SEAC season wraps up with tight results`

Family rivalry marks the final autocross for the season

A day/night Autocross, held at SEAC Park late last month was the final round of the McPherson Mechanical J-Tech 2022 Autocross Series.

Dusty and firm, the track showed promise for a quick lap right from the start and after the compulsory ‘Recce’ look around, Kevin Raedel drew the number one for first car on track and put the Falcon rally car through the track layout with all the flair that he could muster, showing all watching that the track was quite slippery.

Nicholas Cagney put his Toyota 86 around the course for a fast 1:46.12 seconds to be the quickest car on this round. Closely followed by the old fella, Geoff Wilson, cranking out a good lap of 1:48.56 seconds for second spot, from a hard charging Jayden Edwards at 1:48.93 seconds in third.

Damien Wilson found good pace to be next home with a tidy 1:49.00 seconds, closely followed by Damien Brand’s CanAm stopping the clock at 1:50.44 seconds and fifth spot. John Whitehead’s Phoenix Buggy came in next with a 1:51.00, with Dion Becker in his Falcon doing well for a 1:51.72 and 7th spot.

Always one to watch, Gary Brown had the Falcon sideways everywhere and a 1:52.43 second lap is quite quick considering the extra distance he must cover with the very flamboyant driving style that he is known for.

Another with plenty of sideways action, Barry Edwards pushed his Commodore as hard as conditions would allow, getting home with a time of 1:52.62 seconds for his effort.

Junior Brand, Corey has been learning how to drive a car quickly from his Dad, Trent and Uncle Damien, and is showing some excellent car control and is getting faster each outing. His time of 1:53.07 seconds got him home in 10th spot in the tidy Subaru Impreza.

Round 2 and a track showing some black spots, indicating plenty of grip, Dale Cagney let loose in the Evo8, trying to make up for a poor first run after popping a tyre, set the place alight with a very tidy and extremely quick lap time of 1:42.96 seconds to be a time that no-one could get near to.

Trying his best, Nicholas Cagney put in a similar time to his first run, with a 1:46.53 the best he could do and enough to hold out Damien Wilson at 1:47.53 in third, Dion Becker 4th with a 1:48.38 seconds an improvement of three seconds SPORT DOWNLOAD THE APP AT MT GAMBIER on his first run.

Matt Kirby also improved on his sighter lap by 5 seconds with a his lap of 1:49.72 seconds for 5th spot, holding out Barry Edwards at 1:49.91 seconds in 6th, Damien Brand 7th with a 1:50.03 and Max Gartner, having his first outing in a CanAm buggy, getting in with a good run of 1:50.07 seconds for 8th spot.

Jayden Edwards could not match his opening lap, settling for ninth spot with his 1:51.54 seconds and Gary Brown rounding out the top 10 with his scenic tour of 1:52.13 seconds.

Third lap, in the day light and Dale Cagney almost matched his previous quick lap, stopping the clock at 1:43.85 seconds to hold out son Nicholas, 1:45.47 seconds from Damien Wilson’s 1:47.38 seconds in third spot.

Dion Becker, having an absolute blast, repeated his previous lap with a marginal improvement, to stop the clock at 1:48.03 seconds for another fourth spot closely followed by Matt Kirby’s Laser, 1:48.69 seconds, Jayden Edwards finding a better line than the last run, 1:49.28 seconds, Damien Brand next with 1:49.71 seconds, Barry Edwards right behind with a 1:50.12 seconds lap and eighth.

Mark Jennings managed a good lap after a couple of ordinary laps MT GAMBIER and scored the ninth points with a 1:50.15 effort in the Falcon and Max Gartner rounding out the 10 with a 1:50.21 seconds lap.

After a break for tea and to allow the darkness to occur, a well lit Evo8 again set the pace, matching his earlier lap with a well driven 1:43.47 seconds lap, closely followed by Nicholas doing his best to catch dad, stopping the clock at 1:46.81 seconds for second, with Damien Wilson nipping at his heels with a well driven 1:47.75 seconds.

Improving on the previous outing, Jayden Edwards put a good lap together for a 1:47.37 second run and fourth spot, followed by Dion Becker’s 1:50.34 seconds (5th) Damien Brand’s 1:50.81 seconds (6th) Barry Edwards 1:50.84 seconds (7th) Max Gartner 1:50.93 seconds (8th) Bailey Perryman, pushing the Hyundai as hard as it would go, 1:51.41 seconds (9th) and Gary Brown at 1:52.69 (10th).

Last run for the evening, no more sprinkles of rain and Dale Cagney finished off the day with a 1:43.81 second lap to hold out a big effort from Damien Brand at 1:44.63 for second points, Nicholas Cagney’s 1:45.22 his best run for the day 3rd, Damien Wilson 4th with his Disco lights run, 1:46.09 seconds, Dion Becker fifth with his fairly consistent day of 1:48.41 seconds, Jayden Edwards next at 1:49.53 seconds (6th) showing his consistent style of driving.

Barry Edwards also settled into a pattern, this one at 1:50.29 seconds and seventh home, closely followed by the hard charging Gary Brown’s Falcon, 1:50.34 (8th), Matt Kirby’s Laser, 1:50.44 (9th) and Geoff Wilson, nursing a “wounded” Peugeot all day scored 10th points with a 1:51.47 second effort. With scores yet to be checked, Dale Cagney recovered well from his flat tyre first round to hold on to the first place points with a total of 8:49.59 seconds from Nicholas Cagney with his consistent day at 8:50.15 for second spot points.

Damien Wilson enjoyed his birthday outing, getting home with a well driven total of 8:57.75 seconds and third points. Damien Brand pinched the points for fourth outright, by his very quick last run giving him enough to hold out Dion Becker in fifth spot, with times of 9:05.62 and 9:06.88 for the pair.

Jayden Edwards’ total of 9:07.65 seconds good enough for the points at 6th, holding out dad Barry’s 9:13.78 seconds in seventh. Matt Kirby had a mixed day at the wheel and drove the Laser well enough for eighth spot with his total of 9:18.35 seconds.

Gary Brown drove way more distance than most of the others and totalled a very respectable time of 9:19.59 seconds and ninth points.

Always at maximum effort, Bailey Perryman put in some good laps and made it to tenth outright in the Hyundai, with his total of 9:20.32 seconds.

CLASS POINTS:

Dale Cagney Class W
Nicholas CagneyClass D
Dion Becker Class E
Gary Brown Class B
Bailey Perryman Class A
Max Gartner Class J
Teresa Lipscombe Class L

The season activities have now been completed and all the club members can be proud of the many events that the club have successfully run through a difficult year.

Presentation dinner is yet to be finalised, but should be about the end of January, just before the first event for the 2023 year, the Twin Peaks Hill Climb, in early February.

AUTOCROSS ACTION: (Above top row from left) Dion Becker & Nicholas Cagney and (above bottom row from left) Teresa Lipscombe & Dale Cagney

PHOTOS COURTESY OF DARREN ARCHIBALD
(TURN8 PHOTOGRAPHY)