Photos: MTR Images The second round of the Shannons Trophy Series is complete with all five categories ending their weekend on a high.
There were plenty of thrills, spills and drama from the final day of competition,
In addition to the high-action racing, a Speed Comparison featuring a Polaris Mtoorsprot Australia Off Road Championship buggy, Bosch Motorsport Australia Rally Championship car and hill climb open wheeler.
Fans who missed the action can watch the full replay via 7plus or the Motorsport Australia YouTube Page.
The next round of the Shannons Trophy Series will be at The Bend Motorsport Park in October.
Workhorse Radical Cup Australia
Young gun Alex Gardner secured his first career round victory after another impressive display in the Workhorse Radical Cup Australia.
With the category having its final 50-minute race on Sunday, the teenager led at every opportunity he could as he only gave up top spot following the mandatory pit stops but regained the lead once every car had pitted.
Crossing the line in second place was Peter Paddon, with the series veteran having trailed the young Queenslander for the whole race after a thrilling opening few laps where top two battled hard and side by side.
In third behind Gardner and Paddon was Elliot Schutte, who was made to work a bit harder for the top three finish, as he jumped from fifth at the end of the first lap to third ahead of Cooper Cutts and the combined entry of Barton Mawer and Terry Knowles on lap 20.
Gardner’s race two victory capped off a perfect weekend for the teenager as his two wins and pole position secured him the round win, while Schutte’s two podiums was enough for second overall over Paddon.
Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia Scholarship Series
A clean sweep of victories saw Alice Buckley take out top honours in the Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia Scholarship Series round at Queensland Raceway, beating Lachlan Bloxsom in today’s two races.
Adding to her impressive victory yesterday, Buckley won the opening race of the day in straight-forward fashion, beating Lachlan Bloxsom by just two tenths of a second.
The two were again in the thick of the action during the final race as Bloxsom got the jump on Buckley off the line and into the first corner, before she was able to regain the lead off Bloxsom after a few laps.
Bloxsom didn’t give up though as he continued to pile pressure on Buckley – the two Queenslanders extending the gap over the trailing pack to cross the line three tenths of each other with Buckley eventually getting the win.
Finishing third for the final race was Lincoln Taylor after he also endured a difficult battle, the Queenslander overcoming a late charge from Mason Harvey to reach the chequered flag first by eight hundredths of a second.
Taylor’s P3 proved good enough to earn him the final podium place for the round overall, with the youngster edging out Connor Roberts, who finished third in the morning and fifth in the final race.
Australian Formula Open
Trent Grubel won the Australian Formula Open Round despite missing out on a clean sweep of race wins, as Ryan How’s race three victory saw him awarded the prestigious Errol Gilmour Memorial Trophy.
With 20 laps making the category’s final race, which honoured the late Errol Gilmour, How made his way into the lead just shy of the midway point as Chris Gilmour and Grubel lost positions – the latter losing top spot after replacing Gilmour in third lap.
Once How took the lead though, the young gun charged to the victory, nine seconds ahead of Grubel, while Miles Bromley finished third.
The three drivers also made up the outright round podium with Grubel’s victory on Sunday morning earning him the victory over How, who finished fifth to claim second overall – Bromley’s two podiums in the final two races sealing the final podium place.
In the Formula 4 class, Brodie Norris took out the win after winning the opening race and finishing second in the final race of the weekend – round runner-up Peter Bouzinelos picking up the final race win.
Hyundai Excels
A victory and a top five finish in the final race was enough to give Jaylyn Robotham outright round honours in the Series X3 Queensland.
Heading into the final day of the race meeting with two podiums and a victory, Robotham essentially picked up round honours with a win in the fourth race of the weekend on Sunday morning.
Although he had a minor mishap in a thrilling fifth and final race, reaching the chequered flag in fourth, a mistake to fellow contender Jack Wood all but sealed the deal for Robotham to take out the win as Wood ended up seventh.
Wood’s off on the final lap of the fifth race not only ended his hopes of the overall win, but almost cost him an outright runner-up placing for the round, as Zane Rinaldi’s two second place finishes on Sunday put him right in the mixer – however he just fell short in the end.
Remarkably, Rinaldi finished the round in fourth place as Tyler Collins pipped him right at the end – the Queenslander’s victory in the fifth race seeing him squeeze into third overall.
Precision National Sports Sedan Series
The final category of the day wrapped up the weekend in style as Jordan Caruso picked up two wins from two races and produced a category lap record in the process.
As he had all weekend, Caruso was in a fierce battle with multiple-time Sports Sedan champions Tony Ricciardello and Steve Tamasi, however the reigning champion proved just too strong on Sunday, claiming the two wins – as well as beating Tom Randle’s lap record by five tenths of a second.
While the day’s opening race ended under Safety Car, bringing the field together to the finish line, it was quite the opposite in the day’s final race as Caruso finished more than two seconds ahead of Ricciardello.
Unfortunately, Tamasi had issues and was forced down the order, leaving Ashley Jarvis to round out the top three in the final race – the Holden Monaro driver finishing 43 seconds off the top two.
As a result of his 11th place finish, Tamasi also lost third for the round with Jarvis’ sole podium for the weekend securing him the final spot on the outright podium, behind Caruso and Ricciardello.
Keyword: Shannons Trophy Series wraps up QR on high: Sunday wrap