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Jason, who is Shea’s teammate, and drives an identical TC-class Honda Accord, was approaching a slower car in the multi-class race when the door was shut and he was left with nowhere to go but the edge of the track. What he hadn’t anticipated is that it would quickly turn into a slide across the grass, then catch his wheels in some obtrusive aspect of the terrain and initiate a series of seven gut-wrenching flips. Following a few positions behind was Shea, who watched the entire sequence unfold and can be seen driving her race car up next to his within moments of Jason’s car landing on its wheels. Jason walked from the car, was taken to the track medical center, and then to the local hospital, where he was diagnosed with some bruising, particular on his coccyx. There was no evidence of a concussion.
Second is the roll cage structure. The team knew how to fabricate a cage but wanted the strongest, stiffest cage possible. They brought in Brian Nightingale of Race Craft, a legendary cage designer and fabricator. Rumor has it that when Brian was four years old he was given a sent on Tinker Toys and immediately started building a roll cage. Seriously, it’s hard to find a top team on the Pirelli World Challenge grid where Brian didn’t have a hand in their cage design and fabrication.
The third factor Shea points out is that both car and driver are equipped with the latest safety equipment – internal padding, racing seat, harnesses, etc. Clearly a factor in Jason’s emerging from the car on his own power was his wearing of a HANS device. Shea is a big believer in the HANS device and suggests them to her students when she’s coaching them on track days. In fact, she became a HANS dealer just so she could have a few units in stock if a customer needed one, and as it’s not a profit center for her, tries to make them as affordable as possible.
On Sunday, the second day of the double-header, Shea still managed to finish 16th behind a phalanx of 10 factory-built BMW M235iR models, a Porsche Cayman, three factory-built Audi RS 3 LMS, and a Lotus Exige. Surprisingly her fastest lap was within about 3 seconds off the fastest of the BMWs, and was just 22 seconds in arears at the finish.
One, driven by team newcomer Sarah Montgomery, is a well-developed ninth-generation Honda Si. The second car is the new tenth-generation Civic Si driven by team stalwart and 2016 TCB Champion Tom O’Gorman, and was debuted at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill, and is also available from Honda Performance Development as a body-in-white.
As it was a two race weekend for the TCB class as well, Tom finished ninth on Saturday and 11th on Sunday. Sarah put in an excellent effort in her first Pirelli World Challenge with the team to finish fifth on Saturday and 10th and second Civic in a class dominated by Mazda MX-5s on Sunday. Shea Racing will next compete at the Pirelli World Challenge weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (formerly Mosport Park) outside of Toronto in both TC and TCA classes. It’s unknown at this time if and when the second Accord can be rebuilt. And building a new car in the middle of the racing season is a difficult task for even the best-staffed teams. So it remains to be seen when Shea Racing will next be entering a Honda Accord. In the meantime, Shea will continue to take on the challenge of the BMWs and Audis and do her absolute best to represent Honda, Bubba Burgers, her other sponsors, and of course, K&N Filters. | ||||||
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McConville’s ambitious weekend included all the racing he could fit into his busy competitive schedule. A grueling trip to Joliet, and rough race conditions did not deter the K&N-supported amateur road racer. This trip was an 18-hour drive to get there,” said McConville. “I’ve never been to this track, and it was going to rain all weekend.” Knowing that he needed time on the track, McConville had to get creative. “There was no Friday practice, so I signed up for some CCS sprints to get some seat time,” he said. McConville’s Saturday of racing was spectacular with two race wins.
In his Saturday Amateur GTO win, McConville had a fastest lap of 2:19.763. He bested the 2nd place finisher by a commanding 72.148 seconds. He also walked away with the Amateur Heavyweight Super Stock win with a best lap of 2:16.897. The rain continued for the Sunday racing at Autobahn Country Club. That did not dampen McConville’s spirits or his determination to perform well on the new-to-him racetrack. “Practice (on Sunday) was so wet that they opened it up to anyone and I was the only rider out there till they chose to start the races earlier,” McConville said. “I added a 5th race at lunch just to ride more, but I was starting dead last. The sprints were cut to 4 laps due to weather. ASRA races were cut to 5 laps.” In Sunday’s racing, McConville won the amateur ASRA Super Stock 1000cc race with a best lap of 2:06.187. Impressively, he also finished 4th in the expert wave of Super Stock. In the ASRA 600cc Sport Bike race, McConville secured the win with a super tight 00.014 margin of victory. Later in the day, McConville took 3rd in the Amateur Middleweight Sport Bike race with a best lap of 2:01.657.
“I finished 4th in two expert waves as an amateur. I was 2 seconds slower than (pro racer) Jason Farrell, and I’m the overall points leader for a region I don’t compete in, as it was a double points weekend,” said McConville. “I’ve never been to this track and I won everything I originally entered in. I’ve never had a club podium outside my home track. I’m now on top of the national ASRA series for points as well.” McConville may have summed it up best when he said, “There was a whole lot of awesome in this round!” | |||
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After a victory in the last round of the championship, Chaz Mostert backed it up this weekend with a second place finish in Sunday’s race behind Scott McLaughlin. Mostert admits it hasn’t been the strongest start to the year, but four rounds in the #55 Supercheap Auto Ford Falcon is starting to come on strong. “We're starting to find a base with our car but we've got a bit more work to do yet. It was good to bag some more points and get another consistent result so I'm pretty happy,” Mostert said. "It’s awesome to get another podium this year. It wasn't the best weekend overall but Sunday was pretty awesome. The boys worked pretty hard, we made some big changes with the car and got it back feeling good for qualifying, closer to what we've had for the past couple of rounds.” Fellow Prodrive racer, Mark Winterbottom, finished up in fourth place and is pleased with the progress the team has made ahead of returning to its test track, Winton Motor Raceway in two week’s time. “Changes overnight in strategy direction, going back to sort of what we had before Phillip Island helped today and has given us a good direction heading into Winton. Fourth is another strong result, I'm happy we've got some consistency going and that we're making gains so bring on the next one,” Winterbottom said. K&N-backed Holden Commodores also featured in the top 10, with Tekno Autosport’s Will Davison fifth and Garry Rogers Motorsport’s Garth Tander in ninth. Australian GT also saw strong performances for the K&N-equipped Audi R8 LMSs of Ash Walsh/James Koundouris and Kelvin van der Linde/Geoff Emery claiming second and third respectively in the second of two 60 minute endurance races.
"I knew that it was going to be about making the tyres live over the distance," said Walsh. "The end result is quite good – it's always happy to be up there running in the top five. You can't be disappointed with that." Van der Linde and Emery also close the gap to the championship lead, which now sits at just 28 points with two rounds remaining. "With every step we're getting closer and we've got a real shot at it now in the last two rounds. It's not necessary to go out and win every race – we're in it for the long haul,” Van Der Linde said. The Supercars Championship resumes at Winton Motor Raceway with the Winton SuperSprint, while Australian GT moved to endurance mode with the opening round of the Australian Endurance Championship at the Phillip Island 500. | |||
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“I’ve never won at the Spring Fling,” Warick said. “In fact, this is my first Spring Fling I’ve ever raced at. Everything was top notch, everything was good to go. It’s top of the line, you couldn’t ask for no better.” Warick, driving his Chevy Nova dragster, defeated Jason Lynch in the final round by less than one-thousandth of a second. Warick said he wasn’t sure of the outcome of the race until the win light came on in his car. He knew he beat Lynch off the line, his reaction time was 0.009 seconds to Lynch’s 0.013 seconds, and that might have been the difference in the race. The field for the K&N Spring Fling was determined randomly. There were 32 drivers invited to the event. The first two rounds, the test and tune day, whittled the field down to eight drivers. Warick said he won his first race comfortably. His second race was a little closer. His times were fast enough for him to advance to the final eight. “I laid down a good lap the first round,” Warick said. “Second round I missed the tree a little bit. Right after that I said we have to tighten it up from here.” Lee Dixon, Jeff Dobbins, Cameron Manuel, Brad Jeter, Chris Dean, John Taylor Jr. and Lynch were the other drivers to advance after the test and tune rounds. “First round I won comfortably, I was really good on the tree,” Warick said. “Second round, it was close with the guy I had to run.” Warick won his race against Dixon to reach the semifinals. Lynch defeated Jeter, a former Spring Fling champion. Dobbins beat Manuel and Taylor beat Dean. Warick faced Taylor in the semifinals. All four semifinal drivers were guaranteed at least $500. The winners advanced to the final and a choice of dragsters, an American Race Car dragster or Racetech model. Warick was out front for the entire race against Taylor, but it was still a close finish.
Lynch faced Dobbins in the other semifinal and won. In the final, Warick and Lynch had very similar runs. Both had great reaction times and it was a close race down the strip. Warick nosed Lynch at the finish line and won the first Spring Fling event of his career. He also won a supply of K&N oil filters. “It’s awesome,” Warick said. “It helps us out. It’s top notch, can’t ask for much better.” | |||
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