Despite battling a mystery 'bug' (he was still ill from the previous night) Paul Stokell stayed ahead of some fierce competition to win Race One of Round Two of the 2009 MINI Challenge at Symmons Plains Raceway today.
Stokell started from pole position in his DecoRug #27 John Cooper Works entry but it was Sydneysider Chris Alajajian who stormed to the lead in his Standox Astuti Motorsport #6 on the opening lap. "I cocked up the start," frowned Stokell, "Chris got the jump on me but I was able to get him back into the hairpin. I think local knowledge helps a bit at this place; I've made quite a few passes work there over the years. In the end I was able to open up some ground and go on with the win." Stokell pleased the large crowd by re-passing his younger rival and assuming the point position until the end whilst "The Chris" fell back into an engaging battle with Jonathan Webb and Grant Denyer. A critical placement of the right rear wheel for a split second on the grass mid-race saw Alajajian spear off the track unexpectedly where he wound up spinning and eventually nudging the tyre wall near the pit entry. "I was only a little bit too wide but it was enough to unsettle the car," frowned Alajajian, "from there all I could do was hold on." Chris battled back to finish seventh by the fall of the chequers. Jonathan Webb did a tremendous job to hold out the advances of Grant Denyer and Wood placed second in the Motorline MINI Garage #22 ahead of the spirited Seven Network personality and presenter in third.
Fourth home was Scott Bargwanna (ROCK Energy Drinks) who charged from the back of the field in a tremendous drive after turbo issues hampered his progress in qualifying. Trailing him home was team-mate Brendon "BJ" Cook in a career best MINI Challenge result for fifth ahead of livewire West Aussie Nathan Caratti who also had to battle through the field in the Glory Team Construction #10. Launceston Dunlop Distributor Bill Fulton did an admirable job to place 8th in the Bib Stillwell MINI Garage MOTUL Oils sponsored #8 in his debut weekend with the series. Queenslander Brendan Cook put in several spirited laps and moves in the Transquip Hire Motorline MINI Garage #43 in a confidence boosting result to place ninth after some great battles with Nathan Caratti and Steven Bradbury to name a few. "It was great to have a car fast enough to stick with the better guys," smiled Cook later, "I'm looking forward to improving my times in Race Two and getting more seat time at race pace."
Cook also relayed how a living legend of Australian Motorsport had given him some valuable advice prior to Tassie. "I got a phone call from Alan Moffat who helped me with a few things. I remember him saying specifically to be slow in and fast out when it came to entering corners at Symmons." Steven Bradbury was lively to say the least in tenth. "The adrenalin was pumping through my veins. MINI Challenge is one of the best things I've done in a long time. I made a couple of errors that cost me three positions with braking and gear changes but overall I'm happy. I improved my lap times by about half a second," enthused the Queenslander. Eleventh home was David Stillwell who holed out when he spun the BIB Stillwell MINI Garage #6 John Cooper Works entry in the first turn - effectively erasing all his good work after qualifying where he put the car on the third row. Stillwell was extremely fortunate not to get collected by the rest of the field. John Modystach finished 12th in the Prosurv #26 after admitting later he was out there purely to get laps in after sticking the car into the wall yesterday during practice. "I want to get into the 1.03's," he mused, "right now I'm the only guy still in the 1.04's so far so I'm keen to improve a lot tomorrow for the last two races."
QUALIFYING Paul Stokell was a smidgen outside a 1min 01.s get around with a super-fast 1.02.1375 in his DecoRug machine ahead of Chris Alajajian's late charge with 1.02.3714 in the Standox / Jack Hillermans Smash #6.
"I got a good tow from Webby (Jonathan Webb) in one place and put two really good sectors together so it was a fast lap but it's unlikely I could have got into the sub-61 second lap side of things," admitted the Tassie born speed star. V8 Supercar driver Jonathan Webb continued his improvement as he became more and more familiar with the front-wheel drive concept of MINI Challenge, winding up with the third fastest time of 1.02.5650. Grant Denyer was the only other driver to get into the 62 second mark with 1.02.5879 in the DecoRug #95 but his session was marred by an unfortunate coming together with UBER Star driver Steven Bradbury early in the session.
The two cars made contact mid-way through the final corner with the result seeing Bradbury firing off into the dirt on the main straight and ending his qualifying prematurely. "I don't think he saw me coming," reflected Denyer later. "I don't think it was a necessary move," Bradbury frowned some time after the dust had literally settled. Indeed the air between the pair seemed similar to the surface on which Bradbury had won a gold medal in 2002. Nathan Caratti was fifth with 1.03.6365 ahead of vastly improved David Stillwell who replaced a turbo after practice and credited his crew with a big effort. "The boys worked on the car until 10pm last night and we only got it finished about an hour before practice, so I'm very grateful for their hard work." The 2009 MINI Challenge coincides with the 50th anniversary of MINI in Australia. the gravel trap, all finished the practice session without incident.
