Haynes wins shortened TA2 mini enduro at The Bend

2024 TFH Hire TA2 Muscle Car Series framed by Hytek series leader Josh Haynes scored two wins on the first day of racing at the Hi-Tec Super Series at The Bend, cleaning up the Driver A race and the first race of the AC Delco Tag Team Enduro.

After scoring Kubota Pole yesterday. Tom Hayman lead away during the Driver A race, but encountered a gearbox issue and failed to finish, as Haynes came home ahead of Hi-Tec Oils Camaro driver Brad Gartner and PHD Motorsport’s Graham Cheney.

TFH Racing’s Josh Thomas received a drive-through penalty for contact with Hayden Jackson and Tyler Cheney at Turn 6.

Super 2 star and Erebus Academy driver Jarrod Hughes grabbed the win in Race 2 for the B Drivers, chasing down early race leader Tim Brook.

TCR star Jordan Cox held third ahead of Elliot Barbour, while WAU Academy driver and Super2 driver Zach Bates got fifth ahead of Supercars endurance driver Todd Hazelwood.

With the average results of Race 1 and 2 combined for the first AC Delco Tag Team Enduro, Haynes and Gartner lead the field away off the start. The leaders went four wide into Turn 1, before Zach Bates ran wide and rejoined at Turn 3. 

Contact between Haynes and Gartner started a chain reaction into Turn 2 and 3, as Gartner was turned and collected by Elliot Barbour, Nicholas Bates, Chase Hoy and Domain Ramsay.

The race was red flagged to clean the track and recover the cars, with a nine lap race to the flag.

Brett Niall was turned at Turn 1 on the restart by Dean Lindstrom.

After his DNF in Race 1, Tom Hayman charged through from 21st to 2nd, as Haynes took the win, with TFH Racing’s Josh Thomas scoring his first TA2 podium in third alongside Todd Hazelwood.

The TFH Hire TA2 Muscle Car Series framed by Hytek returns to Shell V-Power Motorsport Park for Races 4, 5 and 6 of the AC Delco Tag Team Enduro, live on SBS, Fox Sports and Kayo.

QUOTES

Josh Haynes, #37 Herzog Steel Ford Mustang

“There was a fair bit of rough and tumble there, but the Hertzog Steel Mustang was really quick.

“First of all, just want to say sorry to whoever was involved in that crash, you don't like to see that. 

“It was a really good race. We just wanted to focus on getting our head down and trying to build a gap, which we did, had a nice pit stop and then came out and I saw Tommy Hayman. I knew he would have been coming because he had some better tyres onboard.

“Really happy, the team's done an awesome job and looking forward to tomorrow.” 

Tom Hayman, #30 Di Prinzio Concreting Ford Mustang

“What a race. I definitely didn't think we'd end up here at the start of the race but the boys did an amazing job in the pit stop, obviously never done a pit stop before. That was an absolutely awesome race, caught Josh at the end, didn't quite get there, but yeah, it was awesome. 

“It'll be interesting going in tomorrow. Not sure where we'll start, but obviously the car's really quick, so I'm sure we'll be able to fight from wherever we are.”

Todd Hazelwood, #169 TFH Hire Ford Mustang 

“That first lap was pretty wild, I'm not gonna lie. I got really lucky being around the outside for the first three corners.

“I managed to get a really good jump, got a good reaction on the lights there in going to turn 1. I think we were like 4 or 5 wide at one point, so just had to go brave, go tough around the outside. I had two wheels in the dirt trying to avoid all the chaos and I think it was Gartner that was up the inside of me and I was sort of three wide and felt a hit and then looked in the mirror and saw chaos. 

“Never nice to see cars all damaged, but I guess from our point of view at TFH Racing, we're super stoked. Back on the podium, we've had a really tough couple of days and to now bounce back, we made a heap of changes, we sorted out the engine and here we are on the podium.

Josh Thomas, #169 TFH Hire Ford Mustang

“It was awesome. The car was definitely a lot different to the majority of the weekend we've had so far. It's been pretty terrible for us, but obviously having Toddy go out first helped out, and I almost actually sold it on the first corner on the out lap, almost went in the gravel because I got excited, but managed to stick together and hold out young Tyler Cheney, who I also got to say he's unbelievable.,16 and he was on my tail.”

“Thanks to Todd and thanks to the team, really looking forward to tomorrow.”