Round 3

Australian Motor Racing Series Flies into Winton Raceway:

Winton Raceway in Northern Victoria comes to life on May 6 – 7 for the third round of the Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS) and the cost effective form of Motorsport will see a wide range of categories that promise a weekend of excitement plus.

After two rounds of the new and improved AMRS, fields are consistently growing across all categories and the future is looking brighter with each round, with AMRS director Rod Dale commenting:

“The AMRS in 2006 has so far been very encouraging and our growing fields and interest clearly indicates this,” stated Dale.

“Everyone has been enjoying their racing in a relaxed atmosphere and with each round the enthusiasm is growing at a rapid rate.

“A number of drivers that haven’t raced for a number of years are now enticed back to the track to compete in this very cost effective and enjoyable form of Motor Racing.”

On the program at Winton are enthralling fields of the Citilink Construction Group Australian Touring Car Challenge, Yokohama Australian Formula 4000 Drivers Championship, Production Touring Cars, Thunder Sports and the Fantastic Furniture Kingswoods.

In the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) the battle between Championship front runners, Terry Wyhoon (AU Falcon V8 Supercar) and David Krause (VS Commodore V8 Supercar) is set to be a highlight for the category that brings former V8 Supercars, Super Tourers, Future Tourers and Group-A cars into one event.

Amongst other ATCC contenders at Winton are the Father and Son Future Tourer outfit of Ray and Shanan Sidebottom (both VX Commodores), along category rivals with Amin Chahda (GT BA Falcon) and Andrew Gillespie (AU II XR8 Falcon). In the Super Tourers Luke Searle (BMW 320i), Peter Kelly (BMW 320i) and Bryce Peter-Budge (Peugeot 406) are the ones to keep an eye on as they aim to challenge their V8 Supercar rivals.

Over the course of the weekend, the ATCC handicapping system for race two and three allows the Super Tourers and Future Tourers an opportunity to register race wins and maybe even an outright round victory, which has been achieved on numerous occasions in past years. So far this year after two rounds, V8 Supercar racers Wyhoon and Krause have recorded victories.

Queenslander Derek Pingel (Reynard 95D) holds a narrow lead in the Yokohama Australian Formula 4000 Drivers Championship, as the likes of Mark West (Reynard 97D) and Ty Hanger (Reynard 95D) have taken advantage of Pingel’s misfortune during the previous round at Wakefield Park Raceway a fortnight ago where he failed to finish the second race.

Pingel has in the two rounds so far this year scored three out of four race wins, with the other victory going to Ty Hanger. Heading into Winton, Pingel is the obvious favourite, but aside from Championship rivals West and Hanger, he’ll have Sam Dale (Reynard 94D) and Les Crampton (Reynard 97D) to contend with.

The Production Touring Cars, which allows drivers to use road registered cars with minor modifications, has been dominated by Class A competitor Luke Searle (2006 BMW 130) in the opening two rounds. Searle at the last round took out all three race wins and therefore the outright honours, while the pressure at Winton is to come from fellow Class A rivals Peter Kelly (2006 BMW 130) and David Capraro (Alfa 156 GTA).

In Class B Natalie Willmington (2002 Mitsubishi Magna) and Roland McIntosh (2005 Peugeot) are likely to continue their spirited battles, while Graham Roylett (2001 Proton Satria GTI) and Tony Saliba (2000 Nissan Pulsar S) are set to do likewise in Class C.

Fields in the Thunder Sports are ever-increasing with each round and Winton is set to be no different. The likes of Robert Townsend (Minetti ZZ1), Mark Williamson (Radical SR3 Tracksport) and last round victor Mike Reedy (Radical SR3 Supersports) are expected to be at the pointy end of the field, while others looking for strong outings will be Future Racer campaigners Paul Quinn and Kieran Dal-Maso.

Can anyone stop Richard Huer? Well, that is the question everyone is going to be asking in the Fantastic Furniture Kingswoods at Winton. So far in 2006, Huer has been the form driver and a healthy field of challengers that include Glenn Deering, Bob Hepburn, Simon Smith, Robert McGrath and co is looking to put Huer under pressure all weekend long in their chase for victory.

Racing on Saturday and Sunday will commence at 9am.

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. Entry to the pit and paddock area is no extra charge, and gives fans the chance to get up close to the race cars and drivers.

The official website for the AMRS can be viewed at: www.amrs.net.au

For further details please click here or contact the Winton Raceway office on 0357 664235 during business hours, or visit their official website: www.WintonRaceway.com.au

Winton Raceway is located on Fox Street, Winton – Victoria.

Tickets are available by contacting the circuit, or at the gate.

Click here for the Full Event Schedule. Competitors, visit http://forms.amrs.net.au to download the Further Rules for the meeting.

The TV coverage from this round is expected to air on SBS Speedweek 12 noon, 14 May.

A Wet Winton Weekend Causes Upsets AMRS Galore

The form guide was thrown out the window last weekend (May 6 – 7) at Winton Raceway during the third round of the Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS) when wet weather came into play and as a result produced a number of upset winners.

Ray Sidebottom (VX Commodore Future Tourer) made his first appearance in the Citilink Construction Group Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) for 2006 and left a lasting impression by taking out the round honours defeating of pre-round favourites Terry Wyhoon (AU Falcon V8 Supercar) and Luke Searle (BMW 320i Super Tourer).

This was only the second occasion that a Future Tourer driver has taken out a round in this category and the wet weather conditions certainly suited the Future Tourers and Super Tourers compared to their V8 Supercar opponents. One V8 Supercar driver that struggled in the wet was David Krause (VS Commodore) who earlier In the weekend had set record breaking lap times in practice and qualifying only to be left out of contention in the three races.

Another pleasing aspect from the weekend for the ATCC was that the three races were all one by different categories, with wins shared between Searle (Super Tourer), John Burke (V8 Supercar) and Ray Sidebottom (Future Tourer). The Top 3 overall saw all three categories have representatives in the form of Sidebottom, Wyhoon and Searle.

Wyhoon now holds down a comfortable lead in the ATCC Championship standings of 113 points over Krause (298) and Dean Neville (267).

So far in 2006 Ty Hanger has played second fiddle to Derek Pingel in the Yokohama Australian Formula 4000 Drivers Championship, but at Winton the tables turned with Hanger taking out both races in the wet and earlier in the weekend topping the time sheets in qualifying.

Pingel was second behind Hanger in qualifying and finished the opening race in fourth and then suffered a non-finish in the second race whilst placed in third. This has now thrown Pingel’s once handy lead over to Hanger.

Ben Crighton qualified in third and then backed up that speed with a second place in race one, but mechanical woes forced him out of the second race. Formula Ford racer Alan Price enjoyed a consistent weekend after finishing third and second respectively in both races.

The Production Touring Cars turned on the action over the course of the weekend at Winton and it was Peter Kelly (2006 BMW 130) who took the round honours ahead of arch-rival and team mate Luke Searle (2006 BMW 130) and son of a gun George Miedecke (2002 Hyundai Tiburon) in third.

Heading into the third round Searle had came out on top in the previous two rounds, but on this occasion Kelly beat his team mate. In qualifying it was Searle who headed the field in his Class A machine ahead of Kelly and Miedecke. However, the opening race saw Miedecke score victory ahead of Kelly and Searle. In race two and three Kelly and Searle scored wins with Miedecke placing third on both occasions behind Kelly and Searle in race two and Searle and Kelly in the third and final race.

Class wins were claimed by Kelly (Class A), Miedecke (Class B) and 2000 Nissan Pulsar S driver Tony Saliba (Class C). Searle maintains his outright lead in the Championship ahead of Kelly and Roland McIntosh (Class B – 2005 Peugeot).

Ex Speedway racer Wayne Green (Future Racer) scored an upset victory in the Thunder Sports class proving too slippery for his rivals after recording a third, second and a victory in the three races.

Luke Doidge (Dungy Lancia) was the dominant figure in race one defeating pole pitter Chris Clearihan (Future Racer) and Green, while in the second race the handicapping format saw Doidge finish sixth and it was Scott McArthur (Future Racer) who took the win ahead of Green and Keith Linnell (Future Racer). For the third and final race Green sealed his round success with a win defeating Clearihan and Doidge.

Green claimed the round honours ahead of Doidge and Clearihan.

Victorian Mario Gaffiero (1972 HQ Holden) scored a clean sweep of proceedings in the Fantastic Furniture Kingswoods by taking out qualifying and all four races. Championship leader Richard Huer failed to make an impression on Gaffiero and finished well down the order in the round standings overall in eighth.

Those that made appearances inside the Top 3 over the four races were Darren Formosa, David Astley and Simon Smith. Smith and Formosa finished second and third respectively in the round honours overall behind Gaffiero.

Round four of the AMRS will be staged at Queensland Raceway near Ipswich on the weekend of June 3 – 4 and is to feature the Australian Touring Car Challenge, Formula 4000, Production Touring Cars, Thunder Sports and Kingswoods.

To view session times and race results from the weekend, click here.

To view the category results for this round, please select a category:

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

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