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.

Nash Morris has clean swept Round 3 of the TA2 Muscle Car Series framed by HYTEK Steel Framing in a wild weather-affected Sunday at Queensland Raceway.

After a dominant win in Race 1 on Saturday, Morris lead the rest of the field away off the start in Race 2.

Michael Coulter ran into trouble through Turn 5 on Lap 1 and returned to pit lane with a broken throttle cable.

The safety car was called on Lap 2 when Chris Pappas and Nicholas Bates clashed at Turn 3, while Bates received penalty of five championship points for his part in the incident.

The race resumed on Lap 8, before drama struck again two laps later when Brad Gartner suffered a brake failure at Turn 4 and slid backwards into the infield tyre wall. Gartner was taken to the infield medical centre and cleared of any serious injuries. 

The field took the flag under safety car on Lap 10 with Morris taking the win from Haynes and Rice.

Morris scored a lights-to-flag win in Race 3 from Haynes and Thomas.

Michael Rowell spun out on Lap 1 at Turn 4 after having contact with Matt MacKelden, and received a three-grid spot penalty for his part in the incident.

Mark Crutcher spun at Turn 6 on Lap 2 after contact with Chris Pappas. 

Jackson Rice sat in third on Lap 6 until he dropped a wheel at Turn 6 and lost two positions, as Russell Wright moved up to fourth. 

Nicholas Bates recovered from his incident in Race 2 to move his way up from 19th to 12th, while Hayden Hume retired on Lap 7 with a gearbox issue.

The heavens opened on the formation lap of Race 4, as 12 of the 19 starters piled into pit lane to swap from slicks to wet weather tyres, including pole sitter Nash Morris.

Thomas and Haynes gambled to stay on slicks and lead the field away from Hugh McAlister and rookie Greg Keam.

Morris joined the back of the field on the first lap and proceeded to charge his way back into the lead by the third lap of the race, and produced a 30-second lead by half race distance.

Haynes and Thomas closed in as the track dried up in the closing stages, but the gap was too far gone as Morris hung on to win the race and the round on his series return.

In the championship points, Dylan Thomas extended his lead to 12 points over Rice, as Haynes moved up to third ahead of Bates and Cheney.

Hayden Jackson scored the Wilwood Big Braker Award for his strong overtaking moves all weekend, Michael Rowell scored the Bowden’s Best Presented Award, Greg Keam won the RaceTech Rookie of the Round and Russell Wright won the Circo Masters Class on his TA2 Comeback.

The Geoff Leeds Memorial Trophy, donated by Tony Quinn of Queensland Raceway, was awarded to Hugh McAlister for best displaying Leeds’ mantra of “Race Hard, Race Fair, Give Racing Room and Respect Your Fellow Competitor’.

Round 4 of the TA2 Muscle Car Series framed by Hytek heads to Morgan Park Raceway in Warwick, QLD on July 8-9.

QUOTES

Nash Morris, #67 Supercheap Auto / Norwell Motorplex Ford Mustang

“It was good to win every race and get the pole position here at QR.

“I think it was the right strategy call to swap tyres and start from the lane, but then it actually stopped raining, so I was second guessing myself, I was pretty lucky to hang on there but it worked out well in the end.

“I love driving in the wet, so I enjoyed it. It was full NASCAR style. I brought it in, thought I was in the Daytona 500, but it was pretty cool. Credit to the team, they’ve been giving me a fast car all weekend.

“Winton will be good next week, hopefully we can carry on what we’ve done here, but I have not really raced there before so we’ll see how we go.

Hugh McALister, #6 McAlister Motors Ford Mustang

(Geoff Leeds Memorial Trophy Recipient)

"It’s an absolute honour to win the Geoff Leeds Memorial Trophy. I think yesterday on the grid was an amazing celebration and ceremony for Geoff and I know a lot of people teared up on the grid and he was in our minds a lot of the weekend.

“It’s a real honour to take this trophy home, I’m absolutely thrilled.”

Supercheap Auto / Norwell Motorplex driver Nash Morris converted pole to a dominant lights-to-flag win over Josh Haynes and Dylan Thomas in Race 1 of Round 3 of the 2023 TA2 Muscle Car Series at Queensland Raceway, headlining the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series at the 2 Days of Thunder.

Morris set provisional pole in qualifying ahead of Dylan Thomas and Jackson Rice this morning. The last man out in the Top 10 Shootout scored pole position by nine-tenths of a second with a 1:11.6950 lap in the Supercheap Auto Mustang, with CXC Racing’s Dylan Thomas joining him on the front row.

Prior to Race 1, all drivers came together at the start finish line to honour the life of former TA2 Driving Standards & Prosecuting Officer Geoff Leeds, where Queensland Raceway announced that a Geoff Leeds Memorial Trophy will be awarded to the driver that best embodies Leeds’ mantra of ‘Race Hard, Race Fair, Give Racing Room and Respect Your Fellow Competitor’ across the weekend.

Reverend Steve Peach from the Southport Church of Christ lead a moments silence and a prayer before drivers returned to their cars for the start of the race.

Morris lead the field away off the start before controlling the lead for the remainder of the race.

Josh Haynes moved up to second past Thomas down the front straight on the opening lap, as Thomas closed out the podium from Rice.

Rookie Hayden Hume scored a strong top five finish over Russell Wright, who made amends after a two-place penalty in qualifying for impeding another car to move forwards from eighth to sixth.

Chris Pappas placed seventh ahead of Brad Gartner, who charged forward five positions from 13th, as Hugh McAlister and Nicholas Bates rounded out the top ten.

After missing qualifying with a clutch issue, Hayden Jackson moved forward from the back of the grid to 12th. 

The TA2 Muscle Car Series framed by Hytek returns for Races 2, 3 and 4 at 9:30am, 1:15pm and 3:05pm respectively. Race 2 will be live streamed on the TA2 Facebook Page while Races 3 and 4 will be shown live on SBS, Fox Sports and Kayo.

QUOTES

Nash Morris, #67 Supercheap Auto / Norwell Motorplex Ford Mustang

“It was a good race. It was pretty hot out there, I wasn't cruising, but I was still trying to manage my car for tomorrow. We’ve got a pretty big day of racing with three races tomorrow. I was still pushing pretty much the whole way through but I didn't want to take too much out of the tyres.

“We don't get too many tyres in the TA2 Series, so it's all about managing what you got and managing it over the weekend.”