May 18 2021
We made it to Round 2, things were looking a little dicey when reports of covid started in NSW the week of the round but thankfully it didn’t cause an outbreak and Round 2 got underway at Sydney Motorsport Park.
This round brought back the return of the races being streamed on YouTube which was good for people who are curious about the category or people who are fans and they haven’t been able to catch a race for awhile.
Brett Mitchell in his #8 OzTruck won the inaugural McHitch Pole Position Award ahead of Corey Gurney in the #43 Pontiac GTA.
Race 1
Race 1 was delayed as an Alfa dropped a lot of oil on the track in the previous race forcing organizers to swap Race 1 with the lunch break, a minute or so after the decision was made it started to rain, thankfully the bulk of the rain was away from the track.
Unfortunately the track was declared wet and this forced the field to scramble to be able to race, this lead to the field taking the green flag well spaced apart after the first half dozen cars.
Brett Mitchell got away to an excellent start and and was over 3.6 seconds in front of Barry Kelleher in the TA2 Mustang and Daniel Flanagan in his 2004 HSV GTS.
Merrick Malouf in the early going was up to fourth position in his Prime Finance sponsored Ford Falcon Ute but ended up finishing in seventh spot.
Back up front it was Brett Mitchell vs. Daniel Flanagan vs. Barry Kelleher as the three stuck close together with the lead being swapped at least twice a lap towards the end as Brett Mitchell had the straight line speed and could hold off Daniel Flanagan for a few turns before Daniel would go back around him going up the hill.
Flanagan had taken the lead on the last lap but he could not get far enough ahead of Brett Mitchell to nullify the straight line speed advantage of the #8 OzTruck and Brett was able to seize the lead almost at the line to win by 0.1646 seconds with Barry Kelleher in third.
Stephen Chilby who started a long way back finished a distant fourth but it is important to note that towards the end of the race he was lapping almost four seconds faster than the Top 3.
Race 2
Race 2 got underway in its scheduled spot as the schedule got back on track after delays due to weather etc.
Stephen Chilby quickly moved up to second from his starting position of fourth but then viewers suddenly saw him further down the field so he must of had an off track excursion somewhere and he had to climb back up the field.
Brett Mitchell found himself all alone up the front once the threat of Stephen Chilby challenging passed and soon he clocked a best lap of 1:39.6541, a time that was the fastest for the day of racing.
Barry Kelleher came home in second to go along with his third place finish in Race 1 and things were looking great for the #3 Ford Mustang.
Stephen Chilby improved on his Race 1 result to finish in third and Danny Burgess finished in fourth position after finishing Race 1 in ninth spot.
Corey Gurney had something happen to his #43 Pontiac late in the going but he recovered and finished in sixth position, it was less than a second at the end between Robert Marchese in 5th and Corey in 6th.
The improved weather conditions did not help Daniel Flanagan as he finished in 7th position in his 2004 HSV GTS.
Scott Nind was the best of the Stock Cars with a 12th place finish ahead of Zac O’Hara in 13th while Gregory Morris in the #97 (which is the #34) finished in 17th.
So it was two from two for Brett Mitchell and he even scored a post race interview, the perks of winning and being on Blend Line TV’s broadcast.
Race 3
Disaster struck on the first lap of the night race as Corey Gurney, Robert Marchese and Barry Kelleher got into an accident bringing out the red flag, the #3 TA2 Mustang and the #43 Pontiac made contact in Turn one and the #84 of Robert Marchese was right behind them.
After the remaining cars and trucks lined up just before the start line for a couple of minutes to see if the race would resume, the race was called and as only one lap was completed it was a no result.
No doubt the organizers felt that the time taken to retrieve the #84 and then resuming the race would of compromised their schedule for the Sydney 300 but it was a disappointing end to what promised to be a fantastic race.
Conclusion
Race 1 had YouTube viewers talking about the thrilling finish and they loved the sounds the cars made when
Brett Mitchell’s winning streak is now two rounds, Stephen Chilby’s OzTruck repairs were a success though we would need to get to Round 3 to see how he goes against the #8.
Scott Nind got his #16 Ford Mustang through both races in great condition and Gregory Morris got his #97 in the #34 colours through too so that is good news for both Stock Car drivers.
The #3, #43 and #84 all need repairs from the crash that wiped out Race 3 but the good news is that Round 3 of the ASCC is a couple of months away.
Round 3 is at Winton Raceway and it is going to be a very interesting weekend with perhaps even more entries than ever before.
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