Australian Motor Racing Series Calendar

Round 1 of the 2006 Australian Motor Racing series will be held at the Calder Park circuit in Victoria.

The circuit is close to Melbourne, with a diverse range of accommodation available nearby. Click here for more information.

Tickets are available by contacting the circuit, or at the gate. Admission is $10 for Saturday and $20 for Sunday. Children under 13 are free of charge. Entry to the grandstand, pit and paddock is open to

all spectators at no extra cost.

For further information on the circuit, click here or visit their website: Calder Park

Melbourne’s Calder Park Raceway will this weekend (March 18 & 19) host the opening round of the exciting new Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS) that will feature the Australian Touring Car Challenge, Formula 4000, Production Touring Cars, Thunder Sports and Kingswoods.

AMRS co-director Rod Dale is looking forward to a successful year ahead and hopes that the opening round at Calder Park will buoy well for the remainder of the year.

“We are all excited about the opening round and hope that it’s a very successful start to the year,” declared Dale.

“The AMRS has been formulated with its competitors in mind and to give them more bang for their buck. So far the response we have got from our competitors has been wonderful and things can only get better from here on in.”

Headlining the opening round of the AMRS will be the Citilink Construction Group Australian Touring Car Challenge and a field of over 20 cars is primed for battle.

Defending champion Garry Willmington (EL Falcon V8 Supercar) is looking to kick his campaign off in winning fashion, but he’ll have the likes of Terry Wyhoon (AU Falcon V8 Supercar), Luke Searle (BMW 318i Super Tourer), Matthew Hunt (VS Commodore V8 Supercar), Peter Kelly (BMW 320i Super Tourer), Peter Vicary (AU Falcon V8 Supercar), Andrew Gillespie (AU Falcon II XR8 Future Tourer), Amin Chahda (GT BA Falcon Future Tourer) and co keen to stamp their authority from the onset.

If last year’s Australian Touring Car Challenge is anything to go by expect to see plenty of fire works out on the track as they battle through three intense races that includes a unique handicapping system for race two and three.

For this years Australian Formula 4000 Championship there is not only the thrill of winning on offer out on the track, but a chance to win a V8 Supercar test day with Tasman Motorsport. This V8 Supercar test day will go to the winner of the overall Championship and with this carrot dangling it is sure to see the Championship go right down to the wire.

Arguably the fastest category in Australian Motorsport, Formula 4000 in 2006 shapes to be very strong with the likes of Ty Hanger, Sam Dale, Mark West, Les Crampton and Matthew Fox expected to be amongst the heavy hitters.

In past years a selection of Australian Motorsports finest have driven in Formula 4000 with success, including Formula One hero Mark Webber and V8 Supercar icons Mark Skaife, Greg Murphy, Craig Lowndes and Rick Kelly.

The Production Touring Cars are set to make their maiden appearance and this interesting concept that formulates latest model road cars into race cars. All cars must be current road registered vehicles and just add rollover protection bars, a race seat and belts along with a fire extinguisher, and you are racing.

Amongst the nominations for the opening round are the SAE Racing BMW 130s driven by Luke Searle and Peter Kelly, the AMRS’ only female competitor Natalie Willmington in her V6 Mitsubishi Magna and Roland McIntosh aboard a Peugeot 206 GTI.

Another to join the Production Touring Car fray is the son of former Touring Car front runner of the 1980s and 90s Andrew Miedecke, George who is ready to race his Hyundai Tiburon. 20-year-old Miedecke is making his circuit racing debut after a Go Karting background.

Completing the AMRS categories on show this weekend include respectable fields of Thunder Sports and Kingswoods. The Thunder Sports are to be joined by a selection of Future Racers, while the Kingswoods, which are as Australian as meat pies and kangaroos have a field of close to 20 cars ready for action.

Entry for Sunday is $ 20 and children aged 13 and under are completely free of charge. Saturday entry will be $ 10 for adults and children 13 and under free.

Parking, grandstand and pit paddock entry is free of charge throughout the weekend.

The TV coverage from this round is expected to air on SBS Speedweek 12 noon, Sunday 2 April and Sunday 9 April.

The 2 April program will feature the Yokohama Australian Formula 4000 Drivers Championship, and the Citilink Construction Group Touring Car Challenge. This program will also be shown on FoxSports InsideSpeed, Thursday 6 April.

The 9 April program will feature the Production Touring Car Championship, the Thunder Sports and the Fantastic Furniture Kingswoods. The coverage will also be shown on FoxSports InsideSpeed, Thursday 13 April.

AMRS Round 1 Brings Exciting, Affordable, Accessible Racing to Calder Park

The 2006 Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS) fired into action last weekend (March 18 & 19) at Melbourne’s Calder Park Raceway and the five exciting categories on show put on some fast and furious racing.

Terry Wyhoon (AU Falcon V8 Supercar) dominated the Citilink Construction Group Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) in impressive fashion after winning two out of three races to take the round victory ahead of fellow V8 Supercar rivals John Vergotis (AU Falcon) and David Krause (VS Commodore).

In ATCC qualifying Matthew Hunt (VS Commodore V8 Supercar) topped the time sheets ahead of Wyhoon and Vergotis. The opening race saw Wyhoon collect the win followed by Hunt and Vergotis. Race two and three, under the handicap format, were won by Wyhoon and Krause respectively.

At the completion of the weekend category winners overall were Wyhoon (V8 Supercars), Bryce Peter-Budge (Super Tourers) and Shanan Sidebottom (Future Tourers).

Derek Pingel scored a clean sweep of both Yokohama Australian Formula 4000 Drivers Championship races by leading both 15 and 17 lap events completely after pre-round favourite Ty Hanger encountered dramas.

Qualifying saw Hanger excluded for accidentally using a non-approved tyre in the session, Pingel and Sam Dale would fill the front row. The qualifying pace of Hanger wasn’t good enough to match Pingel in the opening race that saw him defeat Hanger and Mark West.

In the second race Pingel proved that his race one victory was no fluke and held out West and Dale over the 17-lap distance, while Hanger retired from second place after only two laps. Overall for the round Pingel was the winner with West and Dale completing the podium.

The first appearance of the Australian Production Touring Cars was claimed by Luke Searle (BMW 130 – Class A) who claimed the overall round victory with teammate Peter Kelly (BMW 130 – Class A) and Roland McIntosh (Peugeot – Class B) filling second and third outright. Searle took out qualifying and race one and two, and finished second behind Kelly in the third and final race.

Searle (Class A), McIntosh (Class B) and Lauren Gray (Class C) were winners of their classes overall. Impressive debuts were made by Class B entrants Natalie Willmington (Mitsubishi Magna) and George Miedecke (Hyundai Tiburon).

In Thunder Sports action, joined by a selection of Future Racers, Robert Townsend (Minetti ZZI) claimed race one and three along with qualifying, but his fifth place in race two saw him finish second overall for the round behind the ever consistent Matt Kingsley (Future Racer) who took out race two along with a pair of seconds in race one and three. Third overall for the round was Geoff Leeds (Future Racer).

Defending Fantastic Furniture Kingswood Champion Richard Huer finished the weekend with three wins from four events after a slow start to the weekend. Darren Foromosa came out on top in qualifying, while race one was won by Pedro Marusic ahead of Foromosa and Mark Vailent. In race two, three and four Huer scored wins whilst Bob Hepburn, Formosa and Marusic filled the top 3 at various stages in those races.

All in all, Round One of the 2006 Australian Motor Racing Series was a solid foundation to build on for Round Two of the series. The cars will take to the track again in four weeks at Goulburn's Wakefield Park, April 22-23, where some drivers will be looking to maintain their lead, and some will be doing their best to make amends. Rest assured, the racing will continue to be the most exciting, affordable and accessible Australian Motor Racing.

For information on other rounds of the Australian Motor Racing Series, please click below:

ROUND 2	ROUND 3	ROUND 4	ROUND 5	ROUND 6	ROUND 7	ROUND 8