Gary Young Raises The Stakes in Australian Performance Car Championship
Jun 11, 2007
Performance Car Racing
VICTORIAN Gary Young raised the stakes in the 2007 Donut King Australian Performance Car Championship after wrapping up round two at Eastern Creek International Raceway, Sydney, today.
Young finished the round with a win and two second-place finishes to move within just one point of series leader Mark King as the field of performance-production touring cars prepares to head to Darwin for round three in a fortnight.
The round saw three different winners in three races, King yesterday, Young in race two this morning – both driving Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 8 sedans – and Barrie Nesbitt in this afternoon’s 16-lap feature at the wheel of his Holden HSV GTS Coupe.
King, the 2000 and 2003 champion, and Young each have won a round and are looking forward to continuing their battle in Darwin, but they may have to share the running with a fast-improving Nesbitt, whose win was his first in four seasons in the championship.
Nesbitt ran with the leading pack from the start of race three, but overtook Young for the lead after his team performed a very fast turnaround at the compulsory pit stop.
Young pitted next lap and in contrast endured a slow stop when a wheel nut was cross-threaded. He rejoined the circuit right on Nesbitt’s bumper.
“I was mindful of finishing the weekend without damage before Darwin and knew I could still win the round without pushing to pass Barrie, ” Young said.
“But it was the best race I’ve had all year. I love the format of a pit stop for the last race. With Mark and I on a round win apiece and a couple of other drivers coming on strong, we have a real championship fight on our hands. ”
Nesbitt said: “My team did a fantastic pit stop, but from then on mine was a very wide car! The tyres were shot (he didn’t change them at the stop) and I just had to keep Gary behind me. ”
Beric Lynton in a BMW M3 coupe finished third in race three.
King started from the front row beside Young, but his Mitsubishi broke a rear driveline part off the line and he battled bad handling throughout the race.
The nimble 1.8 litre Lotus Exige coupes of Tim Poulton and Mark O’Connor put on giant-killing performances, finishing sixth and seventh and ahead of the 5.7 litre HSV of Tony Alford and Graham Alexander’s Lancer Evo.
Tony Loscialpo won the Privateers Cup race literally on the line, pulling his HSV out to pass the Nissan of Peter Leenmhuis with metres to go.
It was Loscialpo’s teammate Jim Pollicina, in an identical car, who wrapped up the Privateer points for the weekend and retained his lead in the series.
Earlier, Young and King battled for the lead throughout race two. Lynton would have been in it too, but spent most of his race defending his position from Nesbitt.
Peter Floyd brought his HSV home fifth after a difficult race. A broken rear shock absorber caused traction problems, even allowing Poulton to put the Lotus ahead for part of the first lap.
Bob Pearson failed to finish both of today’s races in his Mitsubishi Lancer. He suffered a broken wheel in the morning heat and this afternoon retired after a first-lap collision with the BMW 130i of Luke Searle, who also finished in the pits.
After his first weekend in the Donut King championship, former speedway driver Bob Brewer came equal third with Peter Leemhuis in the Privateers pointscore.
