Nowell makes his mark

THE Glenburnie Saleyards Complex hosted the South Eastern Automobile Club/Limestone Coast Offroad Club Khanacross Series Round 3 with the South Australian State Khanacross Series Round 4 and the Victorian Khanacross Series Round 8 all on the same Day/Night course under the director Curtis Boyd’s selection of tests to keep the locals and visitors entertained for the day.

Having a field of 30 competitors, the director laid out a ‘simple’ double loop test to get the adrenaline running.

Best of these drivers on the first run forward, Barry Nowell used the awesome power of his own built KTM special Buggy to be the quickest of all 21.49, clear of fellow Victorian James Ware Senior in his Turbo powered XR4 Fiesta 23.38 2nd, Geoffrey Wilson, Magna Sedan next 24.60 for 3rd (and first SEAC & SA Series), Wayne Casey , (SEAC Mazda MX5), 4th 24.72, Nicholas Charrett (Vic, XR4 Fiesta) 8th 24.98, Harrison Bliss (SEAC Subaru Impreza) 9th 25.24, Dad, Bradley Bliss (SEAC Subaru Impreza) 10th 25.26.

Same test, same direction, Nowell went a little quicker in the extreme buggy, 1st with a 20.92, Philip Wilson (SEAC) in his Falcon made 2nd with a well held slide for 24.13 seconds, Wayne Casey improved his previous run by half a second to 24.22 and scored 3rd place.

Damien Wilson also improved by 6/10ths and made 4th (24.31), Jason Sims (SEAC) lifted his effort and his 24.35 gave him 5th, tying with James Ware Jnr (Vic Fiesta XR4), same time (after his WD in his first effort), and Harrison Bliss (SEAC) making it a trifecta with the same time for 5th spot as well.

Adam Pass (Vic Fiesta XR4) made 8th with 24.53, Nicholas Charrett (Vic Fiesta XR4) improved on his first time by 3/10ths but only made 9th this time round, with Kym Miller (SA Peugeot 307) rounding out the Top 10 with his 24.70 seconds trip.

As you can see, the times are very close across the top of the field.

Reverse direction of this ‘simple’ drive and the Nowell Buggy (Vic) again showed a clean pair of heels for #1 spot (20.43) from James Ware Jnr (Vic) 23.12 2nd, James Ware Snr (Vic) 23.14 3rd, Wayne Casey (SEAC SA) 23.54 4th, Geoff Wilson (SEAC SA) made 5th with 23.73, Adam Pass (Vic) 6th 23.80, Nicholas Charrett (Vic) 7th 23.95, Darren Colgan (Vic XR4 Fiesta) made 8th with 23.98, Damien Wilson in his ever suffering Silvia (SEAC, SA) made 9th with his enthusiastic 24.11 and Scott Bradley in the extremely tidy Nissan Pulsar Wagon (SEAC) rounded out the Top 10 with his 24.47 seconds.

Second pass in the reverse direction and Nowell continued to dominate the field with 20.25 the time to beat. James Ware Jnr made 2nd with 22.70, James Ware Snr 3rd 22.77, Adam Pass 4th 23.37, Nicholas Charrett 5th 23.47, Wayne Casey 6th 23.60, Philip Wilson 7th 23.61, Geoff Wilson 8th 23.67, Jason Sims 9th 23.97, Darren Colgan 10th 24.04.

Director Boyd made some changes to the layout and these changes suited some driver’s styles more than others.

Barry Nowell’s Buggy made short work of the twisty stuff and again posted fastest time (31.72) with James Ware Snr 34.20 next, Darren Colgan 3rd 34.67, Jason Sims 4th 34.68, Damien Wilson 5th 34.84, Philip Wilson 6th 34.96, Wayne Casey 7th 35.27, Adam Pass 8th 35.54, Nicholas Charrett 9th 35.62 and Mathew Webb (Vic Fiesta) 10th 35.91.

Second run, James Ware Snr finally made the Top spot (23.50) from Adam Pass 2nd, 24.33, Jason Sims 3rd 24.56, Mathew Webb 4th, 24.61, Nicholas Charrett 5th 24.66, Barry Nowell 6th 24.67, Wayne Casey 7th 24.97, Damien Wilson 8th 25.33, James Ware Jnr 9th 25.56, Darren Colgan 10th 25.69.

Reverse this course and Number 1 returned to Barry Nowell with a clean run of 33.29 for 1st, James Ware Snr 33.86 next in 2nd.

Darren Colgan made 3rd 34.50, Philip Wilson 4th 34.91, Wayne Casey 5th 34.95, Mathew Webb 6th 35.09, Jason Sims 7th 35.19, James Ware Jnr 8th 35.25, Adam Pass 9th 35.35, Nicholas Charrett 10th 35.36, not much time separating many of these competitors in all classes, with more and more pressure to drive faster causing errors or contact with the track markers.

Reverse run number 2, James Ware Snr topped the list with 33.80 almost the same time as his first run, Nicholas Charrett improved by a second and moved into 2nd spot 34.33, Darren Colgan made 3rd 34.41, Jason Sims 4th 34.59, Adam Pass 5th 34.64, Wayne Casey 6th 34.70, Damien Wilson 7th 34.80, Philip Wilson 8th 34.96, James Ware Jnr 9th 35.07, Mathew Webb 10th 35.42

Another course setup in the dark, a simple test if you can see the markers and do not get lost, Nicholas Charrett set the pace with 23.76, Jason Sims 2nd 24.24, equal with James Ware Jnr 2nd 24.24, Darren Colgan 4th 24.30, Barry Nowell, using what looked like a torch to see in the dark, made 5th 24.64, Henry Sims (SEAC SA) a junior that does not drive on roads, let alone drive in the dark, put in a good run to make 6th 24.79, Adam Pass 7th 25.08, Mathew Webb 8th 25.17, Damien Wilson 9th 25.42 and Wayne Casey 10th 25.60.

Second attempt and with the ‘torch’ on as bright as it would go, Barry Nowell’s 22.85 made 1st spot, Jason Sims 2nd 23.43, James Ware Snr 3rd 23.68, Nicholas Charrett 4th 23.76, Darren Colgan 5th 23.94, Wayne Casey 6th 24.22 equal with Adam Pass 6th 24.22, Mathew Webb 8th 24.80, Damien Wilson 9th 24.99 and James Ware Jnr 10th 25.09.

Last Course, Barry Nowell made easy work of this and set the top time of 47.76 for the rest to beat. Jason Sims did his best and 49.23 seconds made 2nd his. Darren Colgan 3rd with 49.41, Nicholas Charrett 4th 49.54, Wayne Casey 5th 50.04, James Ware Snr, 6th 50.61, James Ware Jnr 7th 50.70, Mathew Webb 8th 50.76, Adam Pass 50.79 and Damien Wilson 10th 51.64.

Scores are provisional at print time, with Barry Nowell well clear of all, Nicholas Charrett 2nd, Jason Sims 3rd, Darren Colgan 4th, Wayne Casey 5th, James Ware Snr 6th, Adam Pass 7th, Mathew Webb 8th, Damien Wilson 9th and Philip Wilson 10th.

Thanks must go to Curtis Boyd for directing and Jody Viitanen and other officials that helped to put this event together set it up and pack up.