The Shannons National Motor Racing Championships

Hyundai makes, Osborne drives and Castle really...
3/12/2008 at 10:40:35 PM:

At the final round of the Australian Manufacturers Championship, held at Sandown on November 29-30, Hyundai became the makers’ champion, Colin Osborne beat George Miedecke for the drivers’ title and Lee Castle picked up the John Bowe Drivers Award, regarded by many as the ‘real’ prize from the teams’ perspective.

There was controversy at the end of race one with Osborne (Toyota Celica) losing out to Miedecke (Hyundai Tiburon) on the last lap in a move gauged by Osborne to be team tactics – only two nominated vehicles from each make can claim points towards the championship. The Class E Hyundai Sonata of Jamie Augustine obscured his bid to hold off the attacking Miedecke. The alleged tactics were refuted by the Hyundai drivers. “He was much slower on that last lap and it seemed odd that he should be where he was with us in the situation we were in,” Osborne said before triumphing in race two.

In the first of two points scoring races, father and son Des and David Walls put on a dominate show in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9. Starting in the last group (Class A) David Wall climbed through the field to lead before handing off to Des and the mandatory two wheel change stop. In a repeat effort, the latter forged through to again put the Lancer in front and have a 21 second advantage by the finish.

For Andrew Miedecke and English visitor Charlie Hollings it was a disappointingly brief affair, their similar Evo 9 breaking its drivetrain at the start. Second ultimately went to the Mazda 3 MPS of Jake Camilleri who also took out Class C while Castle steered his Subaru Impreza WRX STi to third after an early tyre drama upset the Wilson Brothers Racing’s plans. The latter two were the main contenders in the John Bowe Drivers Award and Camilleri edged him closer to Castle.

Fourth and first in Class B was the Chris Delfsma Ford Falcon GT which started with John Bowe behind the wheel. It had a second stop when Bowe was penalised for kerb jumping and was further delayed late in the race when Delfsma had a fairly large moment at Dandenong Road corner. Lauren Gray (Toyota Echo) consolidated the Class E title for the year as she cleared away from a brake-troubled Augustine.

Bob Brewer singlehanded drove his Holden VZ Clubsport to fifth while Gerard Keogh finished his first national series eighth in his Holden VE Clubsport, just ahead of the similar Commodore of Steve Briffa which limped home with a fried differential. Then followed Bruce Tomlinson and Richard Buttrose sharing a BMW 130i, but the sister car of Alan Shephard retired almost in sight of the finish with a rear suspension failure. The second of the Keogh Commodores driven by son Shawn went out earlier with an electrical/fuel engine trauma.

While much of the focus was on the Miedecke/Osborne duel, Trevor Keene collected third in Class D (11th outright), beating the second of the Osborne driven by Stuart Jones and the troubled Ford Falcon FG XR6 Turbo driven by Jeremy Gray and Darren Gillis. Daughter and father Lauren and Michael Gray finished 13th and 14th with the latter debuting the team’s new Toyota Corolla. Peter O’Donnell drove the third of the Shephard cars, the Toyota Celica to 16th and Augustine struggle throughout, his brakes giving out as early as lap six. Amber Anderson ensued in the Holden Vectra she would hand over to Josh Hunt for race two.

Problems for both the Wall and Miedecke/Hollings Lancers (engine and brakes respectively) put them out of the second enduro. There was also some controversy between Wall, Castle and racing room between the pair which was later found to be unsubstantiated. While the Evos had their mechanical issues, Castle motored on to grasp the lead before he too had issues in the closing laps - but he held enough of a lead to take the win.

Bowe and Delfsma brought their Falcon GT home second, again winning Class B, and ahead of Gray and Gillis who took out Class C in a fine comeback from the troubles of the previous day. In fourth was Thomlinson and Buttrose while there was another intense scrap in Class D between Osborne and George Miedecke until the latter succumbed to a corroded battery mount that caused a water pipe to leak, necessitating a stop to repair and pushing him down to eventually finish 12th.

Fifth placed Osborne was first in Class D, some 16 seconds up the road from Keene with Jones next. A lap down was Augustine who won Class E after Lauren Gray was excluded on a gearbox technicality. The Camilleri Mazda was another casualty, depriving its driver of any chance in the John Bowe Drivers Award and so too Shawn Keogh but this time the youngster finished second best after a clash with his father – that incident requiring a safety car.

AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND FOUR RESULTS
Race One (40 laps) One Hour Endurance
1 Des Wall/David Wall (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) Class A 1:01:22.0619
2 Jake Camilleri (Mazda 3 MPS) Class C 1:01:43.5024
3 Lee Castle (Subaru Impreza WRX STi) Class A 1:02:22.1330
4 Chris Delfsma/John Bowe (Ford Falcon BF GT) Class B 39 laps
5 Bob Brewer (Holden Commodore VZ Clubsport R8) Class C 39 laps
6 George Miedecke (Hyundai Tiburon) Class D 39 laps
7 Colin Osborne (Toyota Celica) Class D 39 laps
8 Gerard Keogh (Holden Commodore VE Clubsport R8) Class B 38 laps
9 Steve Briffa (Holden Commodore VE Clubsport R8) Class B 38 laps
10 Bruce Tomlinson/Richard Buttrose (BMW 130i) Class C 38 laps
11 Trevor Keene (Mini Cooper S) Class D 38 laps
12 Stuart Jones (Toyota Celica) Class D 38 laps
13 Jeremy Gray/Darren Gillis (Ford Falcon FG XR6 Turbo) Class C 37 laps
14 Lauren Gray (Toyota Echo) Class E 37 laps
15 Michael Gray (Toyota Corolla) Class D 37 laps
16 Peter O'Donnell (Toyota Celica) Class D 37 laps
17 Jamie Augustine (Hyundai Sonata) Class E 37 laps
18 Amber Anderson (Holden Vectra) Class E 36 laps
DNF Alan Shephard (NSW) BMW 130i) Class C 27 laps
DNF Shaun Keogh (Holden Commodore VE Clubsport R8) Class B 20 laps
DNF Andrew Miedecke (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) Class A 0 laps
Fastest lap: Des Wall/David Wall 1:23.6097

Race Two (36 laps) One Hour Endurance
1 Castle 1:00:53.1563, 2 Delfsma/Bowe 1:00:58.3094, 3 Gray/Gillis 1:01:27.5580, 4 Tomlinson/Buttrose 1:01:42.3948, 5 Osborne 1:01:53.7565, 6 Keene 1:02:10.7090, 7 Jones 1:02:22.9413, 8 Augustine 35 laps, 9 G Keogh 35 laps, 10 M Gray 35 laps, 11 Shephard 35 laps, 12 G Miedecke 35 laps, 13 O'Donnell 34 laps, DNF Josh Hunt 30 laps, DNF Camilleri 26 laps, DNF Hollings/A Miedecke 20 laps, DNF Briffa 20 laps, DNF D.Wall/D.Wall 12 laps, DNF Brewer 9 laps, DNF S Keogh 6 laps, EXC L Gray. Fastest lap: Hollings/A Miedecke 1:23.1679.

AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIP DRIVERS ROUND FOUR POINTS
Osborne 55, G Miedecke 48, Keene 47, Jones 42, Bowe 40, Delfsma 40, M Gray 38, J Gray 37, Gillis 37, Augustine 34, Castle 34, B Tomlinson 36, R Buttrose 36, O'Donnell 32, Gerard Keogh 28, Camilleri 25, Anderson 24, Brewer 20, L Gray 20, Wall 20, Briffa 10, A Miedecke 0, Shephard 0.

AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIP DRIVERS FINAL POINTS
Colin Osborne (Class D) 225, George Miedecke (Class D) 213, Lee Castle (Class A) 175, Jake Camilleri (Class C) 165, Trevor Keene (Class D) 152, Lauren Gray (Class E) 150, Chris Delfsma (Class B) 144, Stuart Jones (Class D) 126, Jamie Augustine (Class E) 122, Des Wall (Class A) 102, Garry Holt (Class B) 88, Craig Hendrick (Class D) 72, Steve Briffa (Class B) 70, Barry Morcom (Class B) 68, Andrew Miedecke (Class A) 65, John Bowe (Class B) 64, Brett Youlden (Class E) 54, Trevor Symonds (Class A) 52, Allan Shephard (Class C) 48, Steve Briffa (Class C) 42, Michael Gray (Class D) 38, Jeremy Gray (Class C) 37, Bob Pearson (Class A) 37, Darren Gillis (Class C) 37, Richard Buttrose (Class C) 36, Bruce Tomlinson (Class C) 36, Peter O'Donnell (Class D) 32, Gerard Keogh (Class B) 28, Amber Anderson (Class E) 24, Bob Brewer (Class C) 20, Brian Smallwood (Class A) 10.

AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL POINTS
Hyundai 389, Toyota 351.

Midway through the season the Production Car Association of Australia introduced a supplementary points system as a tribute for the contribution of one of Australia’s leading motorsport personalities to the encouragement and promotion of driving talent in Australia. John Bowe has been a long term participant in, and continues to enjoy, production car racing. The John Bowe Drivers Award is presented to the driver with the best outright performance in the Australian Manufacturers Championship. This award is determined via a straightforward point score allocated on the outright finishing position of the driver in all races across the AMC series.

THE JOHN BOWE DRIVERS AWARD ROUND FOUR POINTS
Castle 52, Bowe 45, Delfsma 45, Osborne 32, D Wall 30, Des Wall 30, Buttrose 28, Tomlinson 28, Camilleri 25, Gillis 26, J Gray 26, Keene 22, G Keogh 22, G Miedecke 20, Brewer 18, Jones 18, Augustine 12, Briffa 10, M Gray 8, Shephard 6, O’Donnell 2, L Gray 1.

THE JOHN BOWE DRIVERS AWARD FINAL POINTS
Lee Castle 215, Jake Camilleri 180, Colin Osborne 158, George Miedecke 156, Des Wall 155, Chris Delfsma 120, Trevor Keene 88, Garry Holt 79, Barry Morcom 74, John Bowe 71, Andrew Miedecke 70, Stuart Jones 70, Trevor Symonds 60, Lauren Gray 49, Jamie Augustine 47, Bob Pearson 46, Jeremy Gray 42, Craig Hendrick 41, Brett Youlden 34, Steve Briffa 32, Bruce Tomlinson 28, Richard Buttrose 28, Allan Shephard 26, Darren Gillis 26, Gerard Keogh 22, Bob Brewer 18, Steve Briffa 16, Michael Gray 8, Peter O'Donnell 2, Brian Smallwood 1.

For all the latest news, information and contacts regarding the 2008 APCC and Production Car racing visit the www.pcaa.com.au website.