it through without much stress.
With his usual flair, Damien Wilson took on the challenge and fronted the timesheet with a clean and quick run time of 34.31 seconds, followed by Aaron Bowering (37.32) and Jason Sims (39.60).
Coming around to the second pass, Wilson once again showed off his skill in first (32.19), while Sims (35.88) was able to take the honours of runner-up from Bowering (35.94).
The second run showed quite a large improvement in confidence and car control from the junior competitors.
Up next was a change in course to the very enjoyable Spiro Slalom layout, as rising junior Henry Sims set the time to beat with a 27.47 second run.
Next home was Geoff Wilson (27.61) who just snuck past Damien Wilson (27.62).
On the second pass, Damien Wilson found his groove with a 25.81 second time to make the top of the list.
Henry Sims (26.95) was up next, while Geoff Wilson (27.27) fell back down to third place.
The next round had the same layout but required drivers to complete the last trial in reverse gear.
Top of the time sheet for the first run was Geoff Wilson, who managed to reverse the big Magna through all the gaps in 37.89 seconds.
Following close behind was Damien Wilson for a second time (39.55) and Jason Sims (40.39).
On the second pass, Damien Wilson managed to claim victory with a 36.51 second pass, while Jason Sims (40.38) and Aaron Bowering (41.75) managed to take out the runner-up and third place positions respectively.
Cone Penalties were plentiful on the test, as they kept on hiding behind the car as it was rolling backwards.
Multiple Loops was the next layout for drivers to tackle.
The course was a series of five loops which were either a breeze for drivers or proved to be a true challenge.
Driving his underpowered N/A Subaru Wagon was Aaron Bowering, who used all the traction available on the run to snag the time to beat at 34.20 seconds.
Jason Sims was the best of the rest with a 35.44 second run, with Damien Wilson (35.68) up next.
Putting the foot on the gas was Geoff Wilson on the second run, who drove a different line and got the Magna home in 33.88 seconds to set the pace for the test.
Aaron Bowering managed to keep up with Wilson to take the runner-up spot (34.08) while Jason Sims held on long enough to stay in third place (35.77).
The Try Angles layout was up next, which received very mixed results from drivers on the day.
Setting the pace for the first run, Aaron Bowering showcased his skill and stopped the clock at 29.64 seconds, closely followed by Damien Wilson (29.84) with Jason Sims (31.09) in third.
Damien Wilson came out on top of the second run of the course (29.48) as Jason Sims was unmoveable from the runner-up spot (30.59) as Bowering fell behind in third place (31.18).
In the last change for the day, the Gables layout needed a lot of wheel work to get around.
Damien Wilson showed his style and set the pace (39.74) for this run, while Jason Sims worked the wheel hard to be right behind (40.77).
Henry Sims managed to flow through in the same car to score third place (42.65).
In the second attempt of the Gables, Aaron Bowering made a come back from his WD penalty he scored on the first to take top spot (38.92) from Jason Sims (41.57) and Geoff Wilson (42.06).
The next event on the SEAC calendar will be an Autocross at the SEAC Park Circuit, Megaw Road, on Sunday August 25.
Damien Wilson, 7:42.88, outright winner, first in class C; Jason Sims, 7:55.80, second, D – first; Aaron Bowering, 8:05.49, third, E – first; Geoff Wilson, 8:10.96, fourth, D – second; Scott Bradley, 8:39.83, fifth, D – third; Henry Sims, 8:57.66, sixth, Junior – first, D – fourth; Rebel Skirving, 9:21.07, seventh, D – fifth; Dylan Maloney, 9:25.62, eighth, D – sixth; Dylan Bowering, 10:45.21, ninth, NJ – first; Duke Bradley, 13:39.96, tenth, NJ – second; Levi Staude, 15:55.65, eleventh, NJ – third; Jayden Maloney, 17:05.72, twelfth, NJ – fourth; Henry Skirving, 19:33.13, thirteenth, NJ – fifth.
