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2018 Season – Round 4 Preview!
We are on the eve of practice as the 944 Challenge hit the track to prepare for Round 4 of the 2018 Victorian State Circuit Racing Championships! Here is the preview for this round as we have a Throwback Thursday to Round 1 at Sandown in March this year. #28 Jamie Westaway – Jamie has taken the series lead in the 944 Challenge point score after a fantastic result last round at Winton with two race wins and a second position. Can he keep up the momentum this weekend and extend his point gap? #1 Cameron Beller – Cam had an uncharacteristic mistake which cost him the point lead at Winton with a DNF in Race 1, though he rebounded well to win the final race. He will be looking to repeat his Round 1 performance to close the points gap to Jamie Westaway. #74 Mark Taubitz – Mark had a great run at Winton earning a trio of podium finishes to strengthen his third position in the points. Can he keep that momentum going at Sandown this weekend and repeat his Winton performance? #64 Keith Marriner – Vaulting up to fourth in the points after a consistant weekend where he was third outright is Keith Marriner. Proving consistancy and finishing is the key to a good points haul, Keith will be fighting to keep himself in his well earned position as he continues tweaking and revising his car as he shrinks the ga to the front runners. #5 Lyndon Watson – Lyndon was again running well at Winton, though was cruelly dealt a DNF when a fuel pump failed in Race 2 after he led the first lap in the wet conditions, which dropped him back to fifth in points. A strong showing [...]
Round 3. Winton – Race 3
The Gods smiled on Winton for the first time over the weekend, as the clouds split to miss the racetrack for the the final race, which would prove to be the closest and most exciting race of the weekend. That is, apart from for Michael Westaway - who ground to a halt on the warm up lap and was unable to take part in the final 10 lap affair. Lucky to be on the grid was Lyndon Watson, after his team managed to cobble together a makeshift setup to get the car running, the crew getting the car finished and onto pre-grid with seconds to spare. As the lights went out, Jamie Westaway's 944 went into wheel spin, then popped out of gear and stalled, requiring him to re-fire the car, dropping him to the back of the field by the time he did so. This allowed Mark Taubitz through into the lead, with Cameron Beller following in his wheel tracks as a drying line began to emerge. Keith Marriner got a good start to leap into third position ahead of Andrew Jackman, with Lyndon Watson also starting well from the back of the field but unable to find a way past Jackman on the run to turn 1. Jim Mitchell was next through with Jamie Westaway leaving himself with a challenge as he got going at the back of the field. Into Penrite corner for the first time and Jackman made a move for third position with a pass on Marriner under brakes to take the spot, with Jamie Westaway doing the same with a pass on Mitchell for sixth. Watson also followed Jackman through and around the long way around the gum tree before then sliding underneath Jackman into turn 9, taking third position as the pair made the run down the [...]
Round 3. Winton – Race 2
More rain overnight meant a track that was just as wet and slippery as Race 1 would greet the field for the start of Race 2 on Sunday morning. A big repair job began after Race 1 on the car of Cameron Beller aided by the contribution of a taillight and rear hatch glass courtesy of Pedr James who was fortunately still at the track and braving the cold to take in the Saturday action. As the lights went out it was Lyndon Watson who got the power down on the grippier right hand side of the track, while pole sitter Jamie Westaway struggled to get off the line and was rounded up by Jim Mitchell and Mark Taubitz, and slipped back to fourth position with Michael Westaway, Andrew Jackman, Cameron Beller and Keith Marriner rounding out the field as they tiptoed through Turns 1 & 2. Watson began to bolt away while Taubitz looked underneath second placed Mitchell into Turn 4, but backed out of that move which allowed Jamie Westaway to sneak past around the outside of the snookered Taubitz in Turn 4. Jamie then scythed past Mitchell to move to second, and set off after Watson, who had already built a huge gap in the first half a lap. Taubitz followed the younger Westaway through past Mitchell to move back into third position, upon when Mitchell had a moment getting onto the throttle a bit too early coming onto the old back straight, and skewed towards the grass allowing Michael Westaway, Jackman and Beller through while he held onto the spot in front of Marriner. A mistake by Watson in the sweeper on Lap 2 allowed Westaway to pass and move back into the lead entering the top section of the circuit, with Taubitz closing up the gap to Watson also. Towards the back Mitchell had a [...]
Round 3. Winton – Race 1
The Winton weather forecast proved accurate for Saturday afternoon as the skies dumped a load of rain on the circuit to recreate the slippery track conditions from Friday practice. It didn't take long for the first surprise event to occur - in fact, treacherous turn two bit yet again, before the race would even begin. All were shocked as reigning champion and pole sitter Cameron Beller, testing the wet track on the warm up lap befell the same fate in the same way as those on Friday, as the car snapped sideways and slid into the old pit wall on the outlap, leaving car #1 on the sidelines for Race 1. We would certainly have a new race winner for Race 7 of the 2018 season! This left Jamie Westwawy all alone on the front row of the grid, and as the lights went out he scampered off towards turn 1. Behind him, neither of the second row starters went anywhere. Codey West lost all drive off the line as the car rolled about 50 metres, his weekend over. Mark Taubitz who was starting alongside him, stalled as the lights went out. The rest of the field did a great job avoiding the two stricken Porsches and West & Taubitz were no doubt glad it was a small field and all made their way past without drama. Thus it was Lyndon Watson who moved up to second, with Michael Westaway behind him in third position. Andrew Jackman moved up to fourth, with Jim Mitchell fifth, Keith Marriner in sixth position and Taubitz restarting and resuming behind Marriner at the tail of the field while the recovery crew did a great job to get West's car off the circuit without interrupting the race. Jamie Westaway immediately began to open up a gap [...]
Round 3. Winton – Qualifying
With weather suitable only for ducks on Friday causing havoc, the 13 car entry field was down to only 9 cars that could front up for qualifying for Round 3 of the 2018 944 Challenge at Winton Motor Raceway. Dick Howe, Tim Petrusic, Pedr James and Jim Gallagher all would not take any part in the weekend's racing, the latter three all out after making contact with the unforgiving concrete walls exiting the treacherous slippery surface out of Turn 2. The 944 field were first up on track on Saturday morning, with the track still wet from overnight rains, though the rain held off, which allowed for some competitive times toward the end of the session. Cameron Beller was the most daring on his first flying lap, and ran a time 5 seconds faster than the next closest lap, his 1:39.4810 was a huge distance ahead of second fastest Lyndon Watson who ran a 1:44.4680. Jamie Westaway was third quickest with a 1:44.9126 with Mark Taubitz fourth with a 1:46.2488. Michael Westaway was a little further behind in fifth with a 1:49.7221 ahead of the returning Codey West sixth with a 1:49.9751, just ahead of Andrew Jackman in seventh with a 1:49.9805. Keith Marriner was next with a 1:53.5259, with Jim Mitchell rounding out the runners with a 1:53.9574. Beller lowered his time on the second lap with a 1:37.4997 as the track started to get some temperature in it, with the remainder of the field starting to shrink the gap to they flying #1. Jamie Westaway moved into second position with a 1:41.8091, with Watson dropping to third with a 1:42.9497. Codey West moved up to fourth position with a 1:45.9631 with Taubitz dropping back to fifth after having a spin in the sweeper as he pushed the limits of [...]
2018 Season – Round 3 Preview!
We are on the eve of practice as the 944 Challenge hit the track for practice for the third round of the 2018 Victorian State Circuit Racing Championships! Here is the preview for this third round of the series for 2018, with another new driver having his first hit out for the year, though a few drivers are missing after attending the Sandown and Phillip Island rounds. #1 Cameron Beller – Cam has started his 2018 with a perfect 6 wins from 6 starts, though he was made to work hard for it in the last race at Phillip Island. Can he keep his winning streak going? #28 Jamie Westaway – Jamie has emerged as the biggest challenger to Beller for this year, and will be the shortest odds to end Bellers' perfect season thus far. Will he be able to top the podium this weekend? #74 Mark Taubitz – Third in the points after an encouraging start to the season, Taubitz had his best results last year at Winton despite missing qualifying and Race 1. He will be there for Saturdays action this year, can he challenge the top two runners this weekend? #5 Lyndon Watson – Lyndon had shown great speed this year and only lost his third position in the points when he spun off the road in the last race at Phillip Island. He will want to get back into that position and challenging the top two runners will surely be on his radar this weekend. #20 Andrew Jackman – Andrew continued his strong start to the 2018 season at Phillip Island, despite his spin in Race 3. Reliability has helped him into fifth in the points, and he will be aiming to break through for his first top 5 [...]
Round 2. Phillip Island – Race 3
The third and final race for the round promised to be the closest of the weekend - although the field size had depleted by two with Toni Andreevski unable to front for the weekend after his impromptu barbeque at the completion of Race 2, and Peter Doherty also not making it out for the final race. Off the start, and Jamie Westaway got the jump off the start on Cameron Beller to lead into the first corner, the first time Beller hadn't led into Turn 1 this year. Beller was on Westaway's tail, with Lyndon Watson holding third position off the start with Brad Winter slotting in next in fourth position. Tim Petrusic moved into fifth position, with Mark Taubitz in behind him after a strong start from eighth position saw him move ahead of Michael Westaway who slipped two positions back to seventh off the start, and Andrew Jackman in eighth position. Keith Marriner moved up to ninth position after a good start, ahead of Jim Mitchell, with Dick Howe back to eleventh after getting a tardy start, and John Vainoras in twelfth spot. Into Honda corner and the positions remained the same as Westaway pulled a tiny gap on Beller, with Taubitz having a look on the inside of Petrusic, while Michael Westaway dove deep underbrakes on the outside, though slotted in behind the Zantek car once more. Dick Howe moved his way past Mitchell under brakes to move back into tenth position. Through Hayshed corner and Tim Petrisuc had a mis-shift into fifth gear, and turned his dashboard into a Christmas tree of warning lights. Taubitz moved past and took the fifth position through Lukey Heights, while Westaway and Jackman also moved ahead into brakes for MG, as Howe, Marriner and Mitchell all followed through exiting MG [...]
2018 944 Series
Pointscore
| Pos. | Driver | Points |
| 1st | Jamie Westaway | 219 |
| 2nd | Cameron Beller | 204 |
| 3rd | Mark Taubitz | 198 |
| 4th | Keith Marriner | 164 |
| 5th | Lyndon Watson | 161 |
| 6th | James Mitchell | 153 |
| 7th | Andrew Jackman | 151 |
| 8th | Michael Westaway | 107 |
| 9th | Richard Howe | 100 |
| 10th | John Vainoras | 88 |
| 11th | Brad Winter | 66 |
| 12th | Marius Catrina | 54 |
| 13th | Pedr James | 48 |
| 14th | Rob Holding | 38 |
| 15th | Peter Doherty | 30 |
| 16th | Toni Andreevski | 29 |
| 17th | James Gallagher | 16 |
| 18th | Tim Petrusic | 0 |
| 19th | Codey West | 0 |
2018 Vic State Championship
Pointscore
| Pos. | Driver | Points |
| 1st | Jamie Westaway | 278 |
| 2nd | Cameron Beller | 264 |
| 3rd | Mark Taubitz | 230 |
| 4th | Lyndon Watson | 193 |
| 5th | Jim Mitchell | 149 |
| 6th | Keith Marriner | 149 |
| 7th | Andrew Jackman | 144 |
| 8th | Michael Westaway | 118 |
| 9th | Richard Howe | 103 |
| 10th | Brad Winter | 78 |
| 11th | John Vainoras | 58 |
| 12th | Tim Petrusic | 58 |
| 13th | Marius Catrina | 50 |
| 14th | Pedr James | 39 |
| 15th | Rob Holding | 38 |
| 16th | Peter Doherty | 18 |
| 17th | Toni Andreevski | 17 |
| 18th | James Gallagher | 12 |
| 19th | Codey West | 0 |
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