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Monday, 14 May 2007
Leigh Mertens had not planned to go to the third round of the Shannons Australian Production Car Championship at Queensland Raceway utilising the time instead to finish off the conversion of his Holden Commodore SSZ to HSV specification. But following his success at Phillip Island last weekend a rethink has to be made.

Mertens had to use standard pads in the hasty project but managed two wins and a second over the scratch race and two handicap start events of which the latter pair count towards outright points. He won the round overall which meant he also scored success in the new Class SP at the May 5-6 venue.

In a strong Class A line up, Garth Walden won over the three races and without opposition for Trevor Keene, his Mini Cooper S claimed Class B points. Whilst not counting to points the Trophy Class for older vehicles had Motor magazine editor Tim Robson setting the pace, and taking a win. But a mechanical breakage at the start of the first race gave the honours to James Parrish in his Mazda RX7 which was still in its Targa Tasmania specification.

In race one which was the scratch race and only counted to class points, Mertens beat pole sitter and round favourite Garry Holt away and maintained a narrow advantage over the BMW 335i throughout. Even there, Mertens was worried about his standard pads “I could smell them cooking,” he said. Meanwhile Holt experienced wheel spin out of the tighter corners but felt he could more than match the HSV on the straights.

Third was Searle who saw off the Commodore SS challenge from Garth Walden and Steve Briffa early, then Barry Morcom in the second 335i later. Briffa spun on lap three which wasn’t a result of a cracked rotor that happened on the warm up lap, and Waldren battled understeer which ultimately allowed the Adam Graham BMW 130i through but not the similar car of Peter Kelly.

Parrish (Mazda RX7) and Chris Delfsma were the next two ahead of Alan Shephard’s continually wheel spinning Mazda 3 MPS and Keene while Robson (BMW 323i) was out when a diff mount broke off the start.

With a 52 second start over SP and A, the latter looked to have the second race, the first handicap race, won until a safety car came when Morcom put his BMW into a sand trap near Lukey Heights. With the gaps negated the faster cars swamped the leader and Mertens held on to beat Holt. Next were Walden and Briffa from Graham, Kelly, Parrish and Delfsma. Searle had a big lose at the turn 12 sweeper but kept going, finishing behind Robson and Shephard.

Without a safety car and with a 53 sec start over classes SP and A, Robson had more than enough to win. Mertens was second and Morcom filled third ahead of Searle and the warring Holdens of Walden and Briffa.

Holt was sixth after being left a long last off the start when the BMW went into limp mode. “Too much wheel spin shut everything down,” was the simple explanation. Graham was next, duelling with Kelly before a high speed touch at turn one could have proven nasty for the latter who recovered to place tenth behind Keene.

All the latest news is on the website www.pcaa.com.au.

SHANNONS AUSTRALIAN PRODUCTION CAR CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND TWO RESULTS

Race One (6 laps) Scratch
1 Leigh Mertens (VIC) Holden Commodore VY HSV - Class SP - 11:20.4515
2 Garry Holt (NSW) BWM 335i Turbo - Class SP - 11:20.9030
3 Luke Searle (NSW) BMW 130i - Class A - 11:25.9849
4 Barry Morcom (NSW) BWM 335i Turbo - Class SP - 11:35.2446
5 Adam Graham (Qld) BMW 130i - Class A - 11:39.1441
6 Garth Walden (NSW) Holden Commodore VY SSZ - Class A - 11:40.0146
7 Peter Kelly (NSW) BMW 130i - Class A - 11:40.6049
8 James Parish (NSW) Mazda RX7 SP - Class SP - 11:58.2904
9 Chris Delfsma (NSW) Ford Falcon BF XR8 - Class A - 12:00.3276
10 Steve Briffa (NSW) Commodore VZ SSZ - Class A - 12:06.2766
11 Alan Shephard (NSW) Mazda 3 MPS - Class A - 12:16.9028
12 Trevor Keene (NSW) Mini Cooper S - Class B - 12:27.2652
DNF Tim Robson (NSW) BMW 323i - Class B - 0 laps
Fastest lap: Holt 1:51.6730 

Race Two (10 laps) Handicap
1 Leigh Mertens (VIC) Holden Commodore VY HSV - Class SP - 22:36.4477
2 Garry Holt (NSW) BWM 335 Turbo - Class SP - 22:37.3140
3 Garth Walden (NSW) Holden Commodore VYSS - Class A - 10 22:46.9393
4 Steve Briffa (NSW) Holden Commodore VZ SSZ - Class A - 10 22:48.3329
5 Adam Graham (Qld) BMW 130i - Class A - 22:48.7079
6 Peter Kelly (NSW) BMW 130i - Class A - 22:52.9946
7 James Parish (NSW) Mazda RX7 SP - Class SP - 22:57.6213
8 Chris Delfsma (NSW) Ford Falcon BF XR8 - Class A - 23:00.7810
9 Tim Robson (NSW) BMW 323i - Class B - 23:01.1409
10 Alan Shephard (NSW) Mazda 3 MPS - Class A - 23:11.9979
11 Luke Searle (NSW) BMW 130i - Class A - 23:13.4768
12 Trevor Keene (NSW) Mini Cooper S - Class B - 23:13.8444
13 Barry Morcom (NSW) BWM 335 Turbo - Class SP - 8 laps 
Fastest Lap: Mertens 1:51.2949 

Race Three (10 laps) Handicap
1 Tim Robson (NSW) BMW 323i - Class B - 19:56.3372
2 Leigh Mertens (VIC) Holden Commodore VY HSV - Class SP - 20:05.0127
3 Barry Morcom (NSW) BWM 335 T - Class SP - 20:12.7262
4 Luke Searle (NSW) BMW 130i - Class A - 20:14.1559
5 Garth Walden (NSW) Commodore VYSS - Class A - 20:20.9514
6 Steve Briffa (NSW) Commodore VZ SSZ - Class A - 20:21.4459
7 Garry Holt (NSW) BWM 335 T - Class SP - 20:22.9647
8 Adam Graham (Qld) BMW 130i - Class A - 20:24.5319
9 Trevor Keene (NSW) Mini Cooper S - Class B - 20:34.4492
10 Peter Kelly (NSW) BMW 130i - Class A - 20:40.0804
11 Chris Delfsma (NSW) Falcon BF XR 8 - Class A - 20:41.6172
12 James Parish (NSW) RX 7 SP - Class SP - 20:49.0967
13 Alan Shephard (NSW) Mazda 3 MPS - Class A - 21:25.2646
Fastest Lap: Holt 1:51.5363 

SHANNONS AUSTRALIAN PRODUCTION CAR CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS (top ten after round two)

OUTRIGHT: 1-Garry Holt 137, 2-Barry Morcom 119, 3-Leigh Mertens 117, 4-Luke Searle 109, 5-Peter Kelly 103, 6-Chris Delfsma 94, 7-Andrew Moffat 82, 8-Trevor Keene 82, 9-Steve Briffa 70, 10-Garth Walden 70.
 
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