Johnson extends TA2 series lead with Sunday sweep at Winton

Jett Johnson won both Races 3 and 4 on Sunday at Winton Motor Raceway to extend his series lead in the PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Series framed by Hytek Steel Framing.

The first race of the day saw the safety car brought out on Lap 1 when IES Motorsport’s Paul Hadley was hit from behind by Kyle Gurton through Turn 2. Hadley spun into John Holinger’s Camaro which saw significant front-end damage to end Holinger’s weekend prematurely.

As the field circulated behind the safety car, Josh Haynes grounded to a halt at Turn 6 after a mechanical failure in the Elvin Group Camaro.

The field got back underway on Lap 7 as Jackson Rice and Mark Crutcher battled hard for fourth place. Rice passed Crutcher on Lap 8 as Crutcher went back down the inside at Turn 10 before the pair locked horns and drove off the track along the back straight with Rice's grill stuck to Crutcher's rear bumper.

Johnson scored a two-second win in Race 3 from CXC Racing’s Dylan Thomas and Tempest Solutions Camaro driver Zach Loscialpo. IES Motorsport's Graham Cheney finished a strong fourth from Murray Kent's Fit Flask Camaro and Masters Class winner Nicholas Bates.

Haynes, Rice and Gurton all started from the rear of the grid in Race 4 and charged through to third, fourth and fifth respectively, as Haynes earned the Hyperco Hard Charger Award for the weekend.

Johnson was unstoppable in the final race to win the weekend from Thomas, the Racetech Rookie of the Round.

Loscialpo brushed the wall on the outside of Turn 2 off the start and dropped to the back of the field before recovering to tenth to finish third for the weekend behind Thomas and Johnson.

Cheney won the Wildwood Big Broker Award, while Hass Racing’s Jason Hassett won the Bowden’s Own Best Presented Award.

Johnson extended his series lead to 65 points over Loscialpo as Thomas improved two spots you third in the standings, while Bates gained the lead of the Masters Class over Crutcher.

The next round of the PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Series framed by Hytek heads to Queensland Raceway for a round of the Northern Series on June 24-26

QUOTES

Jett Johnson, driver #117 NAPA Auto Parts, Ford Mustang

“I got in front and tried to extend the lead as much as I could in each race which is all we really had to do.

“It was a tricky track. I had done a fair bit on the sim, there were a couple of bits of the track which I thought were going to be quite easy which turned out to really only get my driving sorted by the last race, but we got there at the end and learn a lot.

“Thanks to NAPA Auto Parts, the Team Johnson crew and all our partners for their support this weekend.”

Dylan Thomas, driver #68 CXC Global Racing, Ford Mustang

“At The Bend we went third in each race and here we got a bunch of seconds, so there’s progression.

“We’ll get to first next round then won’t we? Queensland Raceway, Jett’s home track, we’ll go and take it away from him. Seems logical to me!”

“The car started off strong, made improvements over the weekend and got quicker and quicker. It was unfortunately in the last race, Turn 1 and 2 are very tight around here so we came back from last to tenth so still can’t complain.

Zach Loscialpo, driver #21 Tempest Solutions, Chevrolet Camaro

“The car is straight, little bit of damage to fix up before the next round but great work to Jett, Dylan and a great event this weekend.

“Thanks to Tempest Solutions and the Waltec Motorsport team for their support.”