Well the title says it all…Wakefield Park in August is “Snow Bunny Time” to me! Anyone that has been there knows how bitterly cold it can be! But there is a twist to this story already! It seems that Georgie and I brought the sunshine with us! The State Champs had glorious weather all weekend which completely ruined my idea for snow bunning it up!

Justin, Georgie, Scotty and I all drove down the Friday night. Now Georgie and I have sort of started a tradition. We like to get roast pork rolls with extra crackling and gravy at one of the servo stops on the way to and from Wakie. We have got Justin hooked on them as well but Scotty not so much. Scotty took it upon himself to say “I reckon they won’t have Pork for us”! I was in disbelief in what Scotty was saying and told him “If you have jinxed us your in sooo much trouble!” After Justin felt it was necessary to scare me and nearly miss the turn off for the servo we rocked in and you wouldn’t believe it! Scotty was RIGHT!!!!! Much to my disappointment there was NO PORK! I had been so looking forward to a roast pork roll. We made the decision to go on the other side of the Highway to see if they had pork…This is how “full on” we get about these roast rolls! We all piled into my car and I proceeded to race around to the other side, much to Justin discontent and all I could hear was him giving me driving lessons from the back seat! Guess what happened next??? NO PORK on the other side either!!!! “OMG!!!! “ So in the end we settled for beef and I will now stop talking about the food and start talking about the motor racing!

We got to stay in a proper house and I was surprised to see how many motels were booked out for the weekend. I don’t think I will go into the story of what happened Friday night. But let’s just say Black& Pink bunny ears, Jim Beam and fishnet stocking are a hilarious mix and equal to good times in a house! haha

Georgie and I rocked up to Wakefield Park on Saturday morning with coffee/hot chocolate in hand and the place was bursting at the seams with race cars, transporters and trailers. With 10 categories running on the weekend you could understand why the circuit was heaving with cars ready to race. We went and set up camp with some of our favorite people the Southern Sporting crew. The Streets – John and Peter were there with the White Evo 3! It was Pete’s turn driving the EVO this weekend and he was doing an amazing job! We found Phillip (Kingsley) Lake in the carport opposite the Streets camp with his yellow Escort! This was my first time meeting Kingsley and it was an absolute pleasure. He did a fantastic job battling it out with another escort all weekend in the Under 2 Litre Class. Kinglsey sure knows how to block a car behind him and in the 2nd race they were having a fantastic tussle amongst themselves. Greg Tasker was doing a “come back” to the track with his Radical SR3 competing in the Sports Car class. It was good to see him back as last time we saw him was a few months ago in a cloud of smoke off the main straight at Eastern Creek with a blown engine so it was good to see him out amongst them all. John Walker was also making an appearance this weekend in the HQ Category. He said he was having trouble with the car and found a blown head gasket so had to make quick repairs on Saturday night with a “el cheapo“ head gasket from Repco and it lasted all of Sunday for him and reckons it preforms better than the expensive ones! We found Ryan Jagger also across from the Streets camp in the carports. Steve Jagger was doing some minor tweaking of the car Saturday morning and proceeded to grumble to me of the very heavy traffic in the practice groups the day before which wasn’t fair but Wakefield Park did try and fix that up to the best of their ability.

So with the Hello’s out of the way and the cars tweaked and prepped we waited for the groups to be called up to the grid in their respective categories for qualifying! I don’t know what it was about this weekend but it was on for young and old in every category. The grids where all very entertaining to watch and it must be due to the race meetings being so far apart for the competitors that they are just itching to get out there and have some fun! I must admit that I have a few favorite categories that I prefer to watch which are the Over and Under 2Litre classes and the Radicals! I was delighted to see that David Loftus was at the front of the grid in his “girly” (His words not mine) Toyota Starlet and he was hungry to chew up and spit out the current lap record for the Over 2 litre class at Wakefield Park! I had the chance to get to know the BSM crew over the weekend and they are a very professional, dynamic and funny bunch of guys! So with the grids set, Scotty camera ready for action and Georgie and I looking on in anticipation the Weekend was set for some awesome racing!

All the SSCC members qualified well and trouble free. Race 1 for Greg Tasker was great as he moved up to position 10th after qualifying in 13th and was peddling around doing 1.05’s in the 14 lap race (I wish I could do that). John Walker moved up to 4th Position after qualifying 5th in the HQ’s and doing low 1:18s on the track. Under 2 Litres category were all having their own little battles and Ryan Jagger held his 4th position throughout the race that he qualified in and kept the likes of Geoff Fear in his Nissan Pulsar at bay. Geoff was experiencing a miss firing issue all weekend and in his last race unfortunately blew a hole in the sump on the warm up lap. Kingsley in the yellow Escort did a cracking job of moving up 3 positions to 16th in his first race after qualifying in 19th position and cruising around doing 1:12s. Justin McClintock in the Sparco Toyota (Not a Lexus!) Altezza held his 11th position that he qualified in and was making the Altezza so wide on the circuit that Gillespie in the Honda civic had no chance of getting passed him. The Over 2 litre race was incredible, Lofty was driving the little starlet on 3 wheels around most of the track and due to not having much time to adjust suspension settings before the race the little starlet was bouncing off the ripple strips. Lofty experienced yet another gearbox breakage on Friday practice and spent all day repairing that instead of adjusting suspension settings. But there is a twist it seems that all that trouble was worth it. The gods were smiling and it wasn’t just down to his driving ability…Lofty broke the lap record by nearly a whole second, the previous record was a 1:06.2 and Lofty did it in a 1:05.53!!! (WOW!!!!!)And to top it off he won the race as well…I don’t think a Saturday at Wakefield Park gets much better than that! Pete Street qualified in 10th position and gained 2 positions off the start to 8th place. The Evo is such a rocket in its 4wd mode off the line and Pete soon found himself huddled up in a pack of Commodores and was on the defensive blocking and weaving as the Holden’s kept trying to attack from behind. For the first day of racing it ended well and with the sun setting we all decided to head off and have some nice dinner and stir up the other drivers on what was going to eventuate the next day!

I found Sunday morning to be déjà vu as Georgie and I rocked up to the track with coffee/hot chocolate in hand again and seeing all the hustle and bustle. There was going to be two races today and everyone had a plan! The looking of swiggly lines on the data logs the night before. The friendly stirring up of the guys that will be sitting next to you on the grid is all part of grass root motor racing and it’s what makes it great!

Race 2 was a bit slower for Greg Tasker in the Radical and he was still holding his 10th position but due to some oil down on the track from the last race his best lap time was a 1:07. (I still wish I could do that) John Walker on the other hand didn’t have a very good time at all and fell back to 12th position. Ryan in the bright green corolla was pulling out the tactical moves and went up to 3rd position! Gillespie in the Honda Civic managed to get pass Justin much to Georgie and my dissatisfaction and finished in 11th place. Kingsley was making the escort as wide as a house on the circuit to block the other escort been driven by Craig Wildridge. Kingsley wasn’t going to let him pass and finished in 13th Position and getting into the 1:11s! Now you seriously wouldn’t believe it that Lofty wouldn’t be already satisfied with his winning lap record the day before, but David Loftus in the Toyota Starlet wanted to go faster and with a new pair of boots on the “girls car” he was set to try and see if he could do it… So what do you think happened? Do you think Lofty did it? Well I will tell you that later as for the moment Pete Street in the glimmering White Evo 3 is more important in the battle of 4wd vs 2wd! Streety managed to gain another 2 positions in this 10 lap race with those pesky Holden’s nipping at his heels throughout the race and he finished in 6th place doing great times of 1:08.

It was time for the Trophy races to wrap up the awesome weekend of racing. I got to catch up with Tasker before his race and see how he was going. His MX5 is nearly ready to be brought out so look out for that in the next few months. Greg was back to 1:05s and came in at 13th place in the Radical in his last race for the day. Walker in the HQ was back on top of things and came 8th in his last race. Jagger held his 3rd position and Justin was battling it out with Gillespie throughout the whole 12 laps. Gillespie just had that ” little bit longer legs” on Justin from Turn 2 to Turn 4 and he couldn’t get passed him even though there times were so close. Kingsley went back to position 16th with a 1:12.3.The Over 2 litre trophy race and I haven’t forgotten to tell you! Did Lofty break the lap record in the previous race??? To answer that question! YES!!! He managed to get another .2 of a second out of the starlet and re-broke his already awesome lap record with a 1:05.30!!!!!But did Lofty line up on the grid for the last race? We watch the Over 2 litre cars drive out of the marshaling area and Lofty did a burnout off the line in pit exit and saw that he only left one black mark instead of two. He knew he had broken a drive shaft. So he bowed out of the last race and never lined up on the grid. Much to everyone else’s sigh of relief I’m sure (haha). Streety was sitting on the grid and waiting to pounce. He was off and doing very well until he had a spin half way through the race and moved back to 10th position on the grid where he stayed for the rest of the race.
What a weekend for warriors!!! Parts were broken, Tyres were spun and lap records were smashed! Sound like an awesome weekend of racing to me and hope to see you all again at the next round in October!

P.s Scotty and I attempted to get a roast pork roll on the way home and you wouldn’t believe it!!!! Scotty jinxed me again! No Pork AGAIN, They only had beef! I think I will have to invest in a sock for Scotty next trip down to Wakefield Park with me!