2013 - Tander Trophy

Matt Cherry on his way to a three win meeting following a blistering 61.33 qualifying, which was 0.8 seconds below his track record but not allowed as it occurred in qualifying

The meeting was held in fine weather with a stiff easterly breeze at the driver's back as they came over the hill into turn 7.  Seventeen nominations was reduced to fifteen starters on the day with two late withdrawals due to last minute mechanical issues.  Sean Ferrall fronted for his first meeting in two years as did Nigel Wilson in the ex Mike Kennedy VY.

---

QUALIFYING

Frank Panizza leads Terry Mason around in qualifying..a lead up of things to come

Qualifying was held with a stiff easterly breeze and with the wind at their back, the majority of the field produced very fast times.

None more so than Matt Cherry, in the Monaro for the first time this year, who recorded a very slick 61.33, some 0.8 seconds inside his track record set in the Starlet.

Cherry qualified 5.2 seconds faster that Frank Panizza and 5.7 seconds in front of Wayne Chrystal to close out the top three in Over 2L

Gavin Reynolds again dominated the U2L class with a time of 64.05, three seconds ahead of Jamie McKinnell and Geoff Duckworth with Ducky doing a PB apparently.

U1.6L was led by Tim Riley with a 71.05 from Monica Jakovich (74.9) and Don Simpson off the pace with a 75.9

---

RACE 1

Wayne Chrystal sadly DNF'd Race 1and out for the meeting

Disaster for Wayne Chrystal in race 1 with the points leader in O2L blowing a motor and failing to finish, causing him to sit out the meeting, albeit with a commanding lead in the championship.

The front end of the race was predictable with Cherry and Reynolds pulling clear from the rest and the longer the race progressed the further in front they went. Cherry ended up 54 seconds in front of his nearest rival and Reynolds 37 seconds.

Jamie McKinnell and Sean Ferrall, with the Monaro playing up with oil pressure and misfires, had a good tussle for 3rd in the race with the lesser powered McKinnell car prevailing by a bit under a second for third overall, giving McKinnell a second in his class and Ferrall a second in his.
Frank Panizza and Terry Mason failed to finish in the O2L class with Mason out with a blown clutch and Panizza out with a tailshaft yoke nut working loose and the car losing drive.

The U1.6L class saw Tim Riley lead the race from Monica Jakovich and Brad Wheeler, with Don Simpson pulling out with issues.  Once again there was a clear margin between place getters with Jakovich 8 seconds behind and Wheeler a lap down.

---

RACE 2

Geoff Duckworth leads Jai Philp, Gavin Reynolds, Jamie McKinnell, Sean Ferrall and Frank Panizza on first lap of reversed grid Race 2

Frank Panizza put his yoke back on and made it out, not so Terry Mason or Wayne Chrystal.
Don Simpson fixed his problem and returned allowing 12 starters to front the grid.

Monica Jakovich drove very well in this race and had an excellent tussle with Tim Riley throughout in the U1.6L race. Don Simpson lost a lot of time during the race even though his best lap time was on the mark, indicating other issues and as a result he finished 3rd in the class.

Riley held on to take the podium from Jakovich who has closed the normal margin between her and Riley from around 10 seconds to 2, with her concentrating on specific areas of her driving, which was obviously having results.

Gavin Reynolds again led the way from Jamie McKinnell in the U2L class, winning comfortably by a margin of 25 seconds, with Geoff Duckworth a further 7 seconds behind.  All cars in this class survived to make the last race.

Nigel Wilson had radiator problems with his car and pulled out rather than cook a motor, leaving four cars to contest the O2L class.  There were no surprises with the Monaro of Cherry comfortably beating the Monaro of Ferrall by 36 seconds or 3/4 of a lap with Frank Panizza a further 23 seconds back.  Jai Philp, in the other surviving O2L brought up the tail end having been lapped.

---

Race 3

Much improved racing by Monica Jakovich saw her leading Tim Riley at times during Race 3

The final race of the day saw another reverse grid format with 12 starters.
Nigel Wilson tried in vain to complete a race but was beaten again by the radiator issues and retired.

With the obvious dominance of the two front runners stringing out their classes, one had to turn to the U1.6L class again for any form of competition. Jakovich with different race tactics, which were obviously working, took the race to Riley and in fact led for several stages of the race before Riley prevailed, again by a much reduced margin of 2 seconds. Simpson was a mile behind with Brad Wheeler racing hard and enjoying himself down the back.

Cherry again blitzed his rivals and even though one sensed him backing off a bit, still won comfortable by 30 seconds from Ferrall with Panizza one lap down and Philp about 2 minutesaway.

In U2L, Reynolds and McKinnell again finished in the same order with McKinnell going down by 51 seconds and Duckworth another 10 seconds behind.

It was a safe meeting with the only incidents involving mechanical failure and there were no injuries.
There were no changes to the championship structure even though Wayne Chrystal didn't score any points, such was his lead and it was generally a good day overall.

---