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N O I T I D E K O O B R A E Y THE w Comprehensive revie of all the year’s major motor racing action www.autoaction.com.au
Issue #1751
Dec 13 to Jan10, 2019
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FABS VS CHAZ
THE FIGHT FOR 2020 PENSKE SEAT
LATEST NEWS
CHAMP SET FOR LUDO-CROUS MODE Lacroix achieves first Supercars title as engineer, scarily predicts more pace from Scotty Mac next year By BRUCE NEWTON EXPECT NEWLY CROWNED Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin to elevate his driving to an even higher level in 2019. That’s the prediction of Ludo Lacroix, who also scored his first Supercars championship as a race engineer with McLaughlin despite a storied technical career in the category that stretches back to 2003. “Scotty is special,” Lacroix declared. “He is special in two aspects. I believe he is going to drive like a champion next year and that’s going to be one more step. “I think that his raw speed is not going to be lost and that is something special. I have seen a lot of drivers with that raw speed, but very few with the talent of keeping the car on-track.” Famous for his ‘Fronglais’ fractured English, French-born Lacroix has raceengineered two of the modern greats of Supercars racing – seven-time champion Jamie Whincup and people’s champion Craig Lowndes at Triple Eight Race Engineering. He clearly sees McLaughlin in the same
elite territory. “He is exceptional at one-lap speed and he is an exceptional human,” Lacroix gushed. “To combine both things is very hard – very, very hard. That’s why I think he has a great future wherever he goes.” Lacroix, whose full-time role at DJRTP is as competition director responsible for the team’s technical direction, will be in pit lane again in 2019 with oversight of both McLaughlin’s and Fabian Coulthard’s new Ford Mustangs. But the exact nature of his engineering relationship with McLaughlin is yet to be finalised. Lacroix is one of the most successful technical boffins in Supercars – and international touring car racing – history. Before designing a string of title-winning
Falcons and Commodores for Triple Eight in Supercars, he penned T8 UK’s BTCC winners after being involved in successful DTM designs. He is the technical mastermind of next year’s Supercars Mustang, coordinating the body design and chassis improvements with Ford Performance in Detroit and Tickford Racing. Lacroix has won the Supercars teams’ or drivers’ championships every year from 2008 as technical director at Triple Eight or competition director at DJRTP, but until this season, trackside race engineering success had eluded him. “It’s good to be saying I am a champion now in engineering-land,” he told Auto Action. “I was a champion as a technical director and I am now one as an engineer.
“I know I am one of the best – if not the best – in my business (race engineer) from all the years, but I couldn’t prove it. I didn’t really care, but now it’s a stone (weight) removed.” Lacroix had also engineered drivers to championships in the German DTM and British Touring Car Championship. While pleased with this latest achievement, Lacroix was still waiting for it to emotionally sink in. “I was really pleased and relieved for Scott,” he said. “For me, I am usually emotive, but I have not been emotive for it yet. “It will happen sometime, I don’t know when. Maybe it will happen (in a celebration) with Scotty sometime. I’m just ’appy for him and ’appy for me.”
TWIN SPRINGS BANNED
STANAWAY OUT AT TICKFORD
IN A statement released as this issue of Auto Action went to print, Tickford Racing confirmed that it has parted ways with Richie Stanaway after just one season of a two-year contract. Stanaway came into the Supercars championship with much hype after winning the Sandown 500 with Cam Waters in 2017 and a resume that included race wins in the key Formula 1 feeder class, GP2. However, in what was a lacklustre year Stanaway finished in the top 10 only once and placed 25th in the championship. It is believed Lee Holdsworth is strongly connected to fill the vacated position. The full statement can be read below: Tickford Racing and Richie Stanaway have elected to terminate their partnership. This decision is mutual, as team and driver believe it is best to part ways at this time. Despite a challenging 2018 Supercars season, we think highly of Richie and wish him well in the next chapter of his career. Tickford Racing’s 2019 plans continue to progress, and we look forward to announcing our driver line-up for the upcoming Supercars season in the coming weeks.
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THE DREADED twin spring is expected to be banned from Supercars competition in 2019. The decision, which was due to be ratified by the Supercars Commission on Wednesday (December 12), is designed as a cost-saving measure. But it might also save the sanity of a bunch of Supercars engineers and drivers who have grappled with the complexity of tuning twin springs for years. The move back to a single linear spring on each corner of the car will also align the main game more closely with Dunlop Super2, in which twin springs have been banned since 2012. That should make potential wildcard entries a less daunting step for Super2 teams to make. So, what is a twin spring? Well, it’s what it sounds like, two springs mounted together doing the job normally performed by one. Traditionally found on the rear of the car, they have been more often used at the front as well in recent years. Essentially, the twin spring delivers more tunability,
allowing the spring rate to be better controlled going in to the corner under brakes and then under drive exiting the turn. “It’s all about how you get that transition phase from your stiff spring to your soft spring and what point that comes in,” Dunlop Super2 2017 champion and 2018 Supercars rookie Todd Hazelwood told Auto Action earlier this year. “When you’ve only got a linear spring, you just have to compromise on your braking and your drive because you are only working with one spring. As a result, your characteristics are very simple.” The Matt Stone Racing driver said the complexity of the engineering debrief “multiplied by 10” with the twin spring. “It does your head in very quickly,” Hazelwood said. The reality is some teams struggle to get it right and expend a lot of resource undergoing that battle. Plenty of money is also spent in maintaining the many dampers required to work with an array of different spring rates. Alternatively, some teams
pay suppliers like Triple Eight to access their twin spring intellectual property. Supercars teams have already started testing linear springs in preparation for 2019. Testing of the new Xtrac P1293 transaxle has continued, too, with Erebus conducting further running at Winton last week in Anton de Pasquale’s Commodore. That follows on from outings by Nissan Motorsport and Brad Jones Racing during the enduros. Also expected to be officially confirmed by the Supercars Commission this week, the Xtrac unit will replace the locally developed Albins ST6 transaxle that has been in service since the 2013 introduction of the Car of the Future. The hope is the Xtrac
unit will be more reliable and cost-effective to service — and therefore cheaper to run. The same basic unit was displayed at the Performance Racing Industry show in Indianapolis last week, although Xtrac refused to talk about the Supercars version. Other issues expected to be addressed by the Supercars Commission this week include the Ford Mustang VCAT aero test (see separate story), tyre allocations and format changes for 2019. As the championship has one less round next year, there will be more green tyres per event. More three-part qualifying sessions are also expected. Full format details will be announced publicly after the commission signs off on them. BN
EX BRA CLUSIV ND C E: RE OUL D RA TURNING CE M KOR USSO EAN IN 2 019
SSANGYONG LINKED TO SUPERUTES By BRUCE NEWTON FRESHLY RELAUNCHED Korean pick-up and SUV brand SsangYong could join the 2019 SuperUtes grid with its new Musso dual-cab u te. Supercars and SsangYong management have had early discussions about a potential entry, but it is by no means a confirmed plan. “We have been approached by Supercars and we are talking to them,” SsangYong Australia national marketing manager Mitchell Wiley told Auto Action. “But it is no more than that right now. “It is very early days in the brand’s return to Australia.” Wiley is very familiar with the positives and pitfalls of motor sport – and, in particular, an involvement in the Supercars championship. His background includes a long stint with Mitsubishi Australia and its Ralliart division,
and more than three years activating Nissan Australia’s Supercars and motor sport involvement. Most recently, he spent a year at Toyota Australia as the manager of events, sponsorships and promotions, including the Toyota 86 Racing Series. Wiley says there are some real positives to associating the new SsangYong Musso with Supercars and the SuperUtes series. “The Supercars demographic has a strong fit with the Ute segment,” he said. He acknowledged SuperUtes had got off to a rugged start in 2017, with small grids, reliability issues and a series of spectacular crashes. But he was encouraged by the tone of discussions with Supercars. “They have come to us and been very honest about the situation,” Wiley revealed. “They know there are changes to be made and they
are going through that process.” Understandably, as an automotive brand relaunching into Australia with full factory backing for the first time, SsangYong has been inundated with all sorts of sponsorship proposals. SuperUtes is just one of many that have to been considered and even if there is a green light, the level of commitment then has to be resolved.
“We don’t know if it’s just a case of someone we have no connection to turning up to race a Musso or whether we go to the other extreme and offer strong backing,” Wiley said. The relaunched Musso is being offered as a 2.2-litre turbo-diesel dual cab pick-up. It is one of four models with which SsangYong is returning to Australia after a twoyear retail absence. The others are the Rexton SUV, and Tivoli and Tivoli XLV small wagons.
reach the aero downforce and drag numbers that Supercars prescribe,” he said. A high priority for DJRTP was producing an improved drag performance from the Mustang compared with the Falcon FG X, which Story contends is not as slippery through the air as the new Commodore. “Mustang’s been designed to be an evolutionary improvement on the FG X and, hopefully, we’d like to bridge the gap on the
drag number in particular because we felt that was an area that was particularly strong on the Commodore,” he confirmed. “Look, we won a championship in 2018. We are only looking for very small incremental improvements in efficiencies in the car that we are racing in order to be more competitive — to have both cars right up the front where we want them to be.” Bruce Newton
MUSTANG PASSES CRUCIAL AERO TEST THE FORD Mustang Supercar should be ratified to race in the 2019 Supercars championship by the time you read this. Outgoing Supercars technical chief Dave Stuart was due to present a report on VCAT aerodynamic parity testing of the Mustang to the Supercars Commission on Wednesday (December 12). From that should come the sign-off of its aerodynamic package to allow construction of six race cars to be completed in time for testing in mid-February and race debut in Adelaide two weeks later. The final step in the homologation process follows on from last week’s VCAT testing at Temora airstrip in southern New South Wales. There, the sole existing DJR Team Penske Mustang was lined up against a Red Bull HRT Holden Commodore ZB and Kelly Racing Nissan Altima. “All three homologating teams agreed with the conclusions [of the test],” Supercars spokesman Cole Hitchcock said. “The report will be tabled to the commission on Wednesday.”
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While there were some delays caused by strong winds and also early rumours of ructions as the testing got underway, by Friday the vibe was much happier. “It was good in the end,” a source familiar with the week’s events told Auto Action “I think we have three cars closer than we have ever had.” There was a suggestion at one point the Nissan might emerge from the process with a new rear wing, but AA understands this is not the case. Speaking after the Mustang left DJRTP’s Stapylton workshop for Temora, but before the test was completed, team boss Ryan Story expressed his satisfaction with preparation for VCAT. “We went through a fairly regimented testing period over a short period of time and we have come to have a great — even comprehensive — understanding of the car and the tuning tools we have available to us to ensure that when we arrive at VCAT, we can have the car
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Formula One
2018 Season Review
Y R A D N E LEG
S I W E L
After a seesaw battle with Sebastian Vettel in the first half of the season, Lewis Hamilton took complete control and went to win a modern historic fifth FIA Formula 1 World Championship. Auto Action’s Formula 1 expert DAN KNUTSON explains how it happened and ranks all the runners
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CCORDING TO the final statistics, Lewis Hamilton had an easy time earning a fifth F1 world crown. The Mercedes driver won 11 of the 21 races, visited the podium on five other occasions, started from the pole 11 times, scored points in all but one race, finished fifth or higher in those other 20 events, and racked up 408 points. Now take a look at Sebastian Vettel who finished second in the standings after earning 320 points in his Ferrari. That’s the points equivalent gap of three wins, a fourth place plus one additional point to Hamilton’s tally! Vettel had five wins, seven additional podiums, five poles, only one non-points finish, and was eighth or better in the remaining races. But Vettel started the season with a victory in the Australian Grand Prix and then won two weeks later in Bahrain. He was already 17 points ahead of Hamilton. But after round four, in Azerbaijan, Hamilton was four points in front, and by
Lewis Hamilton is now a five time World Driver’s Champion, beating arch-rival Sebastian Vettal to that achievement.
M Monaco, round six, ssix Hamilton had extended that th to 16. In the very next race, in Canada, Vettel won and moved a point ahead of Hamilton who crossed the line in third place. The tables turned two weeks later in France when Hamilton won and Vettel was only fifth. Advantage Hamilton by 14. One week later, in Austria, Hamilton retired with engine woes and Vettel now had a point over him. Then Vettel defeated Hamilton in the latter’s home race in Britain and extended
that lead to eight points. points The turning point of the season came next, round 11, Vettel’s home race in Germany. Vettel started from the pole while Hamilton lined up 14th, after a gearbox penalty. Vettel was leading when he made a small mistake in the rain and slid into the barriers. Hamilton picked his way through the field to win and move 17 points ahead of Vettel. And with that, Hamilton was off to the races. He won seven more times while
CHANGING TIMES FORMULA 1’S new commercial rights owner Liberty Media continues to put its stamp on the sport and business, as it evolves from the era of Bernie Ecclestone, who ran the show for over 30 years. “We are in the process of really building, or in some sense rebuilding F1,” said chairman Chase Carey during a conference call. “So 2017 and 2018 were sort of foundation building, and 2019 and 2020, 2021 will also be steps forwards. We actually feel pretty good about where we are.” Investments being made now will start to pay off in the next three years. “It’ll be a step forwards,” Carey said, “but we have a lot of plans in place. We believe the deeper we get into it, the more excited we are by the opportunities to grow the sport. We want to make sure we really prioritise building that value over maximising a short-term profit opportunity. But that being said, certainly in 2019 we do expect that we start to deliver on the opportunities that exist inside Formula 1.”
Daniel Ricciardo won in China and then Monaco (above) but after that a string of mechanical retirements destroyed his season. Kimi Räikkönen was a popular winner in the United States Grand Prix (left). Images: LAT
Vettel only made it to the top step of the podium once more. The German race summed up the season for Vettel and Ferrari – lots of potential but too many mistakes. Vettel’s chances of a fifth world championship slipped steadily away. Former Ferrari boss Luca Montezemolo reckons Hamilton would have won the title in the Ferrari. Hamilton and Mercedes, meanwhile, went from strength to strength in the latter part of the season.
SIX PACK
THE REMAINING four drivers in the top six teams were left to scrap for third through sixth in the drivers’ championship. Kimi Räikkönen scored a popular victory in the United States Grand Prix in this the final season of his second stint at Ferrari. It was his first win since the 2013 Australian Grand Prix. He could have had more wins in recent years but dutifully played the wingman role for teammate Vettel. Räikkönen has lost the peak speed of his early days but still is a consistent performer. Along with his pole in Italy, Räikkönen earned plenty of points in the closing stages of the season, which moved him into third place in the final points standings. There is no place for him at Ferrari next year, but Räikkönen races on by rejoining Sauber where he began his F1 career in 2001. Max Verstappen came under a lot of criticism for being too erratic in the early
part of the season. But he ignored that and insisted on doing things his own way. Yet later he admitted that he had turned things back a notch and actually went faster by going slower and therefore making fewer mistakes. He won twice, and finished with five podiums and a win in the final seven races, to haul himself up to fourth in the points. But for twists of fate, Valtteri Bottas would have won at least three times. A puncture in the closing laps took away victory in Azerbaijan. A late race safety car did the same in China, and Mercedes team orders did the job in Russia. Bottas was driving even better in 2018 than in 2017, but fate and an improving Hamilton meant that Bottas was the only driver in the six-pack not to win in 2018. Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top six after what he calls his toughest season yet in Formula 1. The Aussie had a mixed start with a couple of retirements, but he also won in China and then had a dream pole and victory in Monaco. And then things took a turn for the worse. Time and time again mechanical problems robbed him of points and podiums. All in all, he retired eight times, more than any other driver in 2018. He had more DNFs in one year than Hamilton has had in the whole turbo hybrid era that began in 2014! Ricciardo shocked just about everybody when he announced just after the Hungarian Grand Prix that he would leave Red Bull for Renault in 2019.
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s w e n Y A W D E SPE FARR HOPPS TO WIN
Image: Corey Gibson
DAVE GARTNER has won his fourth consecutive South Australian Super Sedan Championship at Borderline Speedway, Mount Gambier. The Penola driver led from start to finish from pole position to record the victory from Ryan Alexander and Jamie Collins. It was his sixth SA title and his first at the venue, where he won the 1998 National Street Stock title. “To win my sixth SA title was great. It definitely wasn’t the easiest of victories, as I was very conscious of looking after my car on what was a challenging track and holding off the pressure from second-placed Ryan (Alexander). But I just needed to hold my line and keep composed, and in the end it all paid off,” Gartner said. COULD A Ford engine be powering Sprintcar Donny Schatz in 2019? Tony Stewart Racing, who Schatz drives for, hope to have the legendary manufacturer’s engine in his Sprintcar ready for World of Outlaws competition in the next few months. “This is an extremely important project for Tony Stewart Racing. The accomplishments that Rick (Warner, chew chief) and Donny have achieved together have helped shaped the modern-era of Sprintcar racing,” Stewart said.
Image: 44Photography LISMORE YOUNGSTERS made a clean sweep of the podium in the inaugural RSA national Junior Sedan Championship. Josh Boyd, 17, won in his four-cylinder Toyota Corolla in the 20-lap race ahead of Brock Youngberry and Connor Reeves at Cullen Bullen Raceway, near Lithgow, in NSW. The Racing Sedans Australia (Inc) sanctioned junior class is the nursery for future speedway stars and Boyd, in his third season of Juniors, is keen to progress. “I will keep racing juniors for a while longer and keep enjoying them before I then go into a senior division. I am not sure what that will be at the moment, but all I know is I want to keep racing,” Boyd added. KAYDON IVERSON has warmed up nicely for the 2019 Australian Formula 500 Championship with a dominant win in the Cane Cutter Classic at Pioneer Park Speedway in Queensland’s north. Iverson, who won the 30-lap feature from James Kennedy and Kristin Brown, put two heat wins and a front row start to good use. Just days later Ryan Skennar repeated his result from the previous round of the Queensland Formula 500 Series, with another feature win ahead of Australian champ Liam Williams.
Image: Dean Miller KYE WALTERS has won the Ern Overall Memorial that doubled as the second round of the Victorian Modified Production Association’s Series at Ballarat’s Redline Raceway. Walters had a solid night with a win and two placings in his heats; he also won the pole shuffle and led all 30 laps to win the Memorial from Brock Atkins and Matt Nelson. TIMING WAS the key for Steve Jordan’s win in The Dream 30lap Production Sedan main event at Lismore Speedway. Jordan grabbed the lead late and was closely followed across the finish line by Brody Fraser and Nick Chilcott. Shane Whild recorded an upset victory at Margaret River Speedway, downing Phil Lycholit and Jack Favero in the 20-lap Street Stock Christmas Cup. And Mothar Mountain Speedway near Gympie in Queensland was the scene for the Street Stock City of Gympie title, won by Travis Hutchison from Peter Thompson and Greg Langton.
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Image: Ray Ritter A DRIVER whose name is synonymous with the venue has won the race that pays homage to the man who built Parramatta City Raceway. Finally, veteran Sprintcar racer Robbie Farr secured his first win of the season and his 46th win at Sydney’s Valvoline Raceway, after leading all 30 laps and taking out the fifth annual Sid Hopping Shootout. Farr’s pole position start came after recording the second fastest time in his time trial and winning his heat, setting him up as favourite for the pole shuffle and a flag-to-flag win. Troy Little went off to New Zealand to race with a good second in his pocket after shadowing Farr for the entire race, recording his first podium finish of the season, while Alex Orr also set a milestone with his career-best finish in a Sprintcar at Valvoline Raceway.
Earlier in the night multiple Australian Sprintcar champion Garry Brazier showed he’s still got what it takes by setting the fastest time of 12.622 in flight two of time trials. Little was the quickest overall with a lap of 12.099 in flight one. Farr’s form continued a week later with an unlucky runner-up place behind winner Matt Egel in the third round of Ultimate Sprintcar Championship at Murray Bridge in South Australia. Farr fell just short with a last lap pass by Egel to add his name to the list of USC SA main event winners. From position eight Egel had charged to the front late, in one of the most memorable Sprintcar races in the venue’s history. “I can’t believe it. We have been in the position to have won a couple of races here
over the last couple years, only to have something go wrong. I can’t thank my guys enough, with about five laps to go the car just took off. I had one chance to get by Robbie and I took it,” Egel said. Farr, who had started from the pole, lead all of the previous 29 laps and was understandably dejected following the race. “We didn’t really do anything wrong all night, but the lapped cars gave the guys behind me a chance and Matt took it”. Third place went to current points leader Luke Dillon, who now has three podium results in the three completed rounds. Fourth place went to Mount Gambier’s Steven Lines, who a week earlier drove from the rear of the field at Mount Gambier to a stunning win in the SRA series round and is possibly the form driver in Australia right now.
HISTORY BECKONS FOR SUPER TEAM IS THE pairing of multiple Australian Champion Kerry Madsen and Sprintcar powerhouse Krikke Motorsport set for Australian Speedway history this summer? With the extraordinary talents of Madsen aboard the KMS “Hot Rod” team manager Ryan Krikke is aiming for a Sprintcar Grand Slam with his super team. “It’s going to be a big season for us with World Series and all of the other blue-ribbon events on the calendar. Winning the World Series Sprintcars Championship, the Australian Championship and the Grand Annual Classic, which no driver has ever achieved in a single season, would be an incredible accomplishment, and we feel that with Kerry as our driver, we are a strong chance to make history,” Krikke said. “Between Kerry, Dylan (Buswell, crew chief) and Ben Griffin, who is a new addition to our crew, I believe that we have what it takes to have one of those seasons. “We have very lofty expectations, as we do every season, but this season seems slightly different. It adds a bit of extra pressure, but it has made me appreciative of the fact that we have Kerry on board and I’m really excited to
see what we can achieve.” Madsen, a four-time Australian champion, returns from eight feature victories in the USA. He will drive for KMS for a second time and is looking forward to his 2018-19 summer. “I’ve known the entire Krikke Motorsport team for a really long time and I had the pleasure of racing with them back in 2013, so I’m looking forward to becoming a
part of the team on a full-time basis,” Madsen said. “Being familiar with the team, I’m expecting it to be a really smooth transition.” Prior to his Australian campaign Madsen reflected on his American season. “We should have won more than we did, but it was still a strong year. You always look at missed opportunities, but in all reality we had a good year,” Madsen said. “For whatever reason we were missing something at the start of the year. Around June we got back to where we were (last year) and it was business as usual. To me it’s all about that balanced package and then the confidence comes. I look to get a nice balanced package. Once you get that package and everything sinks in, the wins will come. I’ve done it enough to know if you have good people and keep working, you’ll find it.” Image: Richard Hathaway
COREY COOL FOR CLASSIC DEFENCE COREY McCULLAGH is looking to join an illustrious list as he sets his sights on consecutive wins in the prestigious Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic in January. McCullagh, who stunned the Speedway world and raced to a comfortable victory in the 2018 Classic, is eager to be on top of the pod again, McCullagh told Auto Action. The 28-year-old Warrnambool driver, in just his fifth season of Sprintcar racing, fulfilled his childhood dream and upset his more fancied rivals to win. He started from position nine and grabbed the lead with nine laps to go to defeated American Carson Macedo and three-time winner Brooke Tatnell. Then followed past multiple winners Kerry Madsen and Steven Lines. Since that night and into a new 2018-19 season, McCullagh has been doing his “homework” on his opposition and admits that “things still need some tweaking” with his immaculate #V90 Maxim for his defence. “I’ve been struggling for car
speed. If I can get that feeling bbackk th thatt I needd th then I hhave no doubt we can go back to back, with a bit of luck on our side. “I have been watching videos of not only myself racing but how others do it. “I’m just trying to find out why they are better than me in certain ways and then just trying to work on it. I like to study photos and videos and tell what is going and then nut it out. “Because it is such a tough sport and everyone has different opinions on how to go fast, you have to be smarter about it and make the right calls.” McCullagh could again add to an amazing run of local success following Jamie Veal in 2016 and James McFadden in 2017, as the latest Classic Champions all who are Warrnambool based. McCullagh is very clear in his direction and eager to add more Grand Annual and general race wins to his resume, as he strives to match it with the best in his sport. “I love the Classic. You pretty much know where you are after it,” he said. “You should be able to leave that weekend knowing exactly where you are at and what you need to do to improve, and if you compete against the best it only makes yourself better. “That is what I strive to be, I strive to be the best one day.”
Image: Geoff Rounds
NASH NAILS FIRST TITLE AJ NASH rates his stunning win in the 2018 Western Australian 360 Sprintcar Championship alongside his favourite football team’s premiership victory. The self-confessed “sports nut” and one-eyed fan of the Western Bulldogs AFL football team said, “Both were on a par” and the recent title was easily the biggest win of his career. “Yeah, it was as good as the Dogs’ 2016 flag, well it’s level. I think the WA title might be just a fraction ahead as no one in my family has done it but they came close,” Nash told Auto Action. “I was stoked to win. Just super proud of our team and thankful really. By far the greatest moment was to hug my Dad and be able to say thanks to them for helping me get there. (It’s) just the beginning I think.” His maiden title win aboard the immaculate Colonial Motorsports J&J owned by Damien and Carolyn Baker, came after a patient drive in the 30-lap final from former WA champion Mitchell Wormall and James Inglis. At just 20 years-of-age AJ is part of Western Australian Speedway royalty. His father is Alan Nash, his uncle is Lee Nash and grandfather is the legendary Des “The Outlaw” Nash, one of the original racers in the early days of World Series Sprintcars. “It was always in the blood to race. Des
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Image: Richard Hathaway has a passion for racing. Growing up as a kid all he wanted was for us all to race Sprintcars. Just like Des did the World Series, it’s something on my bucket list.” During the early months of 2016 the Nash family were rocked. Just weeks separated Des’s passing and AJ suffering life-threatening injuries from a crash in South Australia. During qualifying in the national 360 cubic inch Sprintcar title AJ suffered third degree burns at Borderline Speedway, Mount Gambier, and was airlifted to Adelaide for surgery. “They were pretty major burns. I remember during recovery that I was determined to
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race again and I stayed hungry to comeback and compete,” Nash said. “That’s why the WA title means so much to myself and many close to me. I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs to get here. I can’t thank my family and girlfriend enough for their support through all those hospital trips and late nights in the shed.” During the nights working on his Sprintcar as well as combining university study AJ keeps track of sport, with an interest in AFL, NBA and NFL. “The NBA is my weakness. I follow the Chicago Bulls and the Patriots in the NFL. Any sport I can get my hands I’m there and watching it.”
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Image: Ray Ritter
AUSTRALIA VE VERSUS ERSUS WORLD KAIDON BROWN will lead an Australian team in the International Midget Series in New Zealand later this month. The reigning Australian Speedcar champion will be joined by Matt Smith and Scott Farmer to compete against some of the world’s best Speedway drivers. Competition will be held at Western Springs Speedway in Auckland and feature five nights of racing from December 26, finishing with the King of the Springs – Bryan Clauson 39 Lapper event on January 3, 2019. Australia’s team will compete against Team USA at all five meetings. Team USA will be represented by NASCAR stars Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and USA Sprintcar ace Tyler Courtney. “All indications are that we will witness some of the best open wheel midget racing we have seen at Western Springs. The team line ups are next level,” Western Springs promoter Greg Mosen said.
Image: Richard Hathaway
THE YAN YANKEES NKEES ARE COMING AUSTRALIAN SPEEDWAY fans sit back and get ready to witness the talents of America’s best. A number of Uncle Sam’s finest will appear in various classes across most states this summer with Sprintcar superstar Donny Schatz again featured. He jets into Brisbane for a fortnight of action at Archerfield from Boxing Day, while two of America’s exciting young talents are also coming to Australia. Teenager Gio Scelzi will make his debut early in 2019 and Harli White will also return for her second visit Down Under. Scelzi will be at Avalon Raceway in the annual President’s Cup on January 16 for car owner Domain Ramsay and his tour finishes at Premier Speedway, Warrnambool a few days later in the Sprintcar Classic. White, 23, makes her second trip to Australia to contest the USA v WA Sprintcar Speedweek that kicks off at the Perth Motorplex on December 26. Carson Macedo was runner-up in the 2018 Classic and has confirmed to again be in the 2019 Classic for car-owners Sean and Felicity Dyson. He is also scheduled to race in the final Scott Darley from mid January, while countryman Terry McCarl returns to run in southern Australia. Cory Eliason is returning to Australia and will drive one of the country’s best-prepared teams. Eliason will get behind the wheel of the Bunbury-based Diamond Bay Motorsport machine for the East Coast stint of their 2018-19 campaign. He’s a regular with the World of Outlaws and has had multiple wins this season during his 70 races in the USA. One of world’s best Micro Sprint racers is already in Australia. Californian teenager Jake Andreotti 16, together with father Jared, are already here for a three-week campaign driving for Perth-based car owner Jason Ryan which includes the Formula 500 Speedweek. He will be joined by fellow Californian Koen Shaw, who will be in a Mansell Motorsport machine. American Late Model veteran Billy Moyer has won most of the big races in the USA and he’s hoping Australia will be just as rewarding in early 2019. The 61-year-old Hall of Famer from Arkansas boasts a staggering 834 wins in his 41 years of racing, and will be in Western Australia from early 2019 as part of an American team in the annual Invasion Tour. He is part of a formidable USA list of Late Model racers including Jason Fitzgerald, Jeff Roth and Joe Godsey set for WA racing.
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