Jarvis Regains TA2 Muscle Car Series Lead after Wakefield Win

Gold Coaster Ashley Jarvis posted two wins on Sunday at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park to reclaim the Performax TA2 Muscle Car Series lead after his two main championship rivals crashed out of Race 3.

Jarvis, Russell Wright and Hugh McAlister touched under brakes into turn two on the first lap triggering a chain reaction that put both Wright and McAlister in the sand trap and against the wall.

The safety car was deployed for five laps while the two Ford Mustangs were extricated, and while Wright was able to restart many laps down, McAlister was left to see his series points take a hammering.

After dominating Saturday’s proceedings and claiming a commanding win in race two earlier in the morning, Aaron Seton lead the field away on the safety car restart but was caught out by debris that remained on the track from the previous incident at turn two. This let Jarvis in the Lighthouse Electrical Camaro through for the win ahead of Brisbane’s Cam Sendall in the Equipment Services Australia Camaro. Sendall was later pinged for a restart infringement and dropped back to ninth.

Ford dealer Ian McAlister put on a stout performance to finish second with Seton third, Chad Cotton fourth and Mark Crutcher in the Crutcher Developments Camaro turned in one of his best drives to finish a credible fifth.

Dry blustery conditions set the scene for a final race showdown late in the afternoon, with Jarvis on pole for the 10 lap finale and Ian McAlister alongside. Jarvis started well, while Seton got by McAlister’s Mustang and closed quickly on Jarvis, lapping over a second quicker per lap.

With three laps to go, Jarvis held his nerve, going on to take the race win, round win and the series lead in the process. Canberra’s Chad Cotton passed McAlister for third late in the race after failing to start race one due to battery issues.

Peter Robinson and Cam Sendall finished fifth and sixth, while Wright came through from the back of the field to finish seventh, and Hugh McAlister limped around to salvage some critical championship points and minimise the damage to his title hopes.

Jarvis now leads the Performax Cup by three points from Wright provisionally, while Hugh McAlister dropped back to third.

“At the start of Friday I certainly didn’t think we would be in the position to win the round but I’m absolutely stoked,” admitted Jarvis.

“We had a few things go our way. Aaron [Seton] fell off the track in race three, and he was pretty nice to me in our battle in the last race but we’ll take it, a massive haul of points for my championship.”

“[Wright and McAlister] didn’t have their best of weekends but there’s still two rounds to go and anything can happen, this is motor racing after all.

“I’d like to give a massive thanks to my Dad for hauling the car down from Queensland, without him and the support from my family I couldn’t do it, and this result wouldn’t be possible without the support from Lighting Empire, Lighthouse Electrical, Nexgen Transport and Ormeau Physio.”

Round six of the Performax TA2 Muscle Series will be held at Queensland Raceway on September 15/16.