Round 7Round 7October 28-29 |
| PREVIEW |
Round 7 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. Tickets are available by contacting the circuit, or at the gate. For further information on the circuit, click here or visit their website: Calder Park Find out how to get to Calder by clicking here. Type in Calder Park. Calder Park Raceway to be Invaded by AMRS this Weekend: The seventh and penultimate round of the Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS) travels to Melbourne’s Calder Park Raceway this weekend (October 28 – 29), to be headlined by the Australian Touring Car Challenge, who will fight out it for a special Peter Brock Memorial trophy. Arguably Australia’s most unique motorsport series the AMRS prides itself on a mixed bag of motorsport categories (aside from the Australian Touring Car Challenge), which include the Formula 4000, Production Touring Cars, Thunder Sports, and 3.3 Litre Holdens, who are to be joined by the newly formed Super TT category. Calder Park Raceway owner Bob Jane, has organised a tribute to motorsport legend Peter Brock, with the overall round winner of the Australian Touring Car Challenge to be awarded the trophy in his honour. In the Australian Touring Car Challenge, current series leader Terry Wyhoon (AU Falcon V8 Supercar) is looking to repeat his March performance at Calder Park, where he took out a win. However, VS Commodore V8 Supercar driver David Krause has challenged Wyhoon on a consistent basis so far this year and that is more than likely to continue. Other drivers amongst the field in the Australian Touring Car Challenge are Brad Lowe (EL Falcon V8 Supercar), Luke Searle (BMW 320i Super Tourer), Bryce Peter-Budge (Peugeot 406 Super Tourer), Andrew Gillespie (AU Falcon XR8 II Future Tourer) and Amin Chahda (BA GT Falcon Future Tourer). Ty Hanger and Derek Pingel are set to continue their tooth and nail battle at the front of the Yokohama Australian Formula 4000 drivers’ championship. As the championship draws to a close and a mere 19 points separate the pair, so there is sure to be plenty of fireworks. The likes of Sam Dale, Les Crampton and Italian Davide Amaduzzi are also set to upset the Hanger and Pingel show. Similar to the Formula 4000 category, the Production Touring Car Series has had two drivers consistently heading the front of the field. BMW 130 drivers Luke Searle and Peter Kelly have been riding in victory lane for the past six rounds. In the class B action, the championship battle is well and truly alive between Roland McIntosh (Peugeot), Natalie Willmington (Mitsubishi Magna) and George Miedecke (Hyundai Tiburon), whilst in class C Tony Saliba (Nissan Pulsar SSS) will be out to keep his rivals at bay and build on his class championship lead. In the Thunder Sports, Tom Drewer, Tim Hendy and Bob Townsend won’t have it all their own way, with a strong line up for the Future Racers that will include current championship leader Paul Quinn, along with Kieran Dal-Maso, Geoff Leeds, Chris Clearihan and Wayne Green. A large field of 3.3 Holdens will converge at Calder Park also, the category headed by Darren Formosa, Richard Huer, Pedro Marusic, and making a cameo appearance is HQ Holden racer Layton Crambrook. Interestingly, Calder Park was where Crambrook made his V8 Supercar debut in 1999 and became the youngest driver to do so, at the tender age of 17. Joining the 3.3 Holden field will also be a selection of cars from the Super TT category. Racing on Saturday and Sunday will commence at 9am. Entry for spectators over the weekend is completely free of charge. Parking (security parking also available at a small cost), grandstand and pit paddock entry is also at no cost. Calder Park Raceway is located on the Calder Highway, Keilor. For further AMRS information visit their official website: www.amrs.net.au or the official Calder Park Raceway website: www.Motorsport.com.au |
| TV SCHEDULE |
The TV coverage from this round is expected to air on SBS Speedweek 12 noon, 5 November.
| RESULTS |
Action Packed AMRS Weekend at Calder Park:
Unstable weather conditions made for action aplenty across the six categories competing at Calder Park Raceway last weekend (October 27 – 29) in the seventh and penultimate round of the 2006 Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS).
Running in conjunction with the seventh round of the AMRS was the perpetual Peter Brock memorial trophy which is awarded to the overall round winner of the Speed off the Streets @ Wakefield Park Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC). In a major upset, Future Tourer racer Phillip Groeneveld (VS Commodore) took out the round in style to become the first proud recipient of the Peter Brock memorial trophy.
With ATCC Championship front runners Terry Wyhoon (AU Falcon V8 Supercar) and David Krause (VS Commodore V8 Supercar) suffering at the hands of a tough weekend, Groeneveld was able to claim an easy victory ahead of Luke Searle (BMW 320i Super Tourer) and Brad Lowe (EL Falcon V8 Supercar). Krause dominated qualifying, while the three race wins were shared between Lowe, Groeneveld and Amin Chahda (GT BA Falcon Future Tourer). However, Wyhoon maintains a solid lead in the ATCC Championship point standings ahead of Krause 
and Searle who are currently placed second and third respectively.
In the Yokohama Australian Formula 4000 Drivers Championship the battle continued between Derek Pingel and Ty Hanger. Despite dominating qualifying and both races over the weekend, Pingel still trails Hanger by a single point. After failing to register a lap in qualifying due to suspension dramas, Hanger finished both races behind Pingel in second, whilst Sam Dale ran third during both races.
The sole OZ Boss entrant (running with the Formula 4000 category), Chris Farrell (racing his ex-Thierry Boutsen 1982 Spirit Honda Formula One car), was unable to compete after encountering suspension woes in Friday’s practice session. Despite valiant efforts on behalf of his team and various helpers from the AMRS, Farrell was unable to make it back out on the track for the remainder of the weekend.
Tom Drewer (West) proved too strong in the Thunder Sports event, taking out qualifying and all three races to claim a resounding overall round win ahead of Scott Lyddiard (Porsche 993) and Paul Quinn (Future Racer). Others drivers to enjoy healthy competitive weekends were Dennis Holland (Radical Prosport), Geoff Leeds (Future Racer), Chris Clearihan (Future Racer) and Kieran Dal-Maso (Future Racer). With many new cars set to hit Australian shores in the coming weeks, numbers in the Thunder Sports are expected to swell and the competition to heat up even more.
The Production Touring Cars category played host to the BMW 130 cars of Luke Searle and Peter Kelly, who both led the way in class A before being challenged by class B competitor George Miedecke (Hyundai Tiburon) over all the three races. Searle took out round honours with two from three race wins, whilst Kelly claimed the other win (Searle finishing second) after finishing second and third in the other races. Miedecke was far from disgraced by finishing with two thirds and a second.
With Searle having secured round honours for the Production Touring Cars, it was no surprise that he also laid claim to the class A round honours, alongside Miedecke (class B) and Hyundai Sonata driver Daniel Flanagan (class C), who both emerged winners of their respective classes.
Darren Formosa raced consistently over the three day event, finishing all four races with two wins and two seconds to win outright the 3.3 Litre Holdens category. Layton Crambrook, a former V8 Supercar racer, completed his AMRS debut by winning the final race of the weekend, to finish second overall behind Formosa, ahead of David Gardner who placed third (despite topping the time sheets in qualifying).
Frank Marchese, aboard his TE Ford Cortina, scored a clean sweep of the Super TT category by taking out qualifying and all three races. Despite their best efforts, Mark White (VH Commodore), Michael 
Ballantyne (VS Commodore) and Nathan Collins (Holden Commodore) had no answer to the dominating ways of Marchese.
The eighth and final round of the 2006 AMRS is to play out on the weekend of November 25 – 26 at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway (NSW), and will feature the action of all the regular AMRS categories as well as the AMRS 500 endurance race.
For further AMRS information visit their official website: www.amrs.net.au
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For information on other rounds of the Australian Motor Racing Series, please click below:
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AMRS 2005
