Morgan Park Sprints – Round 4
By Geoff Noble, Photos by Gloria Wade
The usual LCQ Sprint diehards made the trek from Brisbane for the final round of the Supersprint Series and for the first time in 2014, Warwick turned on perfect weather for a full weekend!
We had Joe Arico, Clive Wade, John Flynn, Rob Stevens, and Jason Patullo running their Elises in the 0 – 2000cc Sportscar Class, with Martin O’Brien, Matt Plowman and myself in the over 3000 litre class, with the ‘ring in’ Mick Cullum in his turbo Birkin. John Barram had the Cheetah out for a run in the Racing Car section, with Greg Bray campaigning the 61 in the Formula Ford category. Mike Goodfellow also took time out from his regular overseas jaunts to dust off the Caterham. And, how could I forget, regular trophy burglar Wade Greensill in the M100 (Sportscars 2001 – 2000cc)
After the Friday practice (best value track time in Australia at $30 for the afternoon) most of us headed back to our regular haunt (Pitstop Lodge) to consume Thai takeaway and watch the NRL semi final on TV. As well as tell some lies. The real ‘hard’ individuals put up tents and camped. Then there were the folk in between who stayed at some sort of hut at the caravan park!
Competition wise, everything went well with Clive and Rob both getting PB’s early. That was until the final run on Saturday afternoon, when Matt’s diff cried “enough” and he was towed back in. Matt and Sally were going home that night anyway (some feeble excuse about having to attend a wedding!) and then Wade gave detailed instructions on who/how to collect his trophy, and he and Aston headed back as well. We then had the now traditional final round sausage sizzle and photo hand-out at the circuit Saturday afternoon. The departees left us a few short at the dinner table, but we made the most of it with our own private room at the Warwick Hotel for dinner, followed by a nightcap or two back at Pitstop and more footy on the TV. But only the real diehards stayed awake for the Singapore Grand Prix qually!
Sunday was more perfect weather, which saw John Barram starting to lay down some quick times in the Cheetah, Clive overdriving the car and reverting to his old trick of spinning, Greg getting on top in the Formula Ford battle, and Mick Cullum trying to get his gazillion horsepower, wannabe 7 to handle. The organisers pulled stumps reasonably early, which was understandable as local boy Matt Campbell was competing in the Porsche Challenge at Phillip Island and they needed to get things squared away so they could watch that race on TV. A couple of us stayed back and watched it too. That kind of rounded out a perfect weekend (for most of us) as Matt dominated with pole, 3 race wins, and a new lap record!
