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On the eve of securing the championship, he was in conservative mode and relaxed, knowing that a couple of quality places would be enough. “I didn’t think I could match the pace of John Goodacre’s Holden Commodore which qualified on pole, I just aimed to let the quick guys go at it and then see how things panned from there,” he said.  

His nearest rival, Kris Walton also in a Ford, went all out and scored a perfect three wins from three starts. “We had to – and then hope something happened to Bruce!” said the Queenslander. This was the second year in a row that he has earned the bridesmaid tag and an elusive title still escapes him. “Even in my karting days I just couldn’t get a title win, it was always second. Roll on next year. I know the car is quick enough – we had some bad luck along the way this year. Certainly at Queensland Raceway and Eastern Creek getting punted didn’t help but the two Phillip Island rounds were my doing,” he admitted.

While Heinrich’s quest appeared a formality, the battle for third would go all the way to the wire between another two South Australian Fords, those of Matt Lovell and Steve Kwiatkowski where the former had a 30 point advantage over the latter. In just one race, that margin was halved but Kwiatkowski copped a drive-through penalty for jumping the start in the second – and that took the pressure of Lovell who finished third in the championship.

Goodacre was the fastest in the second qualifier after being fifth in the first session that mattered, and on combined times he had pole for race one. He led the first race until passed by Walton. Kwiatkowski went through to second shortly after as Goodacre struggled on to fourth behind Heinrich with a broken header.

Champion of 2004 WA’s Clint Harvey was next in his AU ahead of Lovell who admitted he had driven a little too conservatively and has his points advantage over Kwiatkowski halved. “Yeah, I let a couple go because I didn’t want to get put off by someone. Looking back I should have gone harder but Harvey and I had a great dice,” he said.

Sam Milton was next in the Ford that had been driven by Scott Nicholas throughout the season. The latter was overseas this weekend and Milton performed admirably after what could have been a race weekend ending crash on Friday. He finish ahead of the Justin Garnett AU and the Ford of Troy Hoey, in the Ford that Heinrich won the title in last year. In his season debut Victorian Andrew Nowland was tenth ahead of the Holden pair of Paul Pennisi and Robert Lonie.

The lone New South Welshman in the field Shane Smollen parked his Ford after only four laps, and would be followed by the father/son West Australians Malcolm and Brett Niall in their Fords. At the beginning of the last lap the engine in Jake Camilleri’s Holden expired. He was able to get a loaner off Tim Rowse who missed the first race due to driveline issues.

Any chance for Kwiatkowski to beat Lovell in the championship quickly evaporated in race two where he was deemed to have jumped the start – therefore a drive-through penalty ensued at the of the opening lap. Goodacre assumed the lead until Walton passed him on lap three. From there the Queensland drove away, heading the Holden home. Lovell was a lot stronger this time around, holding third until the last lap when he was relegated to fourth by Heinrich. Garnett finished fifth ahead of the Falcons of Harvey, Hoey and Kwiatkowski. Nowland was next and Camilleri performed strongly, starting from the back of the grid and charging to tenth. Brenton Burr followed in his Ford from Lonie, Pennisi and Rowse in his fresh new paint scheme.

In the third and final race, Goodacre showed the way initially. But Walton was through and gone before the first lap was completed. Kwiatkowski quickly forged his way to third and harassed the Holden driver over the second half of the race but couldn’t improve on third – by the same token he didn’t topple fourth placed Lovell from third outright. Harvey was next as Camilleri picked up more places for sixth ahead of Burr, Hoey, Nowland and Rowse.

The Australian Saloon Car Company (TASCCO) is a foundation member of the CAMS National Racing Championship, one of the five core categories (Production Cars, F3, Saloon Cars and Commodore Cup) in partnership with CAMS that now make up the Shannons Nationals.

The popular six cylinder Holden Commodore verse Ford Falcon category is supported by Supaloc Steel Building Systems, Pedders Suspension, Kumho Tyres, Xtreme Clutch, EMS Fuel Injection, Cebco Brakes and CSA Alloy Wheels.

2007 Supaloc Australian Saloon Car Championship Round Eight Results

Race One (12 laps)

 1 Kris Walton (QLD) Ford Falcon AU 17:22.0801

 2 Steve Kwiatkowski (SA) Ford Falcon AU 17:27.8193

 3 Bruce Heinrich (SA) Ford Falcon AU 17:28.5904

 4 John Goodacre (SA) Holden Commodore VT 17:29.0251

 5 Clint Harvey (WA) Ford Falcon AU 17:36.1923

 6 Matt Lovell (SA) Ford Falcon AU 17:37.8604

 7 Sam Milton (SA) Ford Falcon AU 17:44.7371

 8 Justin Garnett (SA) Ford Falcon AU 17:50.7572

 9 Troy Hoey (QLD) Ford Falcon AU 17:55.5354

10 Andrew Nowland (VIC) Ford Falcon AU 18:02.2872

11 Paul Pennisi (VIC) Holden Commodore VT 18:04.9767

12 Robert Lonie (SA) Holden Commodore VT 18:07.7180

13 Brenton Burr (SA) Ford Falcon AU 18:09.4224

14 Basil Stratos (VIC) Holden Commodore VT 18:12.3523

15 Ryan Millier (VIC) Ford Falcon EA 18:13.6435

16 Geoff Brown (VIC) Ford Falcon AU 18:14.7185

17 Lindsay Kearns (QLD) Ford Falcon EA 18:19.3491

DNF Jake Camilleri (QLD) Holden Commodore VT 11 laps

DNF Brett Niall (WA) Ford Falcon AU 8 laps

DNF Malcolm Niall (WA) Ford Falcon AU 7 laps

DNF Shane Smollen (NSW) Ford Falcon AU 4 laps

Fastest Lap: Walton 1:25.7175

Race Two (12 laps)

1 Walton 17:16.5527, 2 Goodacre 17:19.5930, 3 Heinrich 17:29.5971, 4 Lovell 17:29.9177, 5 Garnett 17:39.8528, 6 Harvey 17:42.9914, 7 Hoey 17:43.1931, 8 Kwiatkowski 17:43.2518, 9 Nowland 17:46.0147, 10 Camilleri 17:51.9484, 11 Burr 17:56.8112, 12 Lonie 17:59.5481, 13 Pennisi 18:02.1191, 14 Rowse 18:02.9232, 15 Millier 18:03.6605, 16 Niall 18:11.2498, 17 Brown 18:12.1384, 18 Niall 18:14.6601, 19 Smollen 18:15.0223, DNF Stratos 11 laps, DNF Milton 9 laps, DNF Kearns 7 laps. Fastest Lap: Walton 1:24.9560

Race Three (12 laps)

1 Walton 17:21.2609, 2 Goodacre 17:24.1067, 3 Kwiatkowski 17:24.4010, 4 Lovell 17:32.9854, 5 Harvey 17:36.3784, 6 Camilleri 17:45.0769, 7 Burr 17:55.1891, 8 Hoey 17:55.7045, 9 Nowland 17:56.5432, 10 Rowse 17:59.7727, 11 Smollen 18:00.0543, 12 Milton 18:00.9446, 13 Niall 18:02.1228, 14 Niall 18:07.2227, 15 Millier 18:07.7402, 16 Stratos 18:12.4849, DNF Garnett 6 laps, DNF Lonie 2 laps. Fastest Lap: Walton 1:25.3617

2007 Supaloc Australian Saloon Car Championship - Round Eight Points  

Walton 120, Goodacre 97, Kwiatkowski 81, Lovell 74, Hoey 45, Harvey 66, Heinrich 62, Garnett 38, Nowland 37, Burr 35, Camilleri 31, Milton 26, Lonie 18, Millier 18, Pennisi 18, Rowse 18, M Niall 13, Smollen 12, Stratos 12, B Niall 10, Brown 9, Kearns 4.

2007 Supaloc Australian Saloon Car Championship – Final Points  

Bruce Heinrich (SA) 755, Kris Walton (QLD) 749, Matt Lovell (SA) 522, Steve Kwiatkowski (SA) 502, John Goodacre (SA) 403, Troy Hoey (QLD) 353, Scott Nicholas (SA) 342, Clint Harvey (WA) 288, Peter Dane (NSW) 266, Brad Fox (SA) 221, Jake Camilleri (QLD) 194, Geoff Brown (VIC) 186, Paul Pennisi (VIC) 172, Shawn Jamieson (SA) 167, Kevin Weeks (SA) 163, Robert Lonie (SA) 161, Brenton Burr (SA) 119, Timothy Rowse (VIC) 78, Brett Niall (WA) 75, Brett Carrington (VIC) 69, Justin Garnett (SA) 67, Shane Smollen (NSW) 65, Rod Dawson (QLD) 61, David Clark (SA) 58, Malcolm Niall (WA) 45, Bradly Piggott (NSW) 40, Andrew Nowland (VIC) 37, Naomi Maltby (SA) 35, John Van Gilst (QLD) 34, Mark Sutherland (VIC) 33, Michael Seal (NSW) 31, Lindsay Kearns (QLD) 27, Grace Monterosso (SA) 26, Mark Primmer (NSW) 26, Sam Milton (SA) 26, David Mitchell (NSW) 25, Craig Smith (SA) 24, Ryan Millier (VIC) 18, Kerry Wade (WA) 17, George Diamond (SA) 16, Wayne King (SA) 16, Andrew Hamilton (SA) 15, Basil Stratos (VIC) 12, Barry Whitford (SA) 10.

Supaloc Australian Saloon Car Championship Past Champions