Queensland production car chargers head to home turf
5/08/2009 at 4:27:11 AM:
Queenslanders Lee Castle and Jake Camilleri will be looking to maximise their home-track advantage when the Australian Manufacturers Championship hits Warwick’s Morgan Park Raceway this weekend, in Round Seven of the Shannons Nationals.
Castle and Camilleri are front-runners in the Boylan Traffic Solutions-sponsored championship, one of seven categories taking part in Morgan Park’s first-ever national level race meeting.
A throwback to the formative years of the Bathurst 1000 which featured production cars in a ‘win on Sunday, sell on Monday’ battle, the Australian Manufacturers Championship features a diverse crop of cars.
This weekend’s 20-car field at Morgan Park includes models of different shapes and sizes from Mitsubishi, Subaru, Holden, Ford, Mini, Toyota, Mazda and BMW, all hitting the track in a class-based format.
Gold Coast resident Castle and Brisbane’s Camilleri are both race winners in the championship, having dominated their respective classes in rookie campaigns last year.
At a new venue for the championship, prior experience for the pair could help them move up the championship standings after mixed starts to the season.
Castle led his class and was second in the outright championship heading to Sydney’s Eastern Creek Raceway a fortnight ago, but a mechanical problem sidelined his Subaru WRX STi in Race One.
He recovered to claim a pair of fourth-place finishes in the subsequent races, but slipped to second in class and fourth in the outright points.
“We’ve done a lot of laps of Morgan Park, so we want to capitalise on that this weekend,” Castle said.
“It will be the first time this year we’ve visited a track we know, and it will be a new circuit for most of the other drivers.
“The tight layout will suit our four-wheel-drive Subaru, so we’re looking forward to having a strong round and clawing back some points.”
Castle drives for Gold Coast outfit Wilson Brothers Racing - headed up by experienced local competitors Cameron and Benn Wilson.
The team recently became the official motorsport ambassadors for the Cure Cancer Australia Foundation, a cause close to the brothers, who lost their mother to cancer 20 years ago.
Camilleri was one of the revelations of 2008, punching above his weight in a Mazda 3 MPS - a previously unproven car in the category.
In his first season aboard a production car, Camilleri regularly finished ahead of more powerful vehicles to win his class and finish fourth in the overall championship.
While Camilleri leads Class B after two rounds, 2009 hasn’t been all smooth sailing - he’s sixth in the overall championship after a mechanical problem in Round One and a crash in Round Two.
“We’re looking forward to our home round, and hopefully a change of luck,” Camilleri said.
“All of the signs are good, we’ve got plenty of experience at Morgan Park and it’s a technical circuit, which won’t give the big V8s a chance to use of their power advantage.
“Even though we’re racing in one of the slower classes, we’re chasing outright race wins, hopefully we can get some more on the board this weekend.”
Sydney’s Garry Holt (BMW 335i) leads the championship heading to Morgan Park, ahead of dual Bathurst 12 Hour winner Rod Salmon (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X).
The Boylan Traffic Solutions Australian Manufacturers Championship will be part of a seven-category program at Morgan Park this weekend.
They will be joined by the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge, Kumho Australian Saloon Car Series, CUE Production Sports Cars, Kerrick Queensland Sports Sedans, Rockpress Pacific Superkart Challenge and Holden Gemini Challenge.
On-track action starts at 8am on Saturday with racing from 1:20pm, ahead of a full program of races on Sunday from 8:30am.
Tickets are just $15 on Saturday and $30 on Sunday, or $35 for the weekend, while kids under 14 are free all weekend.
Yeh I was suppose to be out there with Allstar Tuning Boys who look after the Mps race car and my car??? But I got to work both days having last weekend off for the Dam cruise........
Yeah I was there on the Sat for race 1 and the long straight of Eastern Creek was a huge task to keep with V8's but then around the back he was all over them...
Race 2 was a disaster but the crew got him back out for race 3 and and Jake brought it home in the top 5...
I spent some time chatting with Jake and Joseph at the Creek and promoted OzMPSclub and informed them that there is a write up whenever there is an event...
Yeh I was heading down to Grand Prix this week,now that I have some cards to hand out off Rowan to push the club........ I have the boys who look after the running of the car at the races from Allstar Tuning as members with Ozmpsclub next step was the sales guys at Grand Prix.
we should see if we can get a decal on the car....
A press release that was sent to me from Mazda after the Eastern Greek round:
GRAND PRIX MAZDA RACING MEDIA- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 19 JULY 2009
Grand Prix Mazda Comeback Miracle
Australian Manufacturers Championship
Eastern Creek, NSW
An incredible effort by the Grand Prix Mazda team and a brilliant drive by Jake Camilleri aboard the Mazda 3 MPS were highlights of the second round of the Australian Manufacturers Championship at Eastern Creek Raceway in Sydney this weekend.
After a top ten result in the opening race, Camilleri was the unfortunate victim of an incident at the ultra-fast turn one, which saw the car extensively damaged.
With a short turn around between races, the Grand Prix Mazda team put in a sterling performance to see the car make the grid, with the crew rewarded with a brilliant drive to fifth position outright.
The first race was a tough affair for Camilleri, with the Mazda 3 showing tremendous pace on the flowing sections of the circuit, however losing out to the V8 powered opposition on the kilometre long front straight.
"It was incredibly frustrating being held up over three-quarters of the circuit, and the tyres were fried trying to stick with the big cars," said Camilleri.
The first Sunday race saw Camlleri mixing it once again with the class A cars, and after a strong start, was squeezed for room by Martin Miller's Holden at turn one at the start of the second lap.
"I did the right thing and gave him some room, but I was squeezed over the kerb on the inside.
"I spun and nearly rolled, I tried to keep out of everyone's way, but unfortunately I was hit by Bob Pearson's Lancer."
The car was extensively damaged in the accident, and retired on the spot.
All hands were on deck, with the crew working like clockwork to put the machine back on track with only minutes to spare, and they were rewarded with a brilliant drive, with Camilleri cleanly picking off the opposition to win class B with fifth overall.
Team manager Joseph Camilleri was clearly proud of his team and driver after the comeback of the weekend.
"This is the best team you could ever ask for, without them there is no way we could have made the start of the final race," said Joseph.
"I can't believe we changed so many parts on the car in such a short amount of time, and Jake well and truly paid the team back with his drive in the last race.
"We're really looking forward to our home race at Morgan Park Raceway, and with a bit more low down torque, it will be great.
The third round of the Australian Manufacturers Championship will be the first visit for the series to Queensland in some time, with the round scheduled for August 8-9.
Grand Prix Mazda Racing would like to thank Castrol, Esanda, Allianz and All Star Tuning Systems for their continued support.
That is awesome I might drop in to see the boys at their Brendale workshop in the morning. Need to talk to them about my dump pipe anyway and have a chat about the weekend.......
Bubble boy
Morgan Park Qld Shannon Nationals
from Orange NSW
, I saw the car with panel damage to the front passenger side from Eastern Creek at the Allstar Tuning workshop 2 weeks ago.
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