Round 5Round 5July 8-9 |
| PREVIEW |
Adelaide International Raceway to Host Round Five of the 2006 AMRS
Adelaide International Raceway was opened in 1972. The circuit was fathered by Keith Williams, the man who built Hamilton Island, and it was planned to be one of a series of similar complexes in each Australian capital city - each featuring a road 
circuit, a banked oval and a drag strip.
In it's early days, the Adelaide International Raceway road circuit hosted some epic Motor Racing battles, and proved to be a challenging, technical and fast layout. To read about some of the Tasman Series races that took place at the circuit, click here and here.
Adelaide International played host to names like Bob Muir, Frank Matich, Kevin Bartlett, Graham McRae, Mike Hailwood and Garrie Cooper. The banked oval section of the road circuit proved very fast, and it resulted in very high entry speeds to the main, 1km long straight. Top speeds of over 170mph (280+km/h) were reported for some of the more powerful cars. The entry to the banked section also proved tricky, with an off-camber, cresting left hand turn bringing more than a couple of drivers undone.
In 1982, the circuit was acquired by Bob Jane, and some improvements to the facilities and grounds were completed. Work continued on the circuit, with many events held at the exciting layout. In recent years, the road circuit has laid relatively dormant - not hosting a national championship for a number of years. 2006 brings the Australian Motor Racing Series to Adelaide International Raceway for the first time. The 
technical layout, high speeds and challenging sections of the course are sure to yield the exciting racing the AMRS is known for. The Formula 4000 and Oz BOSS cars will bring the roar of big openwheelers back to the dome, and are sure to reach some amazing speeds on the 1km straight! Thunder Sports, on the back of their biggest ever field at Round Three, are sure to make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. The Citilink Construction Group Touring Car Challenge represents 20 years of Australian Touring Car history, and this theme fits in well with the heritage of AIR. Add to that the brand new category of Super TT, and the always-exciting 3.3litre Holdens (HQs and the like) and the Production Touring Cars straight from the showroom floor, and you've got an event not to be missed!
Round Five of the 2006 Australian Motor Racing Series will hit the track at Adelaide International Raceway for unofficial practice Friday 7 July. Official practice and qualifying will take place Saturday 8 July, and all the racing action will be on Sunday 9 July.
To find out more about the spectacular Adelaide International Raceway, click here, or visit their official website: www.adelaideraceway.net
For all the info on the Australian Motor Racing Series, check out the website: www.amrs.net.au
The circuit is just north of Adelaide, with a wide range of accommodation available nearby.
Tickets are available by contacting the circuit, or at the gate.
Click here to download the meeting schedule.
| TV SCHEDULE |
The TV coverage from this round is expected to air on SBS Speedweek 12 noon, 6 and 13 August. With the long break between this and the next round, the TV coverage should come as a welcome break during the off-period. Tune in 6 August to see the Citilink Construction Group Touring Car Challenge and Production Touring Car Championship, and watch the 13 August episode to catch all the Formula 4000, Thunder Sports and 3.3 Litre Holden action.
| RESULTS |
AMRS Injects Life into Adelaide International Raceway:
After not having staged competition racing in 18 years, Adelaide International Raceway last weekend (July 8 – 9) fired back into action with the running of the fifth round of the Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS) and everyone from the AMRS organisers, competitors and spectators were rapt to have racing return to the historical South Australian venue.
The Citilink Construction Group Australian Touring Car Challenge, along with the Yokohama Australia Formula 4000 Drivers’ Championship took top billing for the weekend, and they were supported by healthy fields of Production Touring Cars, Thunder Sports and 3.3 Litre Holden’s (HQ Holden’s).
In the Australian Touring Car Challenge it was current Championship leader Terry Wyhoon (AU Falcon V8 Supercar) who took out his third round victory of the year and in the process extended his lead overall in the Championship over archrival David Krause (VS Commodore V8 Supercar).
Wyhoon, who’s only experience around the Adelaide International Raceway was back when he used to use part of the track during his NASCAR days, qualified poorly in sixth, but bounced back to finish a strong second in the opening race and continued that good form to finish second and take a last corner victory in race two and three respectively, which gave him the round honours.
Misfortune hampered Krause’s Championship charge, when after qualifying second and winning the opening race, the Sydneysider finished a disappointing seventh in the second race, the first of two handicapped events, and failed to finish the third race of the weekend due to a wheel problem.
Finishing in second and third for the round were the Future Tourers’ of Andrew Gillespie (XR8 II AU Falcon) and newcomer Phillip Groeneveld (VS Commodore), who both drove well and used the two handicapped races to their advantage.
In the Yokohama Formula 4000 Drivers’ Championship Sam Dale scored his maiden round victory, and although he didn’t register a single win all weekend his consistency was enough to take out the round after finishing second in both races behind firstly Ty Hanger, and then Derek Pingel in race two.
Hanger and Pingel are locked in a tight battle for the Championship but suffered a bit of bad luck which saw Hanger spin on the opening lap of race two which brought out the safety car and although he was able to rejoin the race he was on the back foot from then onwards to finish fifth, whilst Pingel in the opening race was leading the pack only to be black flagged for excess smoke that was traced back to a gearbox problem.
Round victory for Dale has seen him remain third in the Championship standings but narrowed the gap to leader Hanger and second placed Pingel.
Current Production Touring Car Championship leader, Luke Searle (Class A – 2006 BMW 130), took a clean sweep of the round by qualifying on pole position and winning all three races in a fantastic display of driving.
The standout of the weekend was Class B runner Natalie Willmington (2002 Mitsubishi Magna) who ended the round with two second places and a third over the three races to end up the highest placed in Class B and second overall behind Searle. Fellow Class B racer George Miedecke (2002 Hyundai Tiburon) ended up third outright after some good dicing with Willmington. Class C honours were taken out by Tony Saliba in his 2000 Nissan Pulsar S.
Tom Drewer ( West WRC1000) emerged on top of the Thunder Sports category at the completion of the round ahead of Keith Wong (Porsche 911) and Future Racer competitor Chris Clearihan. Early in the weekend it was Scott Lyddiard (Porsche 933 Replica) who set the pace by coming out on top of both qualifying and race one, however a non finish in the second race spelled a premature end to his racing.
After a heavy crash into the tyre wall during practice, Keith Wong took out race two and three, while the consistency of Drewer, who finished second in all three races, gave him the round win overall.
In the 3.3 Litre Holden class (HQ Holden’s) Mike Wellington was the form driver after qualifying on pole position and winning race one and two. The winning run of Wellington ended in the third and final race when while leading spun off the track and finished well down the order in 15th, which handed victory to Gavin Porteous, who had finished second behind Wellington up until that point. Other strong performers were Matt Jones and Neil Corey.
AMRS director Garry Willmington summed up the weekend as simply sensational, expressing:
“The weekend was wonderful and it’s great that Motor Racing is back at Adelaide International Raceway as everyone had an absolute ball and loved the track,” he said.
“Everyone I spoke to after the round said that they would be more than happy to return next year.”
Winton Raceway – Victoria is the venue for round six of the AMRS to be held on August 26- 27.
The official AMRS website can be viewed at: www.amrs.net.au
For session times and results, please click here.
To view the results for this round, please select a category:
For information on other rounds of the Australian Motor Racing Series, please click below:
©
AMRS 2005
