The March round of the WA Sporting Car Club championship was also the first Night Masters of the year with HQs, Sports Cars, Sports Sedans, Saloons and the grass roots sprint category all turning the headlights on for their races around Wanneroo Raceway.
In the Formula Ford field, only three cars took to the track after a no-show by Fastlane Racing entries. This gave valuable points to David Jackson who was left as the only runner in the Formula Ford category after his fellow competitors David Richards and Allan Jones both suffered from mechanical gremlins.
In the Formula Racing section, Simon Alderson took a clean sweep in RF88 FF2000 while second place getter Martin Bullock in his Chevron B20 held off Andrew Nielson in third who swapped positions with Harvey Leys in fourth in the final race to put a small blemish on his third place.
The other open cockpit category on track during the afternoon sessions was the Formula Vee’s with the 1200 and 1600 classes. In the 1600s David Caisley took a fairly comfortable win for the round, with Rod Lisson 8 points behind. It could have been anyone’s spot for third with Danny Cerro two points ahead of both Jeffrey Cadman and Jason Fowler.
Formula Vee’s 1200 field saw one less driver with April Welsh competing in the nationals this round and father Bruce and brother Connor flew the Welsh flag with the younger finishing ahead of father Welsh after Bruce failed to get any points in the first race.
At the pointy end of the Formula Vee 1200s it was Brett Scarey, Mackenzie Matthews and Shannon McGuckin taking 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Two of the categories opted for two fifteen lap races for the night racing, one of those being the “Big banger” category of Sports Cars and Sports Sedans. This is where the big money comes out to play with Lamborghinis, Ferraris, former Supercars and more on display.
Ryan Humfrey, Garry Hills and Glen Brocklehurst took out first to third and in a hold your breath, clench your seat with your butt moment, Grant Hill went sliding across Turn 7 into the sand trap narrowly missing the rear end of Arthur Abrahams Huracan Super Trofeo.
In the Sports Cars section, after escaping narrowly from the hit in the 2nd race, Abrahams took out the top step again, with the other two competitors Richard Bloomfield and John Zelesco making up the following podium steps.
After the sun went down, former V8 Super Ute and Super Car driver Adam Marjoram was spotted in the pit area interviewing some of the drivers and chatting with many more. A familiar face for some as he still keeps his hands in the motorsport arena supplying parts to drivers from his Auto One Morley store.
Marjoram took in a couple of races in between media duties and was stoked to see the level of racing happening at a local club level.
The Saloon Car Racing WA series was another category that opted for the 15 lap format with both divisions Pro and Pro Am putting on a night of close racing, although not as close as it was in the wet during November’s Night Masters.
In the Pro Series, Grant Johnson continued his dominance of the category with Brock Boley nipping at his heels. Robert Marcon came in third with a solid showing in both races.
Chase Hoy driving in the Pro class of the Saloon Car series speaking with Adam Marjoram after the race said the racing reminded him of karting, things seem to happen a lot quicker and he needs to think ahead more than during a day race.
Back to the Pro-Am series and it was a mixed affair across the entire field with drivers mixing up the results to keep the crowd thrilled. Brock Ralph took out the round win with Mark Jones and Daniel Lineham following behind.
If 26 Saloon Cars out on track at once wasn’t enough, the Excel Cup series went one better with 27 taking to Wanneroo Raceway and showing that they might be tiny in engine, but are mighty in racing.
The second race the elbows got wide and the concentration less with an incident in Turn 7 sending young Jack Clohessy, who had one the first race, on a wild ride whilst Rob Landsmeer charged through. Landsmeer pulled off some daring moves in the third race of the night, however would come unstuck eventually and slide sideways into the Turn 1 sand trap.
Meanwhile back at the front Tayla Dicker continued to show her skill keeping the rest of the field at bay for the final two races to take the round win with a 2nd place and two 1sts. Brett Sherriff and Carlos Ambrosio made up the other two podium places.
Michael Howlett and Michael Woodbridge continued their tit for tat winnings in the HQ Racing series with Howlett coming out on top by 3 points over 3 races. Brian Pengler came in 3rd 12 points behind Woodbridge.
In the Tarmac Sportz Series, the objective was basically to beat yourself with no racing permitted in this category. Brent Peters in his Nissan R32 would put in the fastst time of the day in the category with a 61.5299.
The next round of circuit racing at Wanneroo Raceway is on the 24th April 2021.
