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Gold Star Race Even Closer After Drama Fills Mallala Day; Winslow And Macrow Win |
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Tuesday, 03 July 2007 |
The battle for the 51st Australian Drivers Championship has reached new levels of intensity following this weekend’s fourth championship round, at Mallala raceway in South Australia.
Two races today were won by James Winslow and Tim Macrow, respectively, however it wasn’t quite that clear cut.
Winslow (Team Opes Prime Dallara F304 Mugen) won a drama-filled first
18-lap affair from sixth on the grid, taking a gamble on wet-weather
tyres to carve his way through the field to assume the lead before the
fifth lap.
However most of the drama occurred on the opening lap when Leanne
Tander and Tim Macrow controversially came together at the turn seven
hairpin.
Tander tried to outbreak the championship leader on the inside of the
corner when the two cars contacted – doing damage to the front wing of
the Fleetcare TanderSport entry and leaving Macrow out of the race with
front suspension damage.
Tander would later recover to finish a storming second however the stories varied following the clash.
”I would have won if Tim hadn’t have punted me off on lap one,” Tander said.
“I went into the corner leaving her room,” retorted Macrow, “But she
seemed hell-bent on having me off into the dirt. She then finished the
job by hitting me again in the sandtrap.”
On a drying circuit, Winslow won a thrilling affair by a small margin
over Tander, with Stuart Kostera working his way to third place in the
final corner after starting the race a lowly eighth.
“I was just hanging on and trying to get the best run out of the
corners to pull away from the field as best I could because at the end
I was struggling,” Said the British winner – his second for the season.
“I saw Leanne move to the inside (on the run to turn seven on the final
lap) so I went to cover but she was passing Hollings. It was a pretty
wild race.
”I’m really pleased to get another win, it’s fantastic.”
Marco Mapelli, Charlie Hollings and pole sitter Michael Trimble
completed the top six – Trimble dropping to the back of the pack and
forcing a recovery after stalling his car on the start.
Race two was a far more straightforward affair, Tim Macrow gaining the
ascendency on the opening lap and running a lights-to-flag win ahead of
Astuti pair Charlie Hollings and Michael Trimble.
Out of the championship battle, Trimble surrendered second to his
team-mate on the final lap to allow Hollings to stay in touch with his
year long rival Macrow.
Tander (4th), Winslow (5th) and Mapelli (6th) struggled to find the
same performances as they had earlier in the day and resorted to
finishing securing valuable championship points.
The battle for the Kumho Tyres National Class was decided in the favour
of Chris Barry, who extended his already considerable championship
points lead.
Daniel Schulz was second on both occasions despite gearbox dramas in
the final race whilst both Lauren Gray and debutant Jesse Wakeman
scored podiums in the class.
The championship battle has closed at the half-way point of the
championship with Tim Macrow facing a reduced margin – he leads
Hollings by just five points now – as the series heads to Eastern Creek
in two weeks.
The top four contenders are covered by nine points with eight races remaining.
The next round of the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship for
the CAMS Gold Star will be held at Sydney’s Eastern Creek Raceway in
two weeks time, June 13 – 15.
The opening round of the 2007 season was held there in February this
season, Macrow and Kostera splitting the honours at the A1GP meeting.
For more information head to www.formula3.com.au
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