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MINI Challenge

2010 MINI Challenge – Round 1, Adelaide

MINI Challenge, Rd1, Adelaide

The Australian MINI Challenge has been underway since mid-March, and the 2010 version is showing mixed signs. On the plus side the series has two title sponsors in Hertz and Pizza Capers. On the down side there are only six confirmed races, with the Gold Coast SuperGP only pencilled in at this stage. As yet there are no confirmed slots for live television coverage either.

Round 1 action was part of the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide and a highlights package went to air nationally yesterday afternoon. Paul Stokell is back to defend his 2009 title and Chris Alajajian looks to be his main threat in 2010.

You may recall the series got of to a spectacular start during Friday practice when emerging racer Chris Wootton made a MINI Challenge debut he would rather forget. I’m sure things will only improve for Chris throughout the rest of the year.

Over the rest of the weekend the racing in Adelaide was some of the best seen yet in the MINI Challenge. Although, there was a lot of contact between the cars and a lot of damage suffered as a consequence. As exciting as that is to watch from the comfort of one’s lounge room it must make for extreme discomfort in the hip pockets of the drivers and team managers.

Chris Alajajian managed to fight his way to top spot on the podium in Round 1 to get his 2010 campaign off to a great start. You can see video and pictures of the action after the break. Once you’ve watched the footage see if you agree with me in thinking the MINI Challenge organisers may not be so quick to invite Robbie Maddison back for a third appearance in the Uber-star car.

[Pics: Spherix]

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Audi MINI Challenge Motorsports

Short circuit

Clipsal500 - Chris Wootton rolls his MINI

The Clipsal 500 is currently underway in Adelaide. It’s one of the country’s biggest race meets and as well as the V8 Supercars there is a host of support categories. Series like the MINI Challenge and the Australian GT Championship are two of the higher profile categories.

As we know, motorsport is often filled with a lot of ups and downs. For Chris Wootton (pictured above), he got a bit of both when he blew a fuse and rolled his MINI at the chicane just after the start–finish line. He wasn’t the only one to short circuit at that corner, though. Sadly, Mark Eddy in his newly delivered Audi R8 LMS and Tony Quinn, in his Mosler MT900 GT3, also tasted concrete.

You can see all these incidents, and more, in the clip after the break. Fortunately none of the drivers were hurt in any of the accidents. There’s some beautiful machinery that’s been damaged and best wishes to the crews and team owners for a speedy return to competition.

[via V8TVNews | Thanks to Avril for the tip]

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MINI Challenge

2009 MINI CHALLENGE – Speculative calendar

2009 MINI CHALLENGE calender

I was just checking out the MINI CHALLENGE website and was interested to see this calendar listed on the site. To the best of my knowledge nothing official has been announced, but if these dates come to fruition then the second year of the Aussie MINI CHALLENGE is in for a very big year.

As you can see the first date pencilled in the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. A great way to kick off the year! The series will continue to support the V8 Supercars at most rounds, and while new events like Townsville and Homebush Bay have been added, it looks as though the iconic Bathurst round has been dropped. The MINI CHALLENGE also looks set to make a mark on the Gold Coast during the A1GP round. Wakefield Park in Goulburn also looks to have missed out on a repeat appearance for the single make series.

As with the 2008 season, expect some good television coverage courtesy of Channel 7.

AUSmotive expects changes to this calendar are likely and if you don’t see them here first, keep an eye on the official website.

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MINI Challenge

2008 MINI CHALLENGE climbs the Mountain

A case of better late than never with these two clips of the Australian MINI CHALLENGE at Bathurst. Of course, Mount Panorama circuit is probbaly the best in the country, and rates pretty highly as one of the best circuits anywhere in the world. It was fitting then that the racing here was some of the best the we saw in the first year of the MINI CHALLENGE.

Held over the V8 Supercar weekend 10-12 October, these two clips contain a few highlights from the Round 6 action, including full coverage of Race 2. Just watch as Jason Bargwanna strikes to claim one of the most opportunistic wins you’re likely to see.

The second clip can be seen after the jump.

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MINI MINI Challenge

Classic training debut for Trivett apprentices

MINI CHALLENGE - Bargwanna Motorsport

Motorsport categories are a great way to sharpen the skills of all who take part. Drivers, team management and mechanics are all put under the microscope during the intense competition of door-to-door racing. A relatively new racing category such as the MINI CHALLENGE is always going to provide new opportunities to those eager to learn. Two apprentices from Trivett Classic MINI Garage in Sydney were recently granted a chance to join the Bargwanna Motorsport pit for last weekend’s final round, held at Oran Park.

According to Jason Bargwanna his team’s two new charges Russell Hueffel and Anthony Wilcockson took to being a part of a professional race team like ducks to water, “We set them a few interesting tasks throughout the weekend and they handled them well,” he said.

“Nothing was too much trouble and they fitted in seamlessly with our team. It was a great weekend for them to experience motorsport for the first time. It’s not normal that someone is on a winning team in their first experience! This is something that we’re keen to continue next year with Trivett Classic MINI Garage and expand upon throughout the entire MINI Challenge season.”

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News

2008 MINI CHALLENGE – Round 8 wrap up

Neil McFadyen - 2008 MINI CHALLENGE champion

As reported earlier this morning, Neil McFadyen has been crowned the first Australian MINI CHALLENGE winner, seeing off a late season charge from DecoRug racer Paul Stokell. The Round 8 winner, Jason Bargwanna, showed magnificent pace after joining the series mid-season claiming a series high ten race wins. Oran Park was no different for the former Bathurst champ as he strolled home in the last race this morning by a lazy 11 seconds.

McFadyen ended up winning the Series over Stokell by just 24 points after a tense final race. Although the Sydney-sider in the Industrie Clothing MINI was playing the conservation game, he survived a scare on the final lap when the close following Gary Young received contact from Barry Sternbeck—almost taking out McFadyen in the process. However, he completed his lap and took the series win.

On claiming his title McFadyen paid tribute to his team, “I really have to give this up to the M3 Motorsport team. They have lived and breathed MINI Challenge since the Series was first announced and for some of them even to the detriment of their own businesses. It’s been a tough year for us and I’m really happy to be crowned a national champion once again. MINI CHALLENGE has been a fantastic series to be a part of and I’m sure it will only grow from here.”

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MINI Challenge

Neil McFadyen wins the 2008 MINI CHALLENGE

MINI CHALLENGE - Round 8, Oran Park

According to the race results as published on the NatSoft website, Neil McFadyen in his Industrie MINI is the inaugural Australian MINI CHALLENGE champion.

By finishing Race 3 in 9th place McFadyen has done enough in the final race of the season to hold off the late season challenge from DecoRug’s Paul Stokell. Just! Race 3 saw a one-two finish for Team Bargwanna, with Jason taking line honours ahead of his cousin Scott.

More details and final points tallies, as they come to hand, to be provided in a complete Round 8 wrap up.

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MINI Challenge

2008 MINI CHALLENGE – Round 8, Race 2

After two races at this weekend’s meeting, the 2008 Australian MINI CHALLENGE is still alive and will be decided in tomorrow’s final race of the year. Will it be DecoRug’s Paul Stokell, or will Indutsrie Clothing’s Neil McFadyen hold on to his current 51 point series lead?

With 60 points up for grabs for the win in race 3 at 9am tomorrow, Stokell needs a minor miracle to win the crown. Only a top two finish, with a McFadyen DNF will see him win the championship.

Sadly, there will be no television coverage of tomorrow’s race but this afternoon Race 2 was broadcast live on Channel 7. The first half of the race can be seen above, with the second half after the jump. Make sure you watch the second clip to see Justin Hemmes rolling the UBER-STAR car (more on Justin can be read in the Round 8 preview). Luckily, he walked away with nothing more than injured pride.

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MINI Challenge

2008 MINI CHALLENGE – Round 8 preview

MINI CHALLENGE - Neil McFadyen

This weekend sees the final race of the inaugural Australian MINI CHALLENGE series and, after a few bumpy moments during the year, the organisers must be rapt the title will be decided at the last round. Neil McFadyen, winner of the first Australian MINI CHALLENGE race, leads the series with a 45 point lead over racing stalwart Paul Stokell. There are 60 points up for grabs for a race win, and with three races to be held at Sydney’s Oran Park Raceway over the weekend there is plenty of motivation on offer for McFadyen and Stokell.

Stokell comes off a flawless performance at Symmons Plains where he won all three races, putting him right up in the title race. He has also got form on the board in stealing Series victories in the last race at Oran Park. In 1994 he defeated Greg Murphy in the final race of the Formula Holden Championship to be awarded the CAMS Gold Star.

Home track advantage, though, is in McFadyen’s favour this weekend. The M3 Motorsport team is vastly experienced at the South-Western Sydney venue, having tuned a wide variety of racecars to get around the technical circuit in the fastest way possible—plus McFadyen lives not far from the venue.

The teams will contest CarShowroom.com.au qualifying at 11:20 this morning (check for results on the NatSoft Race Results website), before the first two races on Saturday—the second of which will be featured as part of the Seven Network’s V8 Supercars coverage. The round will be complete on Sunday with race three, when the inaugural MINI CHALLENGE Champion will be crowned.

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MINI Challenge

2008 MINI CHALLENGE – Round 7 TV highlights

Round 7 of the 2008 Australian MINI CHALLENGE was held on 21-23 November at Tasmania’s Symmons Plains raceway, south of Launceston. Here is a five part television package including full coverage of Race 1 and Race 3 from the round. Also included is a brief interview with golf professional Stuart Appleby and AFL triple premiership player Jason Akermanis. Of course, Akermanis’ now infamous warm up lap rollover is covered in this interview, which can be seen after the jump in part 3.

The round was won by local lad Paul Stokell in the DecoRug MINI—a full wrap up of the round, including all results, can be read HERE.

The first clip, shown above, is the first half of Race 1. The rest of the race can be seen after the jump, followed by the UBER-STAR interviews with Stuart Appleby and Jason Akermanis. Race 3 comes next and is also split into two clips.

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MINI Challenge

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.

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MINI Challenge

2008 MINI Challenge – Round 7 Preview

Australian MINI Challenge - Jason Akermanis & Stuart Appleby

Round 7 of the inaugural Australian MINI CHALLENGE series takes place in Tasmania this weekend at Symmons Plains, south of Launceston. The UBER-STAR CARS will be filled by Western Bulldogs AFL star, and 2001 Brownlow Medallist, Jason Akermanis and eight time PGA Tour event winner Stuart Appleby.

Akermanis will be making his motor racing debut and knows he faces a huge challenge, “I’m excited about the opportunity, for sure,” he said. “In many respects, lining up on the grid is totally different to being on the MCG in front of 90,000 screaming fans, but there are similarities between racing and AFL, too.

“Both sports are about passion and dedication. I don’t think anyone has ever questioned the passion that I bring to anything that I’ve done in the past and I’m approaching this exactly the same.”

Stuart Appleby, however, has embraced his need for speed through competing in Targa Tasmania the last few years and building an enviable garage full of exotica (including the world’s only BMW M5 ute), but climbing aboard the MINI Challenge UBER-STAR CAR is an altogether different proposition. “I have fond memories of competing in Tasmania through the Targa event, so to return with MINI Challenge is going to be an absolute thrill!” Appleby enthused.

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