It’s not over until the fat lady sings. It's one of life's golden rules, and easily applied to the final round of the 2006 Formula Vee CAMS Invitational Challenge at Eastern Creek Raceway.
Entering the Swarfega / Premier One Products sponsored races, there was a single point separating NSW driver Adam Proctor (Swarfega Jacer) and Queensland’s Shane Hart (Mick Motors Jacer), after the pair split the wins in the opening round at Phillip Island in May.
Continuing the theme, Proctor and Hart each topped a session when the big field of Formula Vee’s took to the Sydney circuit for qualifying. Starting strongly, Hart won the opening race - his first race at the circuit since 1998 - which was shortened by a heavy crash, while Proctor was fifth.
Proctor improved to second place in a closely contested Race 2, as Hart put one hand on the silverware with another race win. However less than 100 metres into the final race, the tables turned in Proctor’s favour, as Hart crawled to a halt with a driveline failure.
It saw Proctor go on to take the race win, and the 2006 Formula Vee CAMS Invitational Challenge.
“Shane was unlucky in that race which gave us the series win, but we’ll
take it,” he said. “It’s the way motorsport goes, and we’ve had bad
luck at a couple of the rounds.
“We had a bad start in Race 1 and the car was setup to come on in the
last couple of laps, as we usually do at this circuit. With the red
flag we didn’t get a chance to benefit from that, which was just pot
luck really, nothing we could do about it.
“It was the same deal in Race 2; I struggled a little bit to get the
car to work in the early laps. But we were able to get through to
second which was the best we could do in that race, and then took the
win in the last one.”
Despite missing out on the title, Hart could take solace from not only
his strong weekend - where he scored two wins - but strong form
throughout the two-round series.
“We knew what we had to do this weekend, and aside from the problem in
Race 3 we did it,” said Hart, the current Queensland Formula Vee
points-leader.
“We went out and proved a point, we won four of the six races. It didn’t go our way in the end, but that’s motorsport.”
In second place behind Proctor in Race 3 was defending NSW Champion
Ryan Simpson (Parramatta Smash Repairs Jacer). An engine problem at
Phillip Island saw Simpson enter the weekend in 11th place, but second
for the weekend at Eastern Creek, including the fastest lap in Races 1
and 2, saw him climb up to third for the series.
An incident on the opening lap of Race 3 accounted for a number of
front-running drivers and led to a full-restart. Locals Guy Lingard
(Ken Lingard Truck Repairs) and Stephen Butcher (Skyes Group Stinger),
and Queensland driver Tim Hamilton (Jacer) finished Race 2 in fourth,
fifth and seventh respectively, but were all eliminated at Turn 2 on
the opening lap of Race 3.
In their absence, Mitchell Abrahall (Workhorse Collision Repairs
Polar), Gary Ogden (Mako), Jayson Williamson (Roby Flooring Mako) and
Tom Ballard (Tom’s Trash Paks Jacer) completed the Top 6 in Race 3.
Seventh placed David Frith (Dimension Data Sabre) from Victoria was the
best of the interstate drivers, just ahead of fellow Victorian Daniel
Reinhardt (Australian VW Performance Centre Sabre). Reinhardt set the
fastest lap of the race, and was the top-placed Victorian in the series
points in fourth place, ahead of Frith.
In his second race meeting Winter Olympic Gold Medalist Steven Bradbury (www.QueenslandHouseandLand.com Elfin) improved his times throughout the weekend, finishing with a best result of 20th in Race 3.
Local drivers Lucas Eddy (Bower Contracting Stinger) and Ryan Stott (LJ
Hooker Menai Jacer) shared the 1200cc class wins for the weekend, Stott
bouncing back from problems in Races 1 and 2 to win the final.
Victorian George Panagiotidis (Melville Bodyworks Spectre) topped the
1200cc pointscore for the CAMS Invitational Challenge, just ahead of
Queensland driver Robert Thomson (www.QueenslandHouseandLand.com Elfin).
Saturday’s race was red-flagged after two laps when Ian Chivas
(Swarfega Jacer) and Victorian Championship leader Drew Beacham
(Creative Machining Jacer) touched wheels at around 170km/hr in Turn 1.
It resulted in a heavy crash for Chivas. He was taken to hospital for
tests, but released on Saturday night sporting bruised kidneys but was
otherwise unscathed.
“It was a big one,” he said. “Basically, had a tight bunch of cars
going into Turn 1, I tapped wheels with another car and it sent my
skywards. Put me in a big barrel roll and rolled about five times.
“The car did an absolutely beautiful job in protecting me in the crash. It’s a credit to Jacer for building such a strong car.”
While the accident kept Chivas out of Sunday’s two races, the Formula
Vee Category Manager was delighted with the Formula Vee CAMS
Invitational Challenge.
“It’s been brilliant,” he beamed. “There’s been great racing; really
close and fierce racing at both tracks. The cars looked good, and the
competitors have supported the class in big numbers.
“I’m more than wrapped, and I think everyone has enjoyed themselves.
I’d like to thank Swarfega and Premier One Products for their support
this weekend, along with CAMS, the ARDC and PIARC for making our two
rounds possible.”
Formula Vee racing from Phillip Island can be seen on SBS’ Speedweek at
Midday on July 29, with the action from Eastern Creek going to air the
following Sunday. The rounds will also be broadcast on Inside Speed on
Fox Sports, on August 2 and 9 respectively.
Race 1 Results
| Pos. |
Driver |
| 1 |
Shane Hart |
| 2 |
Ryan Simpson |
| 3 |
Stephen Butcher |
| 4 |
Matthew Pearce |
| 1200cc |
| 27 |
Lucas Eddy |
| 31 |
Bruce Pearce |
| Fastest Lap - Ryan Simpson, 1:48.6485 |
Race 2 Results
| Pos. |
Driver |
| 1 |
Shane Hart |
| 2 |
Adam Proctor |
| 3 |
Ryan Simpson |
| 4 |
Guy Lingard |
| 1200cc |
| 26 |
Lucas Eddy |
| 27 |
Robert Thomson |
| Fastest Lap - Ryan Simpson, 1:48.1331 |
Race 3 Results
| Pos. |
Driver |
| 1 |
Adam Proctor |
| 2 |
Ryan Simpson |
| 3 |
Mitchell Abrahall |
| 4 |
Gary Ogden |
| 1200cc |
| 21 |
Ryan Stott |
| 22 |
Robert Thomson |
| Fastest Lap - Daniel Reinhardt, 1:49.3536 |
Final Points:
| Driver |
Points |
| 1600cc |
| Adam Proctor |
163 |
| Shane Hart |
143 |
| Ryan Simpson |
122 |
| Daniel Reinhart |
116 |
| David Frith |
109 |
| 1200cc |
| George Panagiotidis |
146 |
| Robert Thomson |
144 |
| Lucas Eddey |
79 |
| Glen Smith |
79 |
| Mark Wandin |
78 |
About Formula Vee Australia
Formula Vee racing in Australia is a cost-effective, entry-level form
of motorsport. Having celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2005, the
class continues to grow, following the introduction of the 1600cc
engine to the New South Wales series in 2003. Each state has a
Championship which are always hotly contested, featuring large grids
and frenetic racing.
Website - www.fvee.org.au
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