Sims dominates

SEAC Park saw action again on April 21 with the running of round 2 of the SEAC 2024 Motorkhana Series.

Entries were a tad on the low side for seniors, but a good field of nine juniors made up the numbers for the day.

Kevin Raedel put the director’s hat on for this day and had some interesting courses to keep the entrants interested for the day.

‘Bowler’ is a very quick test and got the action underway, with Jason Sims being given the privilege of first car on each test, rose to the challenge with fastest runs for both attempts, from Damien Wilson chasing, a couple of tenths behind in the first run and seven tenths on his second go.

Max Viitanen made third in both, half a second behind Wilson, with Harrison Bliss a couple of seconds further back on the first run and Charlie Evans filling fourth on the second run, fifth on his first attempt.

Scott Bradley’s first outing in the big Falcon was rewarded with a clean run and sixth spot, with a gaggle of juniors losing their way and all getting the WD time penalty listed for their efforts.

Duke Bradley and Levi Staude filled the final spots on the first run.

All drivers got it right on the second run.

Next test was ‘Star’, again a quick run, with Damien Wilson doing it well on this outing, Jason Sims 5/100ths behind in second, Max Viitanen third, Henry Sims 3/10ths of a second back fourth, Bliss fifth, Scott Bradley sixth, Charlie Evans, Blair Meek and Josh Cameron making an error along the way for a WD, Levi Staude and Duke Bradley completing the run.

Jason Sims got it right on the second go, with Henry Sims second, Wilson third, Viitanen next in fourth spot.

Scott Bradley got the Falcon home in fifth, Meek sixth, Cameron, Bliss and Evans doing a different track for a WD and Staude 10th, Duke Bradley 11th.

Crazy Square was selected for the third test and is again a short and sweet drive – if you get it right, that is. Sims Senior and Sims Junior, one and two, Wilson third, Bliss fourth with the Subaru a handful on the compact course layout, Scott Bradley again doing well in the big Falcon fifth, Viitanen sixth, Josh Cameron seventh, Meek and Evans again different WDs, Staude 10th and D Bradley 11th.

On the second go, Harrison Bliss found a quick line and blitzed the field, Jason Sims second, Henry Sims third, Wilson fourth, Viitanen fifth, Bradley sixth, Evans and Meek WD again, Josh Cameron ninth, Staude 10th and D. Bradley 11th home.

Running this layout for the third time, Jason Sims and Henry Sims were one and two, Wilson third, Viitanen fourth, S Bradley fifth, Charlie Evans sixth, Bliss seventh, Cameron eighth, Meek ninth, Staude 10th and D Bradley 11th.

Change of course to a layout called Plumb Crazy, the Sims pair again first adn second, Jason being pushed hard by son, Henry in the shared Celica.

Wilson was again third, Bliss fourth, Bradley fifth, Viitanen, Evans and Meek doing their own ninth, D Bradley 10th and Staude 11th.

Run twoof this layout saw J Sims from H Sims, Viitanen equal second to the hundredth with H Sims, Charlie Evans put a good run together and got fourth points, Wilson fifth, S Bradley sixth, Bliss seventh, Meek getting it correct eighth, Staude ninth, Cameron 10th and D Bradley 11th.

With the same layout, run three saw Jason Sims again quickest for first spot from Charlie Evans second, Max Viitanen third, Henry Sims fourth, Wilson fifth, S Bradley sixth, Meek seventh, Bliss eighth with a track marker killing what could have been a top run, Cameron ninth, Staude 10th and D Bradley 11th.

Next test layout was Hopkirk, a test that can be enjoyed and can be quick.

Jason Sims did the test very well and headed the list, four seconds clear from Wilson second, Evans third, Viitanen fourth, Bliss fifth, S Bradley sixth, Henry Sims seventh, Meek eighth, Cameron ninth, D Bradley 10th and Staude 11th.

On the rerun of this test Jason Sims repeated his first effort and topped the list again, from Wilson second, Bliss third, Henry Sims fourth, Evans fifth, Viitanen sixth with a cone penalty again, Meek seventh, S Bradley eighth, Cameron ninth, D Bradley 10th and Staude 11th.

Paddy is another favourite of the Motorkhana regulars, does involve some reversing and is easy to get it all wrong if you wander away from the marked course layout, getting a five second penalty for each track cone marker that gets in the way, or a WD penalty if you do it wrong.

Max Viitanen, being one of the up-and-coming juniors that have been doing motorkhana for a season, does not get practical experience of reversing between a set of markers, but showed good car control to do this test the quickest, even with a penalty cone added to his time, being some nine seconds quicker than Jason Sims in second spot.

Scott Bradley also did well for third, Evans fourth, Henry Sims next home fifth, Wilson sixth after getting three cones on the way, Bliss seventh with a WD, Meek eighth, Cameron ninth, Staude 10th and D Bradley 11th.

Wilson, not having the best of runs on the first outing, made up for it on the second run, but only just in front of young Charlie Evans nipping at his heels in second, Jason Sims third, S Bradley fourth, Bliss fifth, Henry Sims sixth, Meek seventh, Viitanen eighth with a couple of cone penalties on this run hurting his time, Cameron ninth, D Bradley 10th and Staude 11th.

Next test setup was Forward & Reverse Slalom and as the name suggests, reversing is again involved.

Again, another of the promising juniors did the best job, this time being Charlie Evans, heading Scott Bradley second, Jason Sims third, Henry Sims fourth, Meek fifth, Wilson sixth, Bliss seventh, Viitanen eighth with another cone costing a good run, Cameron, ninth, also with a cone penalty, D Bradley 10th and Staude 11th.

Same test, second run, Scott Bradley topped the list by 3/100ths of a second from Charlie Evans second, Wilson 3/10ths behind in third, Jason Sims fourth, Henry Sims holding on to fifth, with Bliss, both scoring a WD time.

Blair Meek, getting some seat time in the Falcon ute, made seventh, Cameron eighth, Viitanen ninth, D Bradley 10th and Staude 11th.

Layout change and location change, Historic Straight Slalom but modified ever so slightly, was the last layout for the day.

Jason and Henry Sims were one and two from Wilson third, Evans fourth, Viitanen fifth, Meek sixth, Cameron seventh, S Bradley eighth, Staude ninth, Bliss 10th and D Bradley 11th.

Jason Sims made it two from two, holding off Wilson second, Viitanen third, Meek fourth, S Bradley fifth, Evans sixth, Henry Sims seventh, Cameron eighth, Bliss ninth, Staude 10th and D Bradley 11th.

Next event listed on the busy calendar is Round 2 of the 2024 Autocross Series, at SEAC Park on May 11, with a Touring Road Event (Trial) the following weekend – May 18.

FINAL RESULTS:

1st Jason Sims 08:52.24

2nd Damien Wilson 09:22.03

3rd Charlie Evans 09:57.10

4th Henry Sims 10:15.80

5th Scott Bradley 10:16.10

6th Max Viitanen10:27.41

7th Harrison Bliss 10:58.13

8th Blair Meek 11:40.46

9th Joshua Cameron 13:20.11

10th Duke Bradley 20:53.69

11th Levi Staude 21:22.60