OZ BOSS Round 3 Results

Hanger Triumphs in Wild Weather at Winton

New South Welshman, Ty Hanger braved the elements at Winton Raceway to take a clean sweep in the POWRgard Mouthguards Round Three of the 2007 Oz BOSS Championship. A diverse and quality field challenged for the victory, but it was Hanger who prevailed when it counted.

For the qualifying session held on Saturday afternoon, Ty Hanger almost didn't make it onto the circuit. He had set the pace during Friday practice, but a family issue saw him fly to Sydney on Friday evening. Ty made it back to country Victoria in time to strap into his Reynard 95D for qualifying though, and using his new Dunlop control tyres to full effect, he grabbed pole position. Taking the challenge up to Hanger though was experienced racer Bob Muir, in his Lexus V8-powered Reynard 94D. Muir using the power of the 4-litre V8 to set a competitive time. Next up was Chris Farrell in his maiden outing in his new acquisition - a 2001 Swift Formula Atlantic. The ground-effect car, featuring enormous tunnels, didn't take Farrell long to acclimatise to, and he was pleased with setting a competitive time. Fourth on the grid was newcomer to the category Chris Shearer, in a Dallara F396 Formula 3 car. On the next row of the grid was Les Crampton, driving his Reynard 97D with a newly installed multi throttle-body and camshaft package, providing more power from the Holden Alloytech powerplant. Next to Crampton was another newcomer, Andrew McCarthy in a RALT RT4 Formula Atlantic. Matthew Fox and Bob Rieschl shared the fourth row of the grid in their FUEL2RACE Fox Motorsport team cars. Sam Dale missed qualifying, with a minor engine malady, but his team was confident of joining the field at the rear of the grid.

Sunday morning saw most teams with their eyes on the sky. Heavy rain had hit the circuit overnight, and while it had abated as everyone arrived at the track, the skies looked threatening. The forecast predicted rain throughout the day, with possible thunderstorms in the afternoon.

For the first race, the forecast proved correct, with heavy rain falling before the race began, making the use of wet tyres a foregone conclusion. As the cars moved out for the warmup laps, the rain increased, and the circuit was saturated. The rolling start set a few hearts racing, with the massive wall of spray reducing visibility for the second half of the field to virtually zero. (Click here to view the onboard video from Sam Dale's car for a graphic demonstration.) Pole-sitter Hanger, with a clear track ahead, and a clear view of the 'wetter' patches, was able to establish a good lead, and hold it. Behind Hanger, Chris Shearer moved his F3 Dallara up into an outstanding 2nd place, Bob Muir was 3rd and Chris Farrell 4th. Debutante Bob Reischl started out well - his first race in a F3000V6 car, and it was in the pouring rain! Behind Reischl was Sam Dale, who had moved up from the rear of the field, to cross the line in 6th at the end of the first lap. Next up was Andrew McCarthy in the RALT RT4, and behind him was a cautious Matthew Fox in his Reynard 92D. Les Crampton had a first lap spin, and was at the rear of the field after the first lap.

Shearer's excellent performance was short lived though, he was out of the race on lap two, meanwhile Bob Reischl suffered two off-track excursions, the second putting him out of the race after he hit the turn 10 barriers and damaged two wheels. The safety car was deployed to allow the marshalls to clear Reischl's RALT, and Hanger's lead was negated. At the restart, most of the field elected to tip-toe through the first corner, that is except Les Crampton, who saw his chance and made a run around the outside of Dale and Farrell to move into third place. By the end of the lap, Dale had passed Farrell, and the order was: Hanger, Muir, Crampton, Dale, Farrell, McCarthy and Fox. The following lap, Muir suffered a spin, and dropped to 6th place. Farrell also lost a spot to the older Formula Atlantic of Andrew McCarthy. As the race neared completion, the order remained static, with Sam Dale closely following Les Crampton, and attempting a number of challenges for second, but with reduced visibility was forced to settle for third.

The rain passed after the first race, and slowly but surely a dry line appeared. The teams were again looking skyward. The radar picture indicated another band of rain was on its way, but it wasn't clear if it would arrive in time to affect the second race. In the end all cars appeared with slick tyres fitted, and the track remained dry throughout the race.

Ty Hanger led the field away from pole position, with Crampton alongside. Despite his power advantage, Crampton was unable to better Hanger, and slotted into 2nd, with Sam Dale close behind in 3rd. The real winner from the start was Bob Muir, using all the power of his Lexus V8 to move up to 4th at the end of the first lap. Behind Muir it was Farrell, Shearer, McCarthy and Reischl. Matthew Fox joined the field on the warmup laps, but suffered a diffuser problem, and was forced to retire.

In the early laps, Hanger assumed a comfortable lead, but all the action was behind him, with Crampton, Dale, Muir and Farrell in a ding-dong, four car battle. Dale was down on power from the same engine problem that had kept him out of qualifying, meanwhile Muir suffered no such problems, passing Dale at the end of the main straight on lap two. Farrell also moved past Dale at the end of the back straight on the following lap. The group continued to circulate in close company until Dale retired on lap 5 with a broken throttle cable. Muir passed Crampton the following lap, and despite very close racing for the remainder of the race, the order remained unchanged until the chequered flag. The final order: Hanger, Muir, Crampton, Farrell, Shearer and McCarthy, with Bob Reischl retiring late in the race.

The final result saw Ty Hanger triumphant, with Les Crampton taking second spot on the podium, and Bob Muir third. Hanger took out the F3000V6 class honours, Farrell Formula Atlantic, Crampton Oz BOSS and Shearer Formula 3.

The next round of the 2007 Oz BOSS Championship will be held at Queensland Raceway, 16-17 June.

All the action from this round will screen on SBS Speedweek Sunday May 27, at 12 noon. As always, check your local TV guide for details.

Outright Round Results				Class Round Results
1st:	Ty Hanger			1st Formula Atlantic:	Chris Farrell
2nd:	Les Crampton			1st F3000V6:	Ty Hanger
3rd:	Bob Muir			1st Oz BOSS:	Les Crampton
				1st Formula 3:	Chris Shearer

© AMRS 2005