Victorian Drivers Series Rd1 – Report

Round 1 of the Victorian Drivers Series was held in the regional town of Wodonga, three hours north of Melbourne with over 90 entries for the event that was held on a red clay track which had been prepared by the small but enthusiastic club. Rain during practice and hot weather during race day meant that the track grooved up perfectly, giving the racers good grip with minimal tyre wear. In 2WD Modified  Ray Munday (Team Associated) took TQ from Simon Heally (Yokomo) and Matt Griffin (Team Associated). The finals were a 3-way battle with Ray, Matt and Q4 Mark Rogers (Team Associated). It came down to a last lap battle and Mark Rogers came through to take a popular win, with Matt 2nd and Ray 3rd overall.

4WD Modified had Matt Griffin (Team Associated) taking the TQ from Anthony Campbell (Team Associated) and Ray Munday (Team Associated). The finals were very close with a win apiece, Ray taking the overall win from Matt and Anthony in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

2WD 17.5 was the biggest class of the weekend with 24 entries. Current 4WD 17.5 national champion, Leigh Cheeseman (TLR)  took TQ and then went on to win A1 and A2 for a dominant victory. Mildura’s Dave Engledow (Team Associated) took a popular 2nd overall after winning A3, while Simon ‘ McHugh (Kyosho) finished a close 3rd.

In 4WD 17.5 Leigh Cheeseman followed up his victory in the 2WD class with TQ and wire-wire wins in A1 and A2 to sweep the 17.5 classes. Ben Howard (Schumacher) took a strong 2nd from Simon McHugh, making the podium in both classes.

In Modified Truck Andrew Adamic gave the new Xray truck a great debut, taking TQ and winning all three finals for his first TQ and win in the series. Damien O-Dea had travelled all the way from Adelaide and was rewarded with 2nd place with his Team Associated truck, with young gun 12-years old Jordan Isergin completing the podium with 3rd overall with his Team Associated.

2WD 21.5, a popular entry level class, had Matt Spencer taking the TQ and win from Mark Casey and Glen Grinter. Matt’s story is unique in that his racing gear was stolen in 2016 shortly after he started racing, but the community rallied together to provide him with equipment to race again.

The Junior scene continues to grow in Victoria, with new racers joining the 2WD 17.5 Junior class all the time. Mildura’s Tyrell McKenzie took TQ from Mitchell Isergin and Josh Ryan. In the finals, Tyrell took out all three mains but was pressured hard by newcomer Nathan Facciol coming from 4th on the grid in only his second race meeting. Josh Ryan took 3rd overall from Mitchell, Fletch Sims, Cameron O’Dea and Hope Densley. Showing the success of the class, the Modified Buggy A-finals included three racers who were in the junior class only two years ago – Carter Sims (13), Jordan Isergin(12) and Lachlan Munday (11).

Thanks to Ray Munday for the report.