Practice
Every vehicle but the #27 of Zac O’Hara went out on the track to participate in the three sessions that were held on Friday, all participants got through the sessions.
The series was partnered with Australian Super TT, a field that was familiar to the Stock Cars especially the BMW of Mark Tracey who had battled the cars in Thunder Sports
Qualifying
Zac O’Hara was the first driver from Stock Cars Australia to be listed on the qualifying list followed by Mick Heppleston. Robert Marchese, Josh Hourigan and Laurence Mckinnon.
Zac got proceedings under way with a lap time of 1:55.7289 before Scott Nind vaulted to the top with a time of 1:27.6428 and Josh Hourigan’s first qualifying lap in the series was a 1:37.4419.
Scott Nind pumped out a 1:26.9347 and Danny Burgess moved up to No. 2 (third overall) with a 1:33.0412, Richard White got his Lumina a lap time of 1:40.3498 and Zac improved to record a time of 1:44.9345, Mick Heppleston improved his time to record a lap of 1:48.2557 and Laurence Mckinnon recorded a lap of 1:40.1536.
Robert Marchese recorded a best lap of 1:36.7598, Mick Heppleston improved further to record a lap of 1:47.1126 and Josh Hourigan improved to record a lap of 1:34.4070.
Danny Burgess solidified his number two status with a 1:30:4631. Laurence Mckinnon cut his best lap time down to 1:39.2649 and Richard White got his lap time down to a 1:39.9491.
Laurence Mckinnon stayed out well after the majority of the field parked it to improve his lap time to a 1:38.7525, both Laurence and Zac logged eight laps each in the session.
Race 1
The Stock Cars did not participate in the Top 10 Shootout for Australian Super TT that was held after qualifying.
The season opener was a ten-lap event and was surprisingly on time for a packed schedule.
After the first lap SCA cars were first, third and fifth with the newcomer Josh Hourigan holding the fifth spot.
Towards the back Richard White, Zac O’Hara and Mick Heppleston were running eighteenth to twentieth, all three soon gained a spot as Drummond hit pit road.
Scott Nind picked up the pace to record a 1:28.7267 and Zac O’Hara by lap three was up to fourteenth position.
Josh Hourigan had almost six seconds up on sixth position by the time of Lap 4 and Danny Burgess in third closed a little in on second.
Laurence Mckinnon in twelfth had a four second gap on Zac O’Hara who was sitting in thirteenth position.
Richard White and Mick Heppleston moved up to sixteenth and seventeenth.
Zac O’Hara was getting faster and was taking chomps out of the gap between himself and Laurence Mckinnon.
Josh Hourigan moved up to fourth position and Robert Marchese moved up to sixth position.
Zac O’Hara got by Laurence Mckinnon and was soon sitting in eleventh place followed by Laurence Mckinnon in twelfth place.
Josh Hourigan scored his fastest lap on Lap 8 with a time of 1:32.4024 and Richard White got at the time his fastest lap with a time of 1:41.1052.
Richard White picked up more pace and had a 1:39.2287 lap on Lap 9 and moved the #3 Chevrolet Lumina up to fourteenth position by the finish.
Robert Marchese had a solid race by staying out of trouble in sixth, a standard day for the #84 OzTruck that is known for reliability and consistency.
It was Scott Nind taking the victory over Mark Tracey, Danny Burgess, Josh Hourigan and Brent Edwards.
For SCA only vehicles it was Nind, Burgess, Hourigan, Marchese and O’Hara making up the Top 5.
Drive of the Race belonged to Zac O’Hara as the driver of the #27 Chevrolet Monte Carlo drove from twenty-second to finish eleventh.
Race 2
Race 2 started off proceedings at Winton on what was a very important day for the category.
Half of the SCA vehicles started in the Top 10 of the combined field with Australian Super TT.
Josh Hourigan had a bad start and dropped back to about eighteenth while Zac O’Hara jumped into the Top 10 and Scott Nind pumped out a lap of 1:28.8512 to set the tone for the race.
Josh Hourigan quickly recovered four spots to start his march back into the Top 10.
Scott Nind improved his time to a 1:27.7064 and Robert Marchese was holding down sixth spot in the pack, Richard White moved up to tenth with a lap of 1:36.9041.
Josh Hourigan moved up to twelfth by the time he had hit his fourth lap and soon he was up to tenth as Zac O’Hara dropped down to twelfth.
Richard White was finding good speed in the Lumina with a good time of 1:36.4298
Danny Burgess had third with zero pressure on the #7 OzTruck as fourth was almost twenty-one seconds behind.
Laurence Mckinnon’s fifth lap was a 1:40.1300 and was holding on to thirteenth position.
Josh Hourigan put in a lap of 1:32.1832 in ninth as the gap to eighth place was getting small and smaller.
Zac O’Hara got a 1:36.5725 on Lap 6 to keep things tight between himself and Richard White.
Robert Marchese recorded a lap of 1:33.2736 on Lap 7 to close the gap to fourth and fifth.
Josh Hourigan recorded a lap of 1:32.1813 to close the gap on seventh and eighth positions and shortly after both positions belonged to the driver of the #11 OzTruck.
Robert Marchese got past Brent Edwards to get into fifth position as the race was drawing to a close.
Richard White moved up to tenth and Zac O’Hara picked up another eleventh-place finish and Robert Marchese picked up fourth from Mark Granger to finish solidly in the #84 OzTruck.
Josh Hourigan recorded a personal best time of 1:31.9600 on the last lap and finished in seventh place and had the race gone a lap longer, fifth place was a strong possibility.
Mick Heppleston had a quiet race and finished nineteenth with lap times improving late in the going.
Scott Nind won by fourteen seconds over Mark Tracey, Danny Burgess, Robert Marchese and Mark Granger.
Drive of the Race belonged to Josh Hourigan, Josh fell back to eighteenth on the first lap before charging through the field to finish seventh and set a personal best time for the race on the last lap, that OzTruck sure has some good speed in it.
Race 3
The second race for the day and the third race for the weekend was livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube.
Josh Hourigan moved past Robert Marchese to take fourth position after starting seventh and Danny Burgess was pressuring Mark Tracey for second.
Zac O’Hara moved into the Top 10 and Richard White came to a halt on the track after having a good start, the stoppage of the #3 brought out a full course yellow and the #3 Chevrolet Lumina was towed into the pits.
Scott Nind’s second lap was a 1:30.8173 while Laurence Mckinnon went off into the dried grass but got going again.
Scott’s fifth lap was a 1:28.6616 and Zac O’Hara dropped down to eleventh with the recovering Laurence Mckinnon in twelfth.
Mick Heppleston was staying out of trouble in nineteenth and then moved up into eighteenth.
Josh Hourigan was staying in front of Robert Marchese with the gap just over a second before getting some breathing room towards the end of the race.
Danny Burgess pressured Mark Tracey for second, but the BMW was too good for the #7 OzTruck and so Danny had to settle for third.
Zac O’Hara on lap 8 put in a lap of 1:38.1370 and then on the next lap recorded a time of 1:37.0019, Laurence Mckinnon also done his fastest lap on Lap 9 with a time of 1:38.1607 to keep close to the #27 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
Trev Drummond was initially given a thirty second penalty during the race and Zac O’Hara and Laurence Mckinnon were moved up a place to be tenth and eleventh, but the penalty was rescinded dropping them back one spot.
Scott Nind made it three wins from three starts in the round to start the 2023 season in style with one race remaining in the round.
Race 3 is 2 hours and 15 minutes into the above video by motorsportstv.
Race 4
The final race of the weekend and all eyes was on SBS’ Motorsport coverage, would we see the race or will the bikes get priority and it turned out bikes were first, but the race was on Fox Sports 506 and Kayo.
Richard White whose Chevrolet Lumina came to a stop in Race 3 was back for Race 4 and started in twenty-second position.
Scott Nind won the previous three races and was in the box set to sweep the weekend.
Mark Tracey jumped into the lead about halfway through the first lap to lead the race from Scott Nind and Danny Burgess while Robert Marchese dropped down to seventh.
Josh Hourigan slotted in to fourth position to continue the strong debut of the driver in the #11 OzTruck.
Robert Marchese soon moved up to sixth and Richard White moved up to 17th as he recovered from his Race 3 DNF.
Scott Nind got a lap of 1:29:3753 on lap 3 to be on the bumper of Mark Tracey’s BMW.
Richard White moved his Chevrolet Lumina up to sixteenth and Danny Burgess was sliding the #7 around enthralling the commentators.
Scott Nind got the ponies going to record a lap of 1:29.1294 and grabbed the lead of the race just past the start/finish line on Lap 5 as he went around Mark Tracey and a backmarker on the outside.
Zac O’Hara dropped from tenth to eleventh while Richard White moved up to fourteenth.
Mark Tracey went off into the grass on Lap 6 bringing Danny Burgess closer to the BMW.
Laurence Mckinnon was steady in position twelve and had a reasonable gap on Richard White who by this time moved up to thirteenth.
Lap 6 saw best laps from Danny Burgess and Mick Heppleston with times of 1:29.8471 and 1:41.8078 respectively.
Zac O’Hara passed Bell for tenth position on Lap 8 and Drummond for ninth as they headed towards the finish.
Richard White moved up to twelfth by passing Laurence Mckinnon and Laurence Mckinnon, Richard White and Zac O’Hara scored their best laps on their ninth lap.
Scott Nind comfortably won ahead of Mark Tracey and Danny Burgess to sweep the weekend in the Ford Mustang.
Drive of the race belonged to Richard White who drove from twenty-second to twelfth position in the #3 Chevrolet Lumina.
Race 4 can be seen on SBS on Demand, sign up for a free account and then skip the video to the 59 minute mark to catch Race 4.
Conclusion
What a weekend of racing it was, the two series (Australian Super TT and Stock Cars Australia) put on an enthralling show.
The mechanical gods were almost totally good to the series this round, they did threaten to crash the party when Richard White’s car came to a halt on the track in Race 3, but the car was back in action for Race 4 and that #3 cut through half the field in very quick fashion.
Josh Hourigan had a great debut in the #11 OzTruck and Richard White got to enjoy a full round after his debut was dampened by rain in the final round last year.
A bigger field should await for Round 2 as several vehicles will have repairs and/or upgrades completed or their driver’s schedules have opened up.
Aussie Stock Car News 