The action at One Raceway started on Friday August 15 with practice, Phil Muffet’s Thunderbird had an issue that started a fire, the fire was promptly taken care of and repairs got underway.

Qualifying

An earthquake was felt at ASCN HQ minutes before qualifying had taken place, the 5.6 quake was definitely noticeable as the house sits on its 1950 built stumps, fortunately there was no damage.

Meanwhile at the track, Jeff Stubbs opened proceedings with a 1:08.3530 before Daniel Stubbs jumped up to the top with a time of 1:06.0570.

Phil Muffet slotted into third with a time of 1:11.3330 followed by Robert Marchese with a time of 1:13.1270 and Colin Matton led the SCA AUSCARs with a time of 1:18.5510.

Barry Kelleher’s first lap was a 1:18.7978 to put him in sixth position, Brad Lighton slotted into 7th with a time of 1:26.5890.

Dave Brien’s first lap moved him into seventh position with a time of 1:25.9310.

Jamey Hollier in the #71 Ford Falcon taken up ninth position with a time of 1:32.8160.

Barry Kelleher’s second lap moved him up from sixth to third with the Mustang recording a lap of 1:09.5354.

Jamey Hollier moved from 9th to 7th with a time of 1:18.0470 and Brad Lighton moved up to sixth with a time of 1:14.0720.

Phil Muffet moved up to third with a time of 1:08.7250, Phil said that he was loving his new gearbox and qualifying was proving it.

Barry Kelleher’s fourth lap moved him back up to third with a time of 1:06.9676.

Mick Heppleston’s first lap was a 1:18.2660 and his second bumped him up to 8th with a time of 1:16.6970.

Jamey Hollier moved up to eighth with a time of 1:14.3590 and was the last to make a move up the order.

Starting Order

Daniel Stubbs
Jeff Stubbs
Barry Kelleher
Phil Muffet
Robert Marchese
Brad Lighton
Colin Matton
Jamey Hollier
Mick Heppleston
Dave Brien
Laurence Mckinnon
Michael Rice

Pre-Race One

A gear selector issue parked the #08 Monte Carlo for the weekend, and the #3 Lumina was quickly wheeled out for action, but the drama didn’t stop there for Richard White Racing.

Sound limits and Stock Car racing have had a tough relationship in Australia and a couple of the cars in the field were pinged for being too loud, the limit is 95 decibels.

Teams worked quickly to get the vehicles going under the limit to avoid having to pack up and go home if they got pinged a second time.

Race One

It was not an ideal start to the weekend for Phil Muffet as a battery failure prevented the #41 Ford Thunderbird from racing.

Richard White and his team got the #3 Chevrolet Lumina on the grid.

Laurence Mckinnon in the #82 XE Falcon and Michael Rice in the #108 VT Commodore were also on the grid, those who followed the online timing would have believed that they did not qualify when they actually had done so, they had qualified 12th and 13th respectively.

Daniel Stubbs led the field to the green and was the class of the field, his best lap was almost a second faster than Jeff Stubbs in second.

Barry Kelleher was comfortable in third position, further down the road was Robert Marchese in the #84 Chevrolet Silverado and Mick Heppleston rounded out the Top 5.

Colin Matton had a spin that put him in the grass, but he got the #2 Holden Commodore going again and set off after the other SCA AUSCARs.

The three SCA AUSCARs all recorded their fastest lap on Lap 10 with Colin Matton recording the fastest lap with a time of 1:11.9950.

Brad Lighton finished in sixth, Jamey Hollier finished in seventh and Colin Matton finished in eighth.

Richard White was ninth in his #3 Chevrolet Lumina; the Lumina had not been raced in a year as the Monte Carlo does the bulk of RWR’s racing.

Tenth was Michael Rice in the #108 VT Commodore, eleventh was Dave Brien in the Torana and Laurence Mckinnon rounded out the field.

Race One Finishing Order

Daniel Stubbs
Jeff Stubbs
Barry Kelleher
Robert Marchese
Mick Heppleston
Brad Lighton
Jamey Hollier
Colin Matton
Richard White
Michael Rice
Dave Brien
Laurence Mckinnon

Race Two

Phil Muffet who had to sit out of Race 1 was able to start Race 2 and that gave us a full field for the race.

There was bad news for those who were watching on Blend Line TV, the stream ended at 4:30pm depriving viewers of a good race after it was originally on the schedule.

The race was also shortened to beat the 5pm curfew that is imposed on the circuit.

Daniel Stubbs led the field to the green and he got a good start; Jeff Stubbs settled into second while the big mover was Colin Matton who jumped from eighth to fifth position.

Michael Rice who is looking to add another championship to his collection moved up from tenth to eighth position.

Phil Muffet was another one who gained as he went from thirteenth to ninth.

Daniel Stubbs had a 3.88 second lead on Jeff Stubbs on the third lap of the race, the field mostly held their positions though Laurence Mckinnon gained a place by moving past Dave Brien for twelfth position.

Five seconds was the margin between 5th position (Colin Matton) and 9th position (Phil Muffet) as that bunch of vehicles were running close together with lap times.

Phil Muffet passed Michael Rice for eighth position and Laurence Mckinnon passed Jamey Hollier for eleventh position.

Lap 5 saw Mick Heppleston move up to sixth position and Phil Muffet to seventh as Brad Lighton dropped down to eighth position.

Meanwhile the gap between Daniel Stubbs and Jeff Stubbs was down to 1.21 seconds and Barry Kelleher had Robert Marchese less than a second behind him in the battle for third.

Jeff Stubbs continued to chase the #19 Chevrolet Monte Carlo and put in a lap of 1:03.4010 on the final lap to set up a thrilling finish.

Daniel Stubbs narrowly crossed the line first, but he was given a five second penalty for starting too early and as Jeff Stubbs finished right behind Daniel, victory was given to the #45.

The penalty was appealed and while it was successful, it was found that the #19 was out of formation and so Daniel was penalised for that.

Phil Muffet had a great last lap to first take sixth position and then he taken fifth position and Mick Heppleston moved up to sixth position.

Colin Matton finished in seventh position, Brad Lighton finished in eighth position, Michael Rice finished in ninth position and tenth was Richard White in the #3 Lumina.

Laurence Mckinnon finished in eleventh position, Jamey Hollier finished in twelfth and thirteenth was Dave Brien.

Race Two Finishing Order

Jeff Stubbs
Daniel Stubbs
Barry Kelleher
Robert Marchese
Phil Muffet
Mick Heppleston
Colin Matton
Brad Lighton
Michael Rice
Richard White
Laurence Mckinnon
Jamey Hollier
Dave Brien

Race Three

It was an early start for Stock Cars Australia, while they raced late on Saturday, they were early on Sunday.

Surprisingly the race was on Blend Line TV after originally not being listed on the schedule, warning was given that the schedule could change, and it sure did.

Barry Kelleher started the race in third but had a spin and was out of the race at the end of lap one.

The early big gainers of the first lap of the race were Richard White and Dave Brien who picked up three places apiece to sit seventh and tenth into the second lap.

Michael Rice also gained as he moved up to eighth position on the track.

We had a new leader on Lap 2 when Daniel Stubbs passed Jeff Stubbs.

Richard White moved up to sixth position after passing Colin Matton and Mick Heppleston moved up to fourth and Michael Rice moved up to seventh.

Michael Rice moved up to sixth after passing Phil Muffet, Michael then dropped two positions to fall down to eighth as Phil Muffet regained his spot and Colin Matton moved up to seventh.

Richard White moved up to fourth on Lap 6 after passing Mick Heppleston who soon as Phil Muffet close to his OzTruck.

There was little doubt that the Lumina was more comfortable on the track as its best lap of 1:07.3910 was good enough for the third fastest on the track.

Race Four

Barry Kelleher and Phil Muffet were out of action for this race reducing the field to eleven runners.

In Phil’s case, a snapped axle stopped his #41 Ford Thunderbird in its tracks.

The remaining field started the race and held their places in the early going until Richard White retired on Lap 4 whilst running fourth, the RHF tyre popped on the Lumina ending a weekend that had it all for the RWR team.

Colin Matton and Mick Heppleston went off the track at turn one as the #2 bumped into the #304 OzTruck, both vehicles managed to get back to the pits but were out of the race.

Just as the leaders were passing the damaged #2 Holden Commodore, Jeff Stubbs in the #45 was taking the lead of the race from the #19 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

While this was happening, Michael Rice was black flagged for his car being too loud, this penalty was costly as it cost him a potential fourth place finish.

Meanwhile Robert Marchese was sitting comfortably in third place with plenty of clear track ahead and behind him.

Dave Brien and Jamey Hollier were having a fantastic duel on track, the #63 Torana had the goods in parts of the track, and the #71 Ford Falcon had the goods in other parts.

Daniel Stubbs stuck close to the #45 Dodge of Jeff Stubbs throughout the remaining laps and coming into Slingshot was a chance to steal the win but Jeff in the #45 Dodge had just enough to hold on by .241 seconds

Robert Marchese finished in third spot and Brad Lighton taken home fourth position.

Dave Brien won the battle between himself and Jamey Hollier for fifth position and Laurence Mckinnon rounded out the field of finishers in seventh.

Race Four Finishing Order

Jeff Stubbs
Daniel Stubbs
Robert Marchese
Brad Lighton
Dave Brien
Jamey Hollier
Laurence Mckinnon
Michael Rice (DNF)
Colin Matton (DNF)
Mick Heppleston (DNF)
Richard White (DNF)

Wrap Up

It was a weekend that had it all, a small fire, noise issues, RWR needing to change cars, the threat of rain, close finishes, great battles, spins, mechanical failures and more.

Overall, it was two wins apiece for Daniel and Jeff Stubbs, to decide on an overall winner, it came down to which one qualified the highest and as Daniel won pole position, he was the round winner.

Coming up on November 7 to 9 (the 7th is practice day) is the Calder Classic, it is also the season finale, Calder Park is always a big drawcard, the possibility of lunchtime exhibitions on the Thunderdome never fails to get people interested.