2008 MINI CHALLENGE – Round 7 wrap up

Last weekend’s MINI CHALLENGE racing at Tasmania’s Symmons Plains raceway had plenty of action at both ends of the field. Up front, former Tasmanian Paul Stokell had a dominant weekend winning all three races. However, at the back of the tightly packed field UBER-STAR driver Jason Akermanis got off to an eventful and rather embarrassing race debut by rolling his car on the warm up lap (see clip above).

Akermanis, often a human headline in the world of AFL, certainly attracted plenty of attention. Both he and Stuart Appleby had set solid qualifying times for Race 1, although both were starting from the rear of the grid. Appleby’s time was 1.3 seconds off pole, while ‘Aka’ was 1.5 seconds from the front. But Akermanis didn’t see any race action after his roll on the parade lap, although he did return for Sunday’s two races after a mammoth effort from the UBER-STAR team. The crew worked until 4am to have his car ready and to Akermanis’ credit he finished race 3 with his head held high, setting a best lap time of 1:03.7. His time compares well with the fastest lap from the race, of 1:02.9, set by former Bathurst winner Jason Bargwanna.

But it was Stokell creating all the headlines at the front of the pack, finally bringing an end to Bargwanna’s great run of consecutive victories by stringing together three of his own. Stokell’s success created the biggest impact on the series leader board as well, moving him into second position behind Neil McFadyen.

Race 1

After qualifying on the front row, Stokell was superb in the damp conditions and eventually took a comfortable win, “It was great to win again, it’s been a while! I think it will set us up nicely for the rest of the weekend” Stokell said after the race. “Bargs has been difficult to get on top of the last few rounds, so it’s good to be able to end his winning streak, particularly on my home circuit.”

The surprise packet of the weekend came home second in Todd Fiore (Shell Helix Ultra). The 23-year-old took out the pole position in this morning’s wet conditions and drove a solid race to take his best result of the year in second. Maintaining his series lead was Industrie Clothing driver, Neil McFadyen, who claimed the final podium position for Race 1.

This race was significant in that Paul Stokell broke Jason Bargwanna’s (Trivett Classic MINI Garage) eight race strong winning streak. The former Bathurst winner qualified seventh and advanced to fourth by the fall of the chequered flag.

Meanwhile, Akermanis was rather circumspect, “Well, I just went to warm up the tyres and next thing you know it got away from me and over it went! I’m most worried about my wife though – we have to cover the damage bill! The crew will have to work hard overnight unfortunately, but they’re confident that we can get back out there tomorrow and hopefully, I will be able to complete the race and put in a good performance. It’s a real shame, because the weekend has gone better than I had anticipated up until this point.”

Race 2

The second race of the meet is the familiar reverse grid start, where the Race 1 finishing positions from first to sixth are reversed. Stokell advanced from sixth placing on the grid in race two to take victory over Bargwanna (Trivett Classic MINI Garage) and Series leader, Neil McFadyen (Industrie Clothing).

Gary Young in the SALTA Constructions MINI started the race on pole in what was to be an exciting race. After leading away from the start, Young was rounded up by the field and missed a gear on the run to the hairpin. He then fell back into the clutches of a battle that included the likes of Scott Bargwanna (Trivett Classic MINI Garage), David Stillwell and Paul Morris, before the class of Stokell, Bargwanna and McFadyen claimed the three podium positions.

Race 3

Nobody was able to challenge Stokell out in front and the real interest for the final race was on where Series leader, Neil McFadyen would finish. Starting from third on the grid, there was more wheel to wheel action and McFadyen was shuffled backwards in the opening exchanges and eventually finished sixth. Bargwanna finished the race in second and Gary Young showed good pace to claim third.

The perfect weekend has allowed Stokell to leapfrog his DecoRug team-mate, Nathan Geier into second in Series points behind leader, Neil McFadyen. The Sydney-sider’s lead is just 54 points, less than a full race win, heading into the final round at Oran Park Raceway in just three weeks time.

Stokell was rapt with his weekend, as you’d expect, “What a great weekend—to come home and have such a strong performance here at Symmons Plains is always nice. There was a big contingent here this weekend supporting me and once again the DecoRug Racing team gave me a fantastic MINI Challenge racecar to work with. Series wise, it’s put us right in the hunt, too. I have won a Championship at Oran Park in the very last race of the season before (1994 Formula Holden Australian Driver’s Championship) and I fully intend on trying to do the same again in a few week’s time!”

McFadyen will be no pushover and is expecting a tough weekend at Oran Park, “I was pretty happy to see the M3 Motorsport team could challenge for the front running positions again. Naturally, I’m a little disappointed with race three, but we got caught up in some of the action heading into turn one which put us back, but we’re still on the podium. Paul had a great weekend, there’s no question, he did an awesome job out there. This weekend will make Oran Park one to watch! Paul has closed in on me, but it is my home circuit and I’ll be going for it!”

MINI CHALLENGE (Australia) SERIES Top 10

1. Neil McFadyen – 813 points
2. Paul Stokell – 768
3. Paul Fiore – 702
4. Nathan Geier – 690
5. Grant Denyer – 648
6. Jason Bargwanna – 630
7. Gary Young – 543
8. Todd Fiore – 471
9. Scott Bargwanna – 321
10. David Turner – 309