In only his first full year of circuit racing, IES Motorsport’s Graham Cheney scored his first circuit racing championship win with victory in the 2022 TA2 Muscle Car Northern Series.

Jett Johnson lead the way after the first round in Sydney, but with Johnson’s eyes set on the national title, he was absent from the standalone second round of the northern series at Queensland Raceway.

There it was Norwell Motorplex driver Chris Pappas who took the series lead after scoring his first TA2 round win as inaugural TA2 champion Russell Wright won both Sunday races.

Round 3 returned to Queensland Raceway saw Johnson back on top, but with Pappas out of the equation it was Cheney that emerged with the series lead after running a strong second to Johnson for the weekend.

Newcomer Nick Lange also had a breakthrough round to finish third. Crutcher came home strong to top the Northern Series runners for the final round, but a consistent weekend for Cheney was enough to win the Northern Series by 18 points from Crutcher and Lange.

IES Motorsport team owner Paul Hadley finished a fine fourth from national champion Jett Johnson.

Nathan Herne made a lightning trip to the United States, with the support of TA2 and the series’ Technical Officer Cam Sendall. Herne was granted a wildcard entry for the final round of the American version of the TA2 Series at the Circuit of the Americas.

In addition to those racing commitments, Nathan also met with Chas Howe, the owner of Howe Racing Enterprises.

“I’ve had the chance to sit down and have dinner with the Howe family, which is pretty damn cool. I’ve been in contact with Chas Howe (owner of Howe Racing Enteprises who build all Australian chassis and my American chassis) since we started racing Trans Am in Australia, and he really has to be one of the nicest, smartest blokes I’ve met,” Herne said.

“He reminds me of a bloke from Lismore by the name of Danny Smith who helped myself and dad out a lot in the early days when it was just us working on the TA2 cars. Danny loved all Howe cars as they were similar to the cars he worked on in the States. So when we had our car in Lismore he was happy to help us out!

“Chas has some cool stories to tell about motorsport from all different points in history, he was telling me that the TA2 as a car has been sold in 20+ countries and has a running series in five of them. It’s pretty cool to think a formula like this has taken off so big around the world!”

Herne qualified 12th for the one hour race and made strong early progress to be in contention for a podium finish.

The two-time Australian Trans Am champion was battling for third place, only to make contact with his rival, damaging the front splitter and losing vital down- force. He soldiered on to finish fourth – an outstanding result amongst a 50+ car field.

“Well, that’s a wrap on the American trip! And damn, out of all of the racing I’ve ever done in my life, this American TA2 stuff – This is real motorsport!”

Tempest Solutions Camaro driver Zach Loscialpo scored his first circuit racing championship win with victory in the 2022 TA2 Muscle Car Southern Series.

The first round in Sydney saw Kobelco Motorsport’s Michael Coulter lead the way after the night race in Sydney, finishing third overall for the round with Loscialpo fourth.

Coulter crashed out at The Bend during Round 2, while rookie Josh Haynes stole the show. He took overall round honours after a thrilling battle with eventual series champion Jett Johnson.

Former Toyota 86 and production car racer Dylan Thomas finished second with Loscialpo third of the Southern Series contenders.

Coulter was back on form at the third round at Winton to lead Nicholas Bates and John Holinger in the Southern Series, but Loscialpo’s consistency saw him head into the final round in Sydney in the lead of the points.

Loscialpo sealed the Southern Series at the final round in Sydney, when he scored his first overall round win ahead of Coulter and Bates, while Bates bested Coulter for second in the series.