Race Report Phillip Island Round 5 Nov 2009
        

All Seasons Eco Resort 50k Plate

 We headed back to sunny Philip Island for the 2009 title decider and the prestigious Eco Resort 50k plate for Sports Sedans. This year’s race also incorporating the final round of the National Sports Sedan championship. Both state and national series champions set to be decided in the last race of the weekend.

Friday  Practice

 Fridays practice was busy to say the least. With a big field of Sports Sedans and Sports Cars sharing the track, it was at capacity each session, making it difficult to get a good lap in.
 Ian Rice was back in the Esjay Plastering commodore, hoping to get through Friday cleanly and enjoy a good weekends racing. It wasn’t looking good for him after developing an oil leak in his first session. The team did manage to get it fixed though and get Ian some time back in the seat before the racing started on Saturday.
 Chas Talbot  had his own dramas. An incident with New South Welshman Garry Stevens doing considerable damage to the drivers’ door of the Pakenham Tyrepower commodore.
 Another driver making the trek down from NSW was Scott Butler. (Menai Blinds/Steve’s Toyshop/Blair’s tyres Camaro). Scott managed to get only 2 sessions in before suffering an engine failure. The team did bring a spare engine with them and by 1am it was in ready for Saturday’s qualifying. 
 The rest of the field seemed to have an uneventful day albeit slow in lap times. A lot of the national drivers, being their first venture to the island,  chose the wise option of taking it easy and building up to speed slowly on the unforgiving circuit.

QUALIFYING

 Saturday morning and the island’s unpredictable weather was back. Most teams opted for wet tires in the drizzling rain, and as the cars waited in the dummy grid, the rain stopped. On the first lap, the wets were still looking like a good choice. The track was slippery everywhere and caught out a lot of drivers.  Stevens ended up bogged on the inside of turn 2 and Butler had an excursion way off into the wetlands and high grass before pit entry, bringing out the red flag.
 By the time the session had restarted, the track had dried considerably. Some opted to come in saving their tires and those who had the readily available equipment to do so, changed to slicks.
 Des Wall (Mt. Aqua/Shannon’s Insurance Corvette) took pole ahead of Darren Hossack (Audi Spares Audi A4) and Tony Ricciardello (B&M Ricciardello motors/Red Rooster Alfa).
 Dean Randle’s much anticipated return in the all new carbon fiber bodied Kerrick sponsored Saab saw him qualify in 4th place.
 Of the state championship contenders, Daniel Tamasi (Unitex Architectural products Calibra) was top qualifier in 5th. Followed by Chas Talbot (7th), Ian Rice (8th) and Damian Johnson (Kings Fiberglass/MPC Torana) in 11th place. The 2009 championship title contenders Dean Camm (Five star fencing & Gates Corvette) and Ken House (Centreline Suspension/Extreme Rotaries Escort) qualified 12th and 27th respectively. House completing only 2 laps of qualifying.
 Other notables were Lee Uhlhorn (R&L Uhlhorn P/L) qualifying 16th in the under 2 litre RX-7 and the return of Luke Chambers (Executive Heating & Cooling/GMP Racing products RX-7) and Terry Wyhoon (in Geoff Munday’s NMR Camaro), both repaired following the Sandown start line incident in round 2.
Stephen Craig had the Jamieson/Craig Consultants Gemini out again after an uncharacteristic engine failure in the last round. He did well to qualify in the top 20 overall. Unfortunately for Stephen, the rotary broke another seal in qualifying and he was unable to participate in the weekends races. I guess his car just doesn’t like running in the rain.

RACE 1

 The weather was average at best but at least the track was dry for race 1. All teams had slicks fitted and it was looking to be a good race with 27 starters.
 Hossack lead the way from Wall and Ricciardello. Tamasi made his way up to 4th followed by Wyhoon and Camm.
 Chambers first race back looked promising, steadily making his way through the field.
 Graeme Gilliland (G&G engineering/P&L Mechanical RX-7) was dicing with Uhlhorn, Johnson and Talbot, putting on a good show as always.
 House was all over the back of Garry Roberts (Ramsdale Wreckers/Blush Photography Torana) when the engine seized on the Torana approaching Lukey Heights. Roberts spun and House went off in the oil trying to avoid Roberts. House was struggling to restart the Escort and could see the championship slipping away.  To add to his stress, the Mustang of Bell and Independent Motorsports Corolla of Cambridge nearly became permanent fixtures on the side of the Escort as he sat, stricken in the middle of the track.
 As the Safety car boards were displayed the Escort fired. unfortunately the race would finish under yellow due to the amount of oil to be cleaned up.
 Hossack taking the win over Wall and Ricciardello. Tamasi was the first of the state championship drivers to cross the line, followed by Camm (6th) and Neil Bryson (Jacaro Motors/Piarc Calibra) in 11th. Rice took 4th for state points followed by Chambers. House finishing in 25th overall but still collecting 11 points toward the state title with Camm closing in.
 

 
RACE 2

 Sunday morning and again the weather was very unpredictable. We seemed to have four different seasons every hour.
 The first race of the day was wet and almost managed to stay that way for the whole race.
 Wall got a great start and pulled away in the first lap. Hossack and Ricciardello took a lap to get going then slowly moved in on Wall.
 Chris Donnelly (Aston air conditioning Falcon) was the first casualty, going off at MG and staying there, unable to move in the wet grass.
 Hossack passed Wall for the lead on lap 3 followed by Ricciardello. On lap 4 going into Honda, a clutch bearing failure halted the Audi in its tracks, giving away the lead to Ricciardello and any chance of a back to back National Sports Sedan title to Hossack.
 Randle made his way up to 3rd place and would stay there.
 Tamasi was again the front runner for the state points, finishing in 4th. Rice had an excellent race finishing 2nd  (state) and 6th  overall.
 An outstanding drive in the wet by Graeme Gilliland would see him take 3rd in state points and 7th outright, followed by Bryson, Johnson, Chambers and House. Talbot and Uhlhorn not far behind. Camm finishing in 18th following a first lap pit stop.

RACE 3

 The All Seasons Eco Resort  was once again proud sponsor of the prestigious Island Magic 50k plate for sports sedans.  Unfortunately last year’s winner Michael Robinson (still waiting for a new engine) had to watch from the grandstand.
 Again the island weather played havoc for the teams and drivers. When the first call came out for Sports Sedans to the dummy grid, there was a steady rain falling. By the time the cars entered the track the sun was shining and the track was well and truly drying out.
 Ricciardello, Shane Bradford (Aston air conditioning Camaro) and Laurie Williams (repcoservice.com series 6 RX-7) were the only ones to take the punt and go out on slicks. Hossack came in on the formation lap to change to slicks and would start from pit lane along with Tamasi who left the dummy grid to also change tires. 
 Ricciardello stormed away from the field followed by Wall and David McGinnis (Coasteer automotive Calibra). Randle and Tamasi had a coming together on lap 1 bringing out the safety car and ending both their races. Bryson would also retire after just 1 lap.
 On the restart, Donnelly went up the inside of Chambers into a gap that wasn’t there and finished up on the grass at turn 2 ending his race. Hossack stormed through the field, going from 15th to 6th in a  lap and making his way to 2nd the following lap.
 Chas Talbot had the accelerator jam open going into turn 1, going off the track at high speed. He managed to get the car under control but by that time had suffered enough damage to end his race.
 Dean Camm pulled in, not wanting to destroy another set of wet tires in the dry conditions.
 Ricciardello took a convincing win and the 50k plate, 8 seconds ahead of Hossack.  However Wall’s 5th place was enough to earn him a well deserved National championship win.  Well done Des, congratulations!!!!!
 In a magnificent drive, Lee Uhlhorn was 6th outright and first of the state drivers over the line, followed closely by the Torana of Johnson. House picked up 3rd followed by Rice, Chambers and Gilliland.
 Ian Rice’s consistent high finishes were enough to give him the round win just ahead of Damian Johnson, with Chambers and Gilliland tied for 3rd. A great effort by all.
 Ken House’s 3rd place in the last race was enough to give him the ASSA Victorian state Championship outright win by 1 point. The closest finish in some time. Congratulations to Ken and team, it was a great effort all year, with several obstacles to overcome.
 Congratulations to all the 2009 class winners,
Under 2000cc Lee Uhlhorn, 2001-2500cc Graeme Gilliland, 2501-4000cc Ken House and 4001-6000cc Rod Smith.
 An outstanding effort by all involved.
 
 Next round is not until April 2010, so that’s plenty of time for all the cars in sheds to be prepared for next years racing. We hope to again see good fields of cars and close racing next year..