ROUND 1 - AVALON RACEWAY 6TH OCTOBER 2019

Well JQMV family, that is the first day of racing for the season, run and won! Here is my first go at a write up for our page, I’ll try and keep it short...ish 😜
Firstly, let me say it wasn’t perfectly smooth sailing for the first day on the calendar...but we’ll iron the bugs out as we go... for a start, there won’t be a burnout comp on next door every week! But, with the help of our committee and plenty of other volunteers along the way, we got it done. We had some excellent driving, lots of skill on show and in pretty good time, too!
We had an excellent car count for round one. 29 cars in total.
4 novices showing that they are learning more every meet.
6 junior restricted drivers who continue to develop their craft.
8 open 120 drivers who relish the speed of the fully open throttle.
And in our senior 160 class, we had 11 drivers showing off their skill, their race craft and what the younger drivers can aspire to be! AND almost half our field in this class were rookies stepping up for the first time!!
So, let’s get to the racing.
Our young Novices saw some good competitive racing over the day and the final continued that trend. After earning their front row start, Stuart and Cruz felt the pressure of Roman pushing hard on the first lap to quickly take second place as Stuart settled in at the front of the field. Two laps in and Cruz retakes second place as he made the most of a small gap left open. Whilst the next 10 laps wouldn’t see a change in positions, it was definitely racy between those three drivers. Congrats to Stuart for his first feature win for the year and Cruz and Roman taking out the minor placings.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see as much of the Jnr Rest. class during the day as I’d like so I’m going on numbers here. There were a couple of youngsters stepping up in class here with a few “experienced” Jnr drivers getting some solid front running time over their heats. With their cars still restricted, it often limits a lot of overtaking in this class but a couple of moves during the heats showed that these kids can still improve their race craft and positioning to to be ready to make a move when the chance arises. Again, without seeing the final, it appeared the experience of the top few cars shone through with no positional changes through its entirety. Holly got the jump on Ryder off the start and settled in as first and second. Falling in behind was Chase, unable to reign in the front two cars. Great job Holly on your first feature win of the season!
Stepping up next is our open 120 class. These kids get to experience the full unrestricted power of their 120cc engines and the quality of racing suddenly jumps to another level! Something that is relished by a rookie stepping but can be daunting, especially as the field size starts to increase substantially.
We had two rookies starting from the rear today and both Eliza and Cody worked their way around the track nicely through their heats. There was plenty of solid racing through the day with some excellent moves at times paying off for a couple of drivers. None more so than the 55 car of Logan and the V1 of Arthur. Both cars deserving of their front row start in the final.
The final got under way and unfortunately, the track started to dry up, be among a little bit one lane. But that didn’t stop a dominant display at the front from Logan, who drove away for a commanding first up win for the season! Whilst positions didn’t change behind him, it didn’t mean there wasn’t entertaining battles going on behind him. All drivers pressing the cars ahead of them, sweating on any small error that would allow a sneaky inside pass. Arthur and Cody fought to the finish line to take 2nd and 3rd whilst Leah and Jamie were hot on their heels all race and also battling each other for positions! A great race to all.
Finally, as always, we finished the day with our 160 class. It was potentially our most interesting class for the day...and it did not disappoint! I say this as we had 6 “experienced” racers, 4 rear of field rookies, and the returning Mallacai who would start right at the back of the bus during the heats with a restrictor in.
Our heats saw the pole sitter take every win from out in front but every winner also finished a heat in the back half of the field! Behind the front couple, a lot of interesting battles were going on with positional changes a constant.
By the final, the track was, unfortunately, very dry and dusty and one lane. But, again, it didn’t mean there wasn’t interestin racing going on throughout the race. Jayden would sit on pole, topping the points, but only just as Zak, Zoe and Jett were all only a position or two away from taking pole themselves!
Off the start, an incident saw the 56 of Zak and the V1 of Jett drop back into the field substantially. Jayden raced clear off his pole start and Zoe and Jemma settled in behind. Chevy and Callan made the most of the hectic start to sit 4th and 5th behind them, always pushing for an opening. From that point onwards, partly due to the deteriorating track, constant yellows back in the field saw the race finish in a stop start manner. The top five would not change and there wasn’t even any lap traffic to contend with due to regular restarts. Congratulations to Jayden for his first feature win of the year! It was well earned in a tight field!
A couple things we do learn watching this race...in the senior class...you don’t want to make an error or you’ll drop back in the field quick smart! Also, these rookies all pushed hard and can contend with the contenders any day!
So, congrats to all our winners and place getters, as well as all our drivers out there today, competing in round 1 at Avalon. I was a solid start to the season. Good luck to everyone who is competing in round 2 at Daylesford! 👍🏻🏁