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APR: Oran Park round five Sunday notes

Shaw Win Gives Donut King Australian Performance Car Championship A High Five A fine return to the championship has propelled Ric Shaw to victory lane in round five of the 2005 Donut King Australian Performance Car Championship at Oran Park ...

Shaw Win Gives Donut King Australian Performance Car Championship A High Five

A fine return to the championship has propelled Ric Shaw to victory lane in round five of the 2005 Donut King Australian Performance Car Championship at Oran Park Raceway, making it five different round winners in five rounds.

Continuing the great season of racing to date, the racing more than lived up to the standards set by the sensational Sydney weather, infront of a massive Oran Park crowd.

Chris Alajajian (Subaru WRX STi) started the opening race of the day from pole position, courtesy of a win on Saturday. He duly obliged and took the lead ahead of Peter Floyd (BP Ultimate HSV GTS) and Garry Holt (Century 21 Real Estate Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII), while Shaw (Sennheiser Audio Mazda RX7) dropped from second to fifth off the line.

Alajajian's lead wasn't to last. A rim on his Subaru buckled when he hit a kerb on the opening lap. A pitstop to replace the wheel was necessary, ending any chances of another good result. He was eventually classified 21st.

This handed the lead to Floyd, who soon had his hands full keeping the four wheel drives of Holt and Barry Morcom (Rondo Building Services Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII) at bay. Floyd eventually dropped to third, the Lancers making their way past over the bridge on successive laps. From there, Holt built a steady cushion and took the win, by just over two seconds from Morcom.

As Floyd started to battle with less than happy rear tyres and fell into the clutches of Beric Lynton (Donut King BMW M3) and the recovering Shaw, the battle of the race, weekend, and perhaps season was just getting started. For the majority of the race, the three ran nose-to-tail and often side by side.

The scrap was intense, yet clean and if Floyd was occupied with the championship ramifications, his driving wasn't showing it. The drivers often swapped positions, but rarely paintwork as the three different cars played to their strengths around the 2.62km layout, with the straight line speed of the HSV ensuring Shaw and Lynton were lime-green with envy.

In the end just half a second covered the trio, with Floyd managing to hold them out and claim third place, as Shaw pipped Lynton. Mark King (Delphi Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII) drove from the rear of the field to claim sixth place, from John Falk (Fibreglass International FPV MkII GT) and Gary Young (Readymix Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII).

"It was a great battle," said Lynton post race. "Obviously Floydy's tyres went off and he was holding us up a bit. I couldn't work out where Ric Shaw came from when he first caught up to us. It was very clean race, we were both quicker than Peter around the corners, but he had the straight line speed and all the right defensive lines."

With round win honours on the line and the sun setting, the field lined up for the third and final race of the weekend.

Off the start line, four wheel drive was the weapon to have; with Morcom putting his to good affect in taking the lead of the race, ahead of Holt. Shaw, meanwhile, got his best start of the weekend and settled in for the race ahead.

At turn four on the opening lap, Holt made a move past Morcom to take lead, while an incident just seconds later at the same corner meant Mark King's race was to be short lived. A coming together with Floyd saw him sitting perilously in the middle of the track as the rest of the field made their way through. There was no major contact, but the battle scars ended his race.

With the race lead to his name, Holt set about building a lead. By this time, though, Shaw had also made his way past Morcom and had the race lead in his sights. The pair traded fastest times but Shaw was able to close the gap. He sized up the Lancer for a number of laps before making a bold move around the outside into turn two on the sixth lap to take the race lead.

He went on to greet the chequered flag to take the race and round win ahead of fellow Sydneysider Holt. Shaw's win makes him the fifth different round winner in the 2005 Donut King Australian Performance Car Championship in as many rounds, while the Mazda RX7 becomes the fourth different car to win a round.

"The start of the weekend was good, but the end was even better," said Shaw. "I got a good start to the race, unlike the other races and the car was great. It was good to come back with a new car and a new sponsor and get a good result. Hopefully we can continue on from here."

Holt settled for second place in the race and round, but was later ruing some lapped traffic late in the race.

"The car was good, but we had no measure for Ric," said Holt. "I'm a bit frustrated, though. It is a good result, but I can't work out why that when there are three laps to go some drivers who are getting the blue flags can't get out of the way and can end up ruining races."

Floyd held on to claim third place in the race, completing his weekend target of keeping the points ticking over. He ended the weekend tied on points with Barry Morcom (Rondo Building Services Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII) for third, but got the nod for the final podium position on a countback to qualifying results, where he outqualified the Sydney driver by just five one-hundredths of a second.

"We are extremely satisfied with the weekend - I really thought that a top five or top six finish would be the best result to expect this weekend. The guys had the car well sorted out and with a good setup that enabled us to be competitive and it paid off," said Floyd.

John Falk rounded out the top five, completing a competitive showing for the ever improving FPV MkII GT. Donut King Racing pair Adam Beechey (Nissan 200SX) and Barrie Nesbitt (Holden Monaro) had an almost race long battle, with Beechey eventually gaining the upper hand and claiming sixth, just ahead of Gary Young and Nesbitt, the latter nursing a puncture across the line.

Michael Brock (Coopers Pale Ale Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII), Anton Mechtler (Hurleys Smash Repairs Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII), Dean Lillie (Vaporate HSV GTS) and Peter Boylan (AussieHire.com.au BMW M3) completed the top twelve.

This weekend, Boylan raced against long time friend Geoff Morgan (LinkMe.com.au BMW M3) for the first time. The pair have driven in the same races on numerous occasions all around the world, but always in the same car. Morgan finished the final race of the weekend in fifteenth place, just behind Anthony Alford (Donut King Holden Monaro), the pair having had a battle of their own during the race.

"There was a few incidents out there in that race," Morgan said. "I got turned around at turn two on the opening lap and then coming around to the bridge Mark King was in the middle of the track so we all had to work our way around him and go from there. The car went well; we will get onto developing it for the next race. I'm looking forward to it."

Of those to join King on the sidelines, Beric Lynton's BMW stopped on the infield with a mechanical problem and Chris Alajajian's weekend went from bad to worse as a wheel bearing failure sent him hurtling into the turn three gravel trap, having made his way from 21st to 11th in the opening stages.

With two rounds remaining in the 2005 Donut King Australian Performance Car Championship, Peter Floyd retains his championship lead on 334 points, though now with a reduced margin over Garry Holt on 315. Mark King's frustrating weekend sees him lose ground to the leaders in third place, with Barry Morcom sitting a comfortable fourth.

The field now has a late season break, before the final two rounds of the championship in November. On November 11-13, Symmons Plains in Tasmania will host round six, before the final round a fortnight later (November 25-27) at Phillip Island in Victoria.

In the meantime, this round of the 2005 Donut King Australian Performance Car Championship can be seen on Trackside, Network 10, on Sunday September 25.

<pre> Provisional Oran Park Race Two Results 1. Garry Holt Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII 2. Barry Morcom Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII 3. Peter Floyd HSV GTS 4. Ric Shaw Mazda RX7 5. Beric Lynton BMW M3 E46 6. Mark King Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII

Provisional Oran Park Race Three Results 1. Ric Shaw Mazda RX7 2. Garry Holt Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII 3. Peter Floyd HSV GTS 4. Barry Morcom Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII 5. John Falk FPV MkII GT 6. Adam Beechey Nissan 200SX

Provisional Oran Park Round Results 1. Ric Shaw Mazda RX7 75 points 2. Garry Holt Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII 70 3. Peter Floyd HSV GTS 60 4. Barry Morcom Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII 60 5. John Falk FPV MkII GT 47 6. Gary Young Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII 43

Provisional Championship Standings, Post Oran Park 1. Peter Floyd HSV GTS 334 points 2. Garry Holt Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII 315 3. Mark King Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII 260 4. Barry Morcom Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII 218 5. Chris Alajajian Subaru WRX STi 188 6. Beric Lynton BMW M3 E46 186

-www.performanceracing.net.au

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