The second round of the Nitto Tyres Aust4 Racing Series has just been held on the iconic tracks of Land Cruiser Mountain Park, just north of Brisbane. The event saw 20 teams battle it out over 5 hours of racing on the 25km loop, the Pro Buggy and Pro-Lite classes also getting served up a healthy dose of rock trails and technical climbs.
After a glorious week leading up to the event and a night of light rain, the track was in perfect condition for the teams as the dust was a minimum and the ground was hard. The prologue was raced on Saturday morning with all teams fighting it out for pole position come the main race.
The prologue track was an open course, laid out on the first three kilometers of the main loop – the drivers getting the chance to throttle down the grassy wide loop with little to no inhibitions and a whole lot of speed. The front-runners were clocking speeds in excess of 160km/h on the main straight, while also lifting wheels in the first long and fast corner. Pro-Lite racer, Ricky Nolan in the V6 powered #486 buggy succumbed to a blown motor in the reconnaissance lap and was unfortunately out of the race for the rest of the weekend, although by limping his buggy over the start line, he successfully gained himself a few cherished season points. The Invitational class for this round put on a massive show with the #2121 Pajero of Matt Gardiner throwing down the quickest lap times of any of the 4WD or buggy classes.
Once the first two hour section of the main race commenced, it was once again going to be clear that the UTV’s and in particular the East Coast Powersports prepped Polaris’ were a force to be reckoned with – Ian Graham in the #46 RZR1000 gaining the fastest lap time of the weekend. The first section of the race concluded with relatively minimal casualties and the teams had an hour to prep their vehicles for the afternoon’s five-hour session. Car #16 being one of the only to end their weekend’s racing after losing multiple tyres as well as destroying a front differential and their ability to steer. Michael Sweeney chose to run his #2666 Suzuki sierra in the stock class this round, after running out of time to prep his Pro-Buggy after round one. His campaign coming to an end after only two laps with shock failure in the rear.
The five-hour afternoon session would see the driver’s race into the dusk, the weekend also being the winter solstice bringing the shortest day of the year. Casualties in the pre dusk light were Chris Reid in the #245 Pro-Buggy after a steering line ruptured and caused an engine bay fire. Mitch Lacey had a moment of grief after a small sun-shower turned one down hill section slick leaving Mitch’s #11 RZR1000 on it’s side after a slide into a rut. After a recovery from the Aust4 crew, Mitch went on to complete the section. Tara Fletcher in her debut race had a thrilling off which ended in a multiple times rollover and a harsh stop leaving the #268 Range Rover upside down and against a tree. Both Tara and fiancé David were unscathed from the roll, a testament to the roll cage and safety requirements of the Aust4 rulebook. With a great show of support, Mal Van Ysseldyk from Sydney drove up to compete in his USA built #2888 Pro-Buggy and after pinching a brake line in the first section, was able to race the second section only to end up hitting a tree square on his front barwork in front of the pit lane and ending his weekends racing.
The victor of the Pro-Buggy class for this round was Anthony Ezzy in the ford powered #247 Landcruiser while the Pro-Lite victory was handed to #24 Remi Lowson after Nolan’s earlier departure from the event. The UTV’s were lead by Graham #46, followed by Nathan Bennett #46 and Mitch Lacey #11 leaving Polaris RZR1000’s taking all three-podium positions. Mod class racers silently raced around the track all weekend with Scott Turner #3 winning the biggest trophy. Stock class was a fierce battle between the lads in the #7108 Jeep and Tara in the #268 Discovery. Tara managed to take the win overall even after her rollover in the closing light of the day.
A list of all class results from the weekend can be found on the website along with elapsed times for all heats and overall.
The final round of the 2014 season will be held at Janowen Hills 4WD Park in Goomburra, two hours south-west of Brisbane. This land was the venue for the first round of the year and we look forward to returned to their exceptional facilities and tracks.
The next round will be held on the weekend of September 6th – 7th. Team nominations for round three, as well as a full recap of this weekends event will shortly be posted on the official website www.aust4.com.au
Round 2 of the Nitto Tires Aust4 rock racing series
