Club Track Day - 3rd November 2013
04 November 2013 / Words by David Lawler, Pictures by Adam "Reggie" Walker & Bryan Shedden
Another great track day by the MX-5 Club of NSW at Wakefield Park. The day dawned clear but cool, then quickly warmed to the mid 20s, although there was strong gusting wind that got stronger during the day and brought a lot of dust.
With 21 drivers attending from the MX-5 Club of Victoria & Tasmania for the annual interstate challenge, the entry list had stretched to 86 drivers. Even with the long entry list, there were 7 runs available to drivers before the 4pm track curfew, which is a tribute to the organisation of Mike and the team.
With a number of drivers learning the track it is not surprising that there were a number of off track excursions, although you might wonder if the tongue-in-cheek advice "no braking for turn 2" that some NSW drivers had given the Victorians at dinner the night before might have contributed to those offs!
Luckily there was no major damage, although one of the Victorian cars had a turbo let go in a big way. Track officials noted that there had been a generally great atmosphere, exemplary on track behaviour and cars well presented at scrutineering time.
There were a number of notable performances. Patrick Bramston was fastest on the day at 1:06.80, although he credited Mark Hellmund on giving the driving tips that Patrick needed to set his best time on the last run of the day, and so beating Mark on 1:06.93 into 2nd fastest.
Ralph Thompson beat the 1:10 barrier with a time of 1:09.99, winning class 9.
A timing glitch meant that John Karayannis was initially thought to have won the hotly contested "Clubman" class 4, but once that was corrected, the win went to Gus Elias with a time of 1:15.61.
In class 3 there was an amazing tie for 1st between Luke Kovacic and Randy Stagno-Navarra (Vic) with Randy taking the trophy home to Victoria and Luke having to wait for a 2nd trophy to be made.
In class 1 after a see-saw battle, Robert Downes (Vic) took the win by 0.16s from Bryan Shedden, which may have been in part caused by Bryan being distracted by being a movie star for much of the day, as well as by great driving by Robert.
The class results are:
Class 1: Robert Downes (VIC) 1:16.83
Class 2: Keith Monaghan (NSW) 1:17.84
Class 3: Luke Kovacic (NSW) & Randy Stagno-Navarra (VIC) 1:13.75
Class 4: Gus Elias (NSW) 1:15.61
Class 5: Peter Browning (NSW) 1:14.84
Class 6: David Wilkin (VIC) 1:10.58
Class 7: Ralph Thompson (NSW) 1:09.99
Class 8: Cameron Macarthur (NSW) 1:07.64
Class 9: Mark Hellmund (NSW) 1:06.93
Class 10: Patrick Bramston (NSW) 1:06.80
Class 11: Phil Abraham (NSW) 1:09.75
Officials awards were given to Joe Kovacic, Greg & Matthew Perry, Lindsay Burke, Robert Kai, and "Encouragement awards" were given to Patrick Bramston, Brendan Beavis (Vic), Lindy Anderson (Vic), Melissa Keller and Mark Hellmund.
Of course, the most important result was that NSW with 158 points won the Interstate Challenge from the Victorians with 118 points. Bryan Shedden accepting the cup back on behalf of the MX-5 Club of NSW from Tim Emery, and declared that the NSW team will defend the title next year on a return visit to Victoria. 
Thanks to Paul Grimshaw from Nulon Products Australia for their sponsoriship of the event, including providing oil and other products as prizes. Paul also drove his Mitsubishi Evo in the days track sessions, and is reported to have enjoyed the day. Maybe next time we can get him in an MX-5?
More photos from the track day by Adam Walker are available on Flickr here.
Photos of the presentations and pre-track day dinner by Bryan Shedden on Flickr here.
