2008 MINI Challenge – Round 5 wrap up

Jason Bargwanna’s recent dominance of the 2008 MINI CHALLENGE continued in Round 5 with the former Bathurst champion taking a clean sweep of all three races. Bargwanna started Race 1 on pole and never looked back. Nathan Geier was equally as consistent starting the first race from P2 on the grid and finishing all three races in second place. Geier was desperately close to ending Jason Bargwanna’s dream run, finishing the last race less than two tenths of a second behind, in the closest finish of the series to date.

That left third place the only position changing hands throughout the meet. Todd Fiore was third in Race 1, ahead of brother Paul and Jason Bargwanna’s cousin Scott. Neil McFadyen crossed the line in position three for the second race, with the Fiore brothers close behind. The final podium place for Race 3 was claimed by Paul Fiore, with McFadyen and Paul Stokell finishing fourth and fifth respectively.

After the second race Bargwanna was full of confidence, “We’ve now won every race since the inception of this race team, it’s a real family effort and I have to thank them all for everything they’ve done to get us to this point. Today’s race was great, I got in front and thought about doing a bit of a form finish, but Nathan (Geier) was catching all the time. Next thing I look around and Scott wasn’t there! It would have been great to finish with the quinella – maybe tomorrow?” The Team Bargwanna form finish didn’t eventuate, but based on form from the last two rounds they are clearly the team to beat.

Neil McFadyen, winner of Round 1, was in his element as well, “It was an awesome race, just really good, close hard racing. There was a bit of biff and barge, but nothing too serious, it was all good fun! The M3 Motorsport team has made a performance gain this weekend, we were a little off the pace at the last couple of rounds, but we’re back on it now, which is great. We’ve also made some gains on the Series leader – our goal is to win the Series and this weekend has gone a long way towards closing the gap at the front.”

Television highlights from Phillip Island are scheduled for broadcast in a couple of weeks, so keep an eye on your local guides for the Seven Network. The next round is part of the V8 Supercar event at Mount Panorama in Bathurst, 9–12 October.

Jason Bargwanna receives his trophy from new MINI CHALLENGE Category Manager, Ted Toleman.

MINI CHALLENGE (Australia) SERIES Top 10

1. Grant Denyer – 648
2. Neil McFadyen – 642
3. Nathan Geier – 585
4. Paul Fiore – 549
5. Paul Stokell – 498
6. Gary Young – 411
7. Todd Fiore – 402
8. Jason Bargwanna – 360
9. David Turner – 273
10. Nathan Callaghan – 243