Many thanks to Richard Miller for providing this great wrapup of the 2010 season.
The 2010 LF Performance Speed Event Series in review.
2010 has been another solid year for the LF Performance Speed Event Series. Despite the Global Financial Crisis casting a pall over many motorsport events the series maintained strong entry lists and showcased much of what makes motorsport in WA so enjoyable.
Pleasingly the standard of entrants continues to improve and the times do likewise. More than a few competitors have looked wistfully at the times from years past and thought where their current, mid field PB would once have put them. A striking example of this was the second of the Collie Sprints. Not long ago a sub fifty second lap time would have gained you an outright trophy. This year it was only enough to garner a top ten finish. Similarly mid 54’s & mid 64’s are now necessary to earn a top ten result at Barbagallo.
Once more we must thank our generous sponsors, host car clubs, organising committee, scrutineers, clerks of course, race secretaries, marshals, timekeepers, point scorers, website designers, trophy makers, photographers, lunch ladies & everyone else has who contributed to such a great year.
Outright championship:
For the first time since 2006 the outright championship was a close run thing. The title was up for grabs right up until round twelve of the thirteen round series. With three round wins and a string of podiums Peter Morley clinched the championship at the Meelup hillclimb – in spite of regulations preventing open wheelers competing. It is Peter’s fourth championship in four years in the diminutive OMS RA.
In second place was Cos Sorgiovanni in the larger and more powerful Pilbeam MP56. The car/driver combination held a distinct advantage at the Barbagallo where Cos claimed his three wins for the year rounds. In hindsight Cos’ championship was cruelled by a pair of poor results in Albany. Two of the three round wins at Barbagallo saw his son Chris finishing second.
Brent Matthews timed things beautifully to record a win at the weather affected Windfarm hillclimb in his Westfield SEi and followed it up with a dominant display in glorious conditions at Meelup. From his eighth placed finish in last years championship Brent vaulted up the championship table to finish third.
Whilst the title protagonists claimed nine of the thirteen rounds the remainder went to the all wheel drive entrants. The two Collie hillclimbs were won by James Eames & Bill White in their prodigiously powerful Nissan Skyline GT-R’s. 2009 Targa West winner Steve Jones put his sponsors LF23 Evo IX to good use smashing the lap record & claim victory in Busselton and Blaise Paris won at Jack’s hill in his earlier Evo VI.
Class reports:
Outright Under 2000cc Open Cars (1A)
The 1A class is still the province of the Morleys & Sorgiovannis. Peter Morley won the class by a comfortable margin from outright contender Cos Sorgiovanni. Phillip Morley finished a close third – with the re-engine Nismo Saurus finding speed and reliability late in the year courtesy of a Hyabusa motor.
Outright Under 2000cc Closed Cars (1B)
The 1B class was dominated by three drivers – Tsung Lee, Peter Byrne & Sena Pratama. Tsung Lee was dominant in the class wining now fewer than ten rounds in his Civic.
Last years class champion Peter Byrne (Mk 2 Ford Escort) had his habitual, consistent year, entering all thirteen rounds and finishing second in the point tally. Sena moved up from 5A last year in his Civic and claimed a single round win at the season opener on the Barbagallo short circuit.
Gavin Reynolds entered just one event this year – he had a dominant win at Barbagallo & set two lap records while doing so.
Outright over 2001cc Open (1C)
The small open, outright category was dominated by Ray Ferrari. Ray swapped his rotary West 89 for a supercharged Fisher Fury to complete a clean sweep for the year.
Outright over 2001cc Closed (1D)
For the first time the over two litre outright categories were divided between the open and closed cars. Mike Joss missed a number of rounds mid season but bookended it to claim the class championship. Wins included Collie hill climb & sprints, Meelup & Barbagallo.
Dick Ward alternated between his RX7 and Fiat Abarth. Dick turned in a good result at the final round to finish second in the class championship. He had class wins at Barbagallo, Collie and Jacks hill.
A consistent campaign from series newcomer Andrew Murdoch in a turbocharged Ford Escort may not have yielded round wins but he claimed a greater prize third in the class championship. Engine problems prevented him from competing at Meelup & Jacks hill late in the year which may have cost him a better result.
Rolly Waters had a sporadic campaign and he too claimed three round wins. Keeping the point scorers on their toes Blaise Paris won the 1D class at the first Collie hillclimb driving an AWD but when the he won outright at Jacks he was in the AWD class.
Group N & Group S Cars under 1500cc (3A)
Somewhere in the regulations is must say that 3A eligibility is restricted to Mini’s as no one entered anything else!
Darren Smart in his red Morris Cooper S started the year well with a win on the Barbagallo short circuit & was never headed in the championship, recording wins at a further three events.
In second place was Malcolm Bowden with the highlight of his year being a win at the second of the Collie sprints and the lowlight surely being getting the Morris airborne at the first Collie sprint. Other round wins fell to Michael Clarke, Tim Garratt & Ray Miles.
Group N & Group S Cars over 1501cc (3B)
Last years contenders Eddie Melle (Mk 7 Bolwell) and John Hurney (TVR 3000M) renewed the competition over the course of the championship. Eddie claimed the class win – finishing with five round wins with John claiming three. Lindsay Hamersley finished third with two round wins. Other victors were Russell Cooley (XY Falcon) at Busselton and Barbagallo and Graeme Riley (LJ Torana) at home in Collie.
Production Sports Cars under 2000cc (4A)
The two competitors who dominated last year’s 4A trophy haul were back at it again in 2010. Between them Bill Stagoll and Bob Chaplin claimed all of the thirteen rounds. Of the two it was Stagoll (Lotus Exige) who prevailed in the championship with eight round wins. Bob Chaplin (Lotus Elise) repeated his 2009 success with second place and five round wins. Barry Nash in another Lotus Elise was third.
Production Sports Cars 2001 – 3200cc (4B)
Rich Davies (Datsun 240Z) repeated his 2005 & 2008 results with championship success off the back of a pair of wins – at the Meelup & Collie hillclimbs. The remaining rounds went to a wide number of competitors – Stephen Williams (Nissan 300ZX) being the only one of those to register more than one win.
Production Sports Cars over 3201cc (4C)
Another consistent campaign from Karl Watson in his black turbocharged Toyota Supra saw him take out the class championship – although Karl took the opportunity to debut his new N/A version late in the year. Jason Dorrington in a nicely presented late model RX7 secured four round wins and second place in the standings – ahead of long time series competitor Colin Wishart Wishart’s year was cut short after an off at the Mt Clarence hill climb claimed his Cobra but nevertheless he won the round there & also at Collie.
Four Wheel Drive
The four wheel drive class featured a mix of new and familiar faces for the 2010 season. Irwin Lim in a well prepared Evo IX was a clear class winner. Irwin secured six rounds wins in a class now dominated by Mitsubishi’s Evo Lancers. Brad Petricevic (Skyline GTR) secured a breakthrough victory in Albany and finished a much improved second place in the standings. Rob Dagleish (Subaru WRX) had a consistent year with points from all of the eleven events he entered.
Noteworthy results were Kim Ledger’s win at Jacks hill & former class champion Tony Floods one off appearance for a class win & third outright placing at Meelup.
Other highlights for the AWD category were outright wins to the big horsepower GTR-s at the Collie hillclimbs – James Eames & Bill White running out easy winners there. Steve Jones put his sponsors LF23 Evo to good use in Busselton to set a lap record & claim the outright win. Blaise Paris also picked up a brace of ten point results before moving to outright.
Road Registered under 2000cc (5A)
Ryan Kim (Honda Civic) had a much improved 2010 – a brace of round wins and improved speed across the year enabled him to claim the 5A championship.
Mark Hallam with four wins, Glenn Badger and Colin Marsh with single wins each kept the venerable Ford Escorts on the winners list. Mark Finished second in the class championship
Long time SES entrant Duane Joubert in his nicely presented Toyota Sprinter claimed wins at the second of the Collie sprint rounds and Meelup.
Road Registered 2001 – 4000cc (5B)
Iain Chambers had a solid year with the turbo charged AMB clubbie leading the 5B field home on no fewer than six occasions. Justin Cooling pushed Iain all the way and in the end despite a pair of round wins he fell just short. Michael Brewer (BMW M3) scored four wins.
Road Registered over 4001cc (5C)
Shane Cugenven in a rotary powered Mazda MX5 was the clear victor in 5C. Despite only a single round win Shane’s season demonstrated the virtues of a consistent approach.
Julian O’Hara ran his DRB GT40 at the Jack’s and Meelup hillclimbs to claim a pair of class wins. Likewise Wayne Pearson (Ford Falcon TS50) claimed two victories – at Barbagallo & the Windfarm.
Production Clubman (PC)
In a repeat of the 2009 championship Brent Matthews (Westfield SE) and Gary Thorn (Birkin S3) battled it out for wins in the production clubman class. Both drivers showed much improved speed over the course of the year and between them they won all of the class trophies on offer. Ultimately Matthews prevailed with a similar margin to last year.
Frank Ferrari & Colin Youd both had consistent campaigns to claim third & fourth in class.
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