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Qually:

The guys headed out for a reduced 10min qually. Michael Goode, Nigel Faull and Tim Hamilton was showing some good early pace posting the early lap times of 1:17:xx’s but it was the terrible trio taking out the top 3 positions posting a 1:15:462 for Iain Salteri,1:15:625 for Michael Palladino and David Lord with a 1:16:571.

Race #1: 15 Laps

Green flag drops and Darren Chisholm spins off the line while avoiding Rob Cooper who bogged down on the start. You could say that Rob had a “Webber moment”. Iain Salteri gets a clean start from pole and leads the field around the opening laps. Michael Goode and David Lord are glued together for a few laps. Lord sporting some panel damaged to the right rear. Running close to their qualify times Salteri and Palladino are stretching to an 8 second lead over the field after only 3 laps. Goode chasing Lord dives too deep on the outside and finds the grass fortunately not losing any positions or panels. This has now given Lord some breathing space. Tim Hamilton and Nigel Faull in P5 & 6 are battling it out. Lord is pitting on Lap 6 for tyres. Is this a strategic move?? Are the tyres falling off this quickly??

There is an early DNF for Jayme Hemi and Enda Murphy at the back of the pack. Tyre wear seems to be quite harsh here; maybe it’s the rough track surface of Winton. Salteri is in dire need of pitting as the tread is wearing paper thin. He pits on Lap8, will the others follow or do they have a cunning plan?? Palladino is one that is seeing if he can make the distance on one set of slicks. He only has 4 laps to go with a 13 second lead. Salteri is carving his way back through the field with his fresh set of Dunlops, currently in P5 will he have enough to make it back to the top? Goode and Faull are doing an excellent job rolling around on old tyres but Salteri has 4 laps to bridge the 4 sec gap. Its Palladino taking the honours with Salteri second with Goode and Hamilton in P3 & 4 respectfully.

Race #2: 20 Laps (Reverse Grid)

Winton always provides exciting racing for the spectators and the reverse grid was icing on the cake. After a quick restart most drivers got off well. Lord and Salteri found the grass but managed to re-join unscathed. When Salteri found the tarmac he also found a resilient Rob Cooper and spun on the high ripples. Salteri now has his heat seeker on the back of Goode’s V8 as he hunts P4. End of the opening laps and its Lord Leading Palladino and Hamilton in P3.

Lord pits on Lap 9 with most of the field pitting. Justin Wilson moves up into P3 as he stretches out the tyres for a couple of more laps. He is starting to feel the heat as the drivers with fresh rubber are hunting him down. Wilson decides to piton lap 12.

Six laps to go and its Lord, Palladino & Salteri as your top 3. Hamilton is reducing the deficit to Salteri but he may run out of laps. Cooper is holding out until sparks fly from his Front/Left tyres before he decides to pit with only 3 laps to go. Wilson takes back P6. Lord doing a great job holding off Palladino maintaining a .8 sec gap. With only 2 laps to go will Palladino go for it. He may have done but Lord brings home the bacon. Palladino 2^nd and Salteri 3^rd.

Race #3: 21 Laps

It’s another clean start but for Salteri it’s a super clean start as he rolls off the line a fraction before the green lights. The stewards removed the Drive thru penalty that was handed to him. Thankful for the initial let-off he streaks to a 2 second lead as his pit strategy is clear “Lets burn these Dunlops til they pop like a Pirelli and then pit”. Lord and Palladino not too far behind bringing along Wilson and Hamilton.

Lap 4 and Wilson runs wide and loses time on the grass and rejoins to battle it out with Cooper. Chisholm watching all this unfold through his windscreen. Wilson locks the brakes and over shoots the turn. Chisholm says “Thank you very much” and moves up into P7.

Salteri now has a 4 second lead over Palladino and Lord.goode holding steady in P4 with Hamilton a further 6 seconds back. As Salteri pits on Lap 9 Palladino pits right behind him. Salteri’s pit crew get him out in 12.6 seconds while Palladino’s crew only manages 14.6 seconds. I would hate to be in that Auto Artisian Motorsport tent after that effort.  Lord and Hamilton as a result move up into P1 & 2. After all the pit stops are made its Salteri back in the lead with an 8 second gap over Lord & Palladino a further 5 seconds back. The battle for P4 however is developing as Goode and Hamilton are finding each other on the track, this was until Hamilton spun on lap 20. He maintained his P5 and took that to the finish. Checkered is waived for Salteri in P1 then Lord then Palladino in P3.

After a review of the start of the race Salteri was served with a 30 second penalty as the decision to remove the drive through penalty was reversed. The race stewards apologise for any grievance cause as a result of the original decision. This Meant that Lord was the official winner with Palladino in 2^nd and Michael Goode in 3^rd.

 Results:

Drivers Table:

By Shane Gilfeather