Practice was held in good conditions on Friday as the field got plenty of laps in with the weekend forecast not looking too flash.
Sadly the #22 of Lukas Gates had mechanical issues and it was ruled out for the weekend depriving Lukas of his long awaited debut in the series in his AUSCAR.
Qualifying
Scott Nind was on top early before Brett Mitchell quickly put the #8 up top before Scott posted a 1:27:3303 shortly after to sit comfortably on pole position.
Trevor Crisp showed no signs of rust with a lap of 1:36:4679 to sit in fifth and then he done a 1:33:6525 to move up to fourth right behind Travis Condon in one of the two Thunder Sports entries who recorded a best lap of 1:32:8711.
Robert Marchese in the second OzTruck grabbed fifth with a 1:34:9231 and Richard Herring in the Thunder Sports car occupied sixth with a best lap of 1:36:5584.
Laurence Mckinnon put the #82 XE Falcon in seventh with a best time of 1:40:8215.
Richard White moved up to eighth with a best lap of 1:44:9974 and Mick Heppleston recorded a best lap of 1:48:5659 to occupy ninth on the grid.
Troy Perichon’s first qualifying lap was a 2:15:9463 and the #6 AUSCAR quickly improved to do a lap of 1:55:2226.
Scott Nind secured pole with a lap of 1:26:7003 with Brett Mitchell, Travis Condon, Trevor Crisp and Robert Marchese making up the Top 5.
Race 1
The rain that hit Winton for a couple of hours right after qualifying ensured that Race 1 would result in half of the field not competing in the race as the cars are not suited for the wet conditions.
Richard Herring taken the lead with Brett Mitchell running second, Robert Marchese in third followed by Laurence Mckinnon and Troy Perichon.
Lap times came down with the leader running a 1:50:5015 halfway through the race while Laurence Mckinnon was doing four minute laps but the XE Falcon would get more comfortable in the conditions and Laurence would have laps in the one minute fifty-six seconds range towards the end.
Suddenly there was a change in positions as Brett Mitchell taken the lead from Richard Herring who fell back almost twenty seconds after a holding a comfortable five second lead.
Brett Mitchell won the race from Richard Herring, Robert Marchese, Troy Perichon and Laurence Mckinnon, the latter listed as having a DNF after completing 9 out of the 10 laps.
Race 2
The field were on track again after the Legends and TA2 categories had their runs and seven cars were listed as preparing to take the start.
Brett Mitchell started off with a 1:47:6092 which was faster than Race 1 times and he quickly got away from Robert Marchese.
Mick Heppleston and Scott Nind joined in the fun in Race 2 and Brett peeled off a lap of 1:42:5080 to consolidate his lead.
Scott Nind quickly moved up to third while Troy Perichon got to enjoy more time out on track in the #6 Falcon and Mick Heppleston moved up to sixth by passing Troy.
Scott Nind moved up to second and had a lap of 1:38:3913 to be the fastest on track as everybody quickly improved on their lap times, Scott was making inroads on Brett Mitchell’s lead before losing a chunk of time to be almost seventeen seconds ahead.
Mick Heppleston’s lap times were getting under the two minute mark whilst Troy Perichon was getting better in the #6 Falcon and Laurence Mckinnon’s timing data was going haywire.
Brett Mitchell done a 1:36:8604 lap to push the lead over twenty seconds and Richard Herring moved up to third position.
Scott Nind recorded a 1:33:7977 to get the margin under 18 seconds and put some space between himself and Richard Herring, Scott recorded another lap in the 33s to narrow the gap to just over 16 seconds before losing a bunch of time on the final lap.
Richard Herring held on to third from Robert Marchese and Laurence Mckinnon held fifth position.
Mick Heppleston got his lap times down to a best of 1:51:4091 and Troy Perichon rounded out the field in seventh.
Race 3
A wet track greeted the field on Sunday morning, there were pockets of blue sky and even a bit of sun in the TA2 race that had taken place before it.
Brett Mitchell, Richard Herring, Robert Marchese, Troy Perichon and Scott Nind headed out and there was drama as Robert Marchese had a spin and then viewers got a surprise when a camera switch revealed that Brett Mitchell was in the grass and needed some assistance.
Richard Herring’s car was all muddied up at the front and the Brett Mitchell had to double time it to get to the front of the field to get things going.
Brett Mitchell led them in to turn one followed by Richard Herring, Laurence Mckinnon, Robert Marchese, Scott Nind and Troy Perichon.
Herring was gaining on Brett Mitchell to make it become an interesting race though Brett had the advantage of straight line speed to keep the OzTruck in front.
Richard Herring got the fastest lap of the race and was trying to pass Brett Mitchell when he spun off in Turn 3 but he was able to get going again.
Robert Marchese in fourth scored the fastest lap and was closing in on Laurence Mckinnon and then Richard Herring got the fastest lap before the #82 came into the pits.
Brett Mitchell won comfortably from Richard Herring with Robert Marchese third, Scott Nind in fourth, Troy Perichon in fifth and Laurence Mckinnon was a late retirement.
Race 4
Conditions at Winton improved between Race 3 and 4 with more blue seen in the sky and a much drier track awaited the field.
The field size increased as Mick Heppleston, Richard White and Trevor Crisp all got to race as the conditions were finally completely suitable for the Stock Cars.
Brett Mitchell was again in front ahead of Scott Nind, Robert Marchese, Richard Herring and Trevor Crisp in the Top 5.
Richard White finally got to make his debut in Race 4 in the #3 Chevrolet Lumina after the wet conditions made it unsuitable for the #3 to be driven in earlier.
Trevor Crisp moved up to fourth position by passing Richard Herring and he soon after passed Robert Marchese to be in third position.
Scott Nind passed Brett Mitchell to be in the lead and he quickly established a five second lead ahead of Brett.
Robert Marchese got past Trevor Crisp to regain third as Crisp was slowing but he held on to fourth position ahead of Richard Herring.
Finishing in sixth position was Laurence Mckinnon, Richard White finished in seventh, Mick Heppleston finished in eighth and Troy Perichon rounded out the field in the beautifully presented #6 Ford Falcon that flew the flag for AUSCAR.
Scott Nind crossed the finish line to win by 4.11 seconds and Brett Mitchell was crowned as the 2022 Australian Stock Car Championship champion when he crossed the line in second.
Brett Mitchell won the round and Troy Perichon taken home Muscle Division honours.
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