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.”

Kyle Gurton and Jett Johnson shared a race win each in the first two races of Round 3 of the PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Series framed by Hytek at Winton Motor Raceway.

Qualifying saw NAPA Auto Parts Mustang racer Johnson score his third career PWR Pole Award from Dream Racing Australia duo Jackson Rice and Gurton. Round 2 winner Josh Haynes qualified fourth after he brought out the red flag half way through the session after he skated off into the gravel trap at Turn 3.

Race 1 saw Gurton win a last-lap dash to the flag to score his first career circuit racing victory. Polesitter Johnson got the wholeshot off the start and lead until the first safety car period was called on Lap 5 when Rob Leonard spun his Access Line Marking Equipment Camaro at the Turn 5 sweeper.

Gurton took the lead on the first lap after the restart before another safety car was called the following lap when Chris Sutton came unstuck at Turn 12 after he and Murray Kent made contact. The Nuveau Constructions Mustang driver survived a last-lap dash to take the win ahead of Johnson, Rice, Josh Haynes and CXC Racing’s Dylan Thomas.

Gurton controlled the lead in Race 2 until a safety car was called on Lap 7 to recover John Holinger’s Camaro which was parked on the exit of Turn 4 with an electrical issue.

The field resumed on Lap 10 before another safety car was called when Chris Sutton slid off the track at Turn 4 and came to rest next to Jason Hassett who had a seperate spin at the same corner. 

With one lap remaining, Gurton fell foul to a mechanical failure on the restart as Johnson took the lead into Turn 1. Rice chased down Johnson on the final lap and made a move for the lead at Turn 11 as the pair went side-by-side through the final corner. 

The pair drag-raced to the chequered flag before contact sent Rice spinning into the field as Johnson took the win. The clash between Rice and Johnson was investigated but determined a racing incident.

Thomas came through to finish second from Tempest Solutions Camaro driver Zach Loscialpo, ahead of a personal best finish for Master Class leader Mark Crutcher in fourth.

The PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Series framed by Hytek returns for two more races tomorrow which will be live streamed on the TA2 Racing Australia and AMRS facebook pages.

QUOTES

Kyle Gurton, driver #2 Nuveau Group, Ford Mustang

“Race 1 was a fairly fast paced race up the front there with nothing left on the table and I was really happy to come away with my first ever race win.

"When I was in front for the restart, I knew the key was going to be the final restart when I was in the lead so to get the edge on the field off the start really set up for the rest of that last lap.”

“I pulled a couple of seconds on the field in the second race and started maintaining it and saving the tyres, but unfortunately a mechanical issue on the left rear at the last restart sent me back down the order.

“It was a big confidence booster and the plan was to build a gap in clean air and conserve, but that happens in racing sometimes and we’ll get ready to come back through the field tomorrow.”

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

“It was an interesting Race 2, a couple of safety cars but I got the win in the end but certainly not the way you hope to win one.

“Jackson [Rice] was fighting hard as you would expect from someone that close to the lead on the last lap, but a bit of contact coming into Turn 11 and then another incident on the straight was unfortunate but the racing is so close and competitive so we’ve got to be on our toes the entire weekend.

Jackson Rice, driver #37 Delatite-Ovens Ford, Ford Mustang

“It was a good race, I didn’t get a great start and fell back to fifth but we fought our way back through and made a couple of good moves and found ourselves in second on the last lap.

“I went for the lead and unfortunately got turned around, but that’s racing and we’ll come back tomorrow bigger and better. We’re enjoying it down here and fun, hard racing is what it’s all about.”

The PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Series framed by Hytek is back in action this weekend for Round 3 of the national series and the TA2 Southern Series at Winton Motor Raceway near Benalla, Victoria.

18 cars make up the entry list, with Round 2 winner Josh Haynes looking to carry the momentum after his round win at The Bend over series leader Jett Johnson.

Johnson holds a 38 point lead over Zach Loscialpo and John McLaughlin in the series standings with Haynes back in 11th after his first round was plagued by mechanical issues.

Johnson heads to Winton fresh off a Supercars evaluation day in a Shell V-Power Racing Mustang with Dick Johnson Racing, the team owned by his Australian Touring Car champion and Bathurst winning grandfather Dick Johnson.

McLaughlin, who scored two race wins at the last round at The Bend is missing from the field after selling his car to Victorian teenager Jackson Rice.

Rice, 18, hails from Albury and after racing go karts as a junior he stepped up to TA2 in the Trans-Am Australia series with the Dream Racing Australia squad this year. DRA stablemate Kyle Gurton makes his return to the TA2 Muscle Car Series this weekend fresh off a Supercars evaluation day with Erebus Motorsport at Winton earlier this week.

Gurton, 23, works full time with the Blanchard Racing Team in Supercars alongside his racing commitments. With experience in Formula Ford and Carrera Cup to his name, Gurton heads to Winton looking for valuable seat time in his TA2 Muscle Car Series return to bolster his Trans-Am campaign after placing fifth in last year’s series.

Series front-runners Murray Kent, CXC Racing’s Dylan Thomas and IES Motorsport’s Graham Cheney head to Winton in a tight battle for what will be effective third in the championship with McLaughlin’s absence, while Michael Coulter also returns to action in the Kobelco Mustang.

Mark Crutcher leads the Masters Series by five points from Nicholas Bates and Paul Hadley. with Chris Sutton, Michael Rowell, Peter Robinson, John Holinger, Jason Hassett and Rob Leonard completing the grid for Round 3.

Cars first hit the track for three 20-minute practice sessions on Friday, followed by a 20 minute qualifying session and two 12 lap races on Saturday, and two final 12 lap races on Sunday.

All of Sunday’s action will be live streamed on the TA2 Racing facebook page, with post-produced highlights airing on free-to-air channel 7Mate following the event.

QUOTES

Josh Haynes, driver #17 Elvin Group Chevrolet Camaro

“It was unreal for everyone to get over to The Bend and have good pace and have some good battles with John McLaughlin and Jett Johnson, it was a pretty cool experience and to get my first win the TA2 Series was not just unreal for me but for the whole team. We’re a small team who have put in a lot of work so it meant a lot for us.

“The standards between the drivers has been unreal, as you could see in Race 3 between Jett and I, it was close hard racing, we touched a few times but nothing too serious and you can still come out of the race with a good result and look back at it with some good memories.

“Sydney was hard and then The Bend was a great round for us so I’ve just got to stay consistent for the rest of the season and keep bagging good points and keep chipping away and hopefully get further up the front and by the end of the year be closer to the podium which is the aim.

“I came down to Winton four years ago when I was 14 in the Nissan Pulsar, so it’s been a change since then in the car and driving, so how we approach the weekend will be fairly different but really looking forward to getting on track.”

Kyle Gurton, driver #2 Micale Cabinets/Nuveau Group Ford Mustang

“The evaluation day with Erebus here at Winton was amazing. To drive my dream race car, the reality of it is still settling in, but driving something with that raw pace was incredible compared to a TA2 car.

“My journey in Trans-Am has been very up and down, as the pace improved in the field it’s really come down to the real minute one-percenters in the setup of the car, so the big thing for us is focussing on those and finding more pace from them, but our experience has been really positive as a whole in the series.”

“The idea for this weekend for us is to learn a bit more about the car and figure out a setup direction, obviously we don’t want to affect the championship that’s currently going on but depending on what happens whether it’s wet or dry we’ll just aim to keep our nose clean and work on getting our Dream Racing Australia cars quicker.”

SCHEDULE 2022 PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Series framed by Hytek Round 3 - Winton Motor Raceway, June 10-12

Friday Practice 1 - 10:45am (20 minutes) Practice 2 - 1:45pm (20 minutes) Practice 3 - 4:35pm (20 minutes)

Saturday Qualifying - 10:20am (20 minutes) Race 1 - 12:20pm (12 laps) Race 2 - 3:00pm (12 laps)

Sunday Race 3 - 10:40am (12 laps) Race 4 - 2:15pm (12 laps)

ENTRY LIST 2022 PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Series framed by Hytek Round 3 - National Series & Southern Series, Winton Motor Raceway, June 10-12

PRO, #2 Kyle Gurton (QLD), Ford Mustang - Micale Cabinets/Nuveau Group MASTERS, #3 Rob Leonard (QLD), Chevrolet Camaro - Access Line Marking MASTERS, #4 Mark Crutcher (NSW), Ford Mustang - Crutcher Developments MASTERS, #10 Peter Robinson (QLD), Dodge Challenger - Wagner Corporation PRO, #11 Michael Coulter (NSW), Ford Mustang - Kobelco/Sydney Truck and Machinery MASTERS, #15 Michael Rowell (QLD), Ford Mustang - Pacific Petroleum/Carroll Tyres PRO, #17 Josh Haynes (NSW), Chevrolet Camaro - Elvin Group/Gulf Oil PRO, #21 Zac Loscialpo (NSW), Chevrolet Camaro - Tempest Solutions/Excelerate Motorsport MASTERS, #23 John Holinger (VIC), Chevrolet Camaro - Holinger Racing MASTERS, #24 Nicholas Bates (NSW), Ford Mustang - Nicholas Bates Motorsport MASTERS, #26 Jason Hassett (VIC), Chevrolet Camaro - Hass Pumps MASTERS, #37 Jackson Rice (VIC), Ford Mustang - Delatite - Ovens Ford MASTERS, #50 Paul Hadley (NSW), Chevrolet Camaro - Illawarra Engineering Services PRO, #51 Graham Cheney (NSW), Chevrolet Camaro - Illawarra Engineering Services MASTERS, #68 Dylan Thomas (NSW), Ford Mustang - Sensational Kitchens/CXC Racing PRO, #74 Murray Kent (QLD), Chevrolet Camaro - Retro Motorsport/Fit Flask PRO, #117 Jett Johnson (QLD), Ford Mustang - NAPA Auto Parts MASTERS, #321 Chris Sutton (NSW), Ford Mustang - Motofit

The PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Series framed by Hytek is proud to announce it has joined forces with XS Injectors, a Melbourne Company now part of the Cooldrive family, in a two year arrangement as the “Official Injector” for the McLaren race engine that powers the growing series. 

After two years and over 3,000 hours of product development, coupled with a combined 45 years of performance fuel injector experience, XS Injectors have been designed to revolutionise flow testing and data matching and are the most accurate injector sets available. More than 6,500 flow points are recorded on each injector and the sets are matched within 1% for fuel flow rate and 2% for injector dead time. 

“XS Injectors are excited to be partnering with the TA2 Muscle Car series and are proud to see the competitors race with the world’s most accurate fuel injectors. High performance and attention to detail is in our DNA, it has been a pleasure to work with the TA2 category to develop a fuel injector solution that meets the high demands of the TA2 competition,” explained Simon Richards, Performance Fuel Injectors for CoolDrive Auto Parts.

Added Mathew Nilsson, Business Development Manager - Performance for CoolDrive Auto Parts, “I’ve been around Motorsport a long time, and its fantastic to see the series grow so quickly and offer such a great bang for buck for all competitors at every level. We are proud to be part of it.”

The TA2 engines are built by McLaren Engineering in the United States, and deliver 525 hp in the Howe Motorsport built PBR-spec chassis. The cars arrive in Australia as a turn key race car with excellent spares, back up and on-track service from Queensland based PBR Distributions, featuring current bodied Ford Mustang, Chev Camaro and Dodge Challenger race cars with limited aero and low grip Hoosier tyres to promote close racing.

“With the right treatment our engines are built to last up to three seasons, therefore we need components that are manufactured to that performance and reliability level. Given that each injector set is supplied with individualised tuning data and all are matched, we are guaranteed of the best all round performance from the moment you hit the start button,” said Cameron Sendall, the TA2 Technical Manager. “And it’s a bonus they are an Australian company that we can support as well.”

The TA2 Muscle Car Series is a six round national series which has also expanded regionally this year with the launch of TA2 West for competitors in Western Australia, plus additional Northern and Southern regional series to cater for the growing number of competitors on the East Coast alongside international expansion to New Zealand. It’s anticipated there will be close to 100 TA2 cars in Australia by the end of this year.

Round 3 of the PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Series framed by Hytek heads to Winton Motor Raceway in Victoria this weekend headlining the Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS) on June 10-12pm, with Sunday’s action to be live streamed online with post-produced highlights on 7Mate.

2022 PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Series framed by Hytek leader Jett Johnson experienced his first ever laps in a Supercar in a historic moment at Queensland Raceway on Monday.

Alongside his Supercars race-winning father Steve and multiple Bathurst and championship-winning grandfather Dick, Jett took part in an evaluation day in a Shell V-Power Racing Ford Mustang for the team which bears the name of his grandfather, Dick Johnson Racing.

The three generations of Johnson took to the Ipswich circuit first thing on Monday morning, with Dick leading Steven and Jett out onto the Dick Johnson Straight at Queensland Raceway, before an evaluation later in the day.

All sporting the iconic #17, the family were extremely proud to share this moment together. 

“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity which was presented by Ryan Story, who has all these great ideas,” said Dick.

“It was something special, and for me, seeing how Jett has been the last week or two, hanging out to get into the car, it was something special.”

Dick Johnson Racing Team Principal Ryan Story credited Jett’s efforts in the TA2 Muscle Car Series to earn his opportunity in the Supercar.

“Jett has got the opportunity today to do a driver evaluation day and that’s something he has earned, and the way he has earned that has been through all of the efforts that he’s been doing with his TA2 car,” explained Story.

“I mean he’s had many wins and great successes and has come along in leaps and bounds.

“He’s a very mature young man and someone we are very proud of as a team, and I know how much his grandfather and grandmother are proud of him, and Steve is still such an instrumental part in everything we do.”

For Jett, it was his first Supercars outing ahead of a Shell V-Power Racing Team evaluation day, and the significance of the moment wasn’t lost on the 17-year old.

“I think it was made that much more special that it was all three of us together,” said Jett.

“It was a little bit hard at first to take in because I was looking around and it didn’t quite hit me at first. It was something I’m never forgetting.”

“I think the biggest thing for me is just going to be not doing anything silly today, just going out and working with the guys on what to do, what to improve on, and just roll around and do some laps and try to learn the car a little bit,” he said.

Johnson also explained the differences to his regular #117 NAPA Auto Parts TA2 Ford Mustang: “It’s different in the sense that obviously all of the layout inside the car and right-hand drive. The tyre is different, the motor is different, everything is completely different, but at the same time, it feels familiar as well, driving it. It’s a bit of a weird feeling to be honest.”

Johnson currently holds a 38-point lead over Tempest Solutions Camaro driver Zach Loscialpo in the 2022 PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Series framed by Hytek ahead of Round 3 at Winton Motor Raceway on June 10-12.