Regional News

2010 Industrie Radical Australia Cup - Round 5 at Wakefield Park

28th August 2010

Welcome to Wakefield Park in Spring!  A positively balmy 1 degree temperature in the pits as the welcome to Round 5 of the Industrie Radical Australia Cup.  How ever will we get tyre temp??!

Keeping steady and the car on track yielded results with the lack of grip and warmth.  Qualifying resulted in Ollie Smith taking P3, with Chris Medland in P2 and Peter Opie on pole.

Race 1
A little more track warmth – thank goodness!  At the start, Peter Opie bogged on the line and Ollie Smith took superb creative action, “Tokyo Drift” style! Ollie and Medland diced heatedly and made contact on lap 7 which both spun.  Greg Smith made a superb pass on Tony Haggarty and son Ollie to grab 5th spot on lap 13.  Meantime, Richard Bloomfield and series leader Nick Kelly staged an epic duel for the entire race, Bloomfield taking the honours to secure P2 and Kelly P3.  Opie took first.

Race 2
Another brisk morning for Sunday’s proceedings, how about -2 degrees on the drive to the track!  It was a zero-grip race and getting front tyre turn-in was the big challenge.  Phil Anseline, his usual “Mr. Consistent” self, avoiding the multiple spinners.  Final results were Opie, Bloomfield and Anseline.


Race 3 (Trophy Race)
What a brilliant finish to the weekend Race 3 was.  All drivers had their eye in and it was a personal best weekend race for all.
Off the straight Bloomfield got a slingshot to pass Opie, and they battled for 6 laps.  A highlight without doubt was the A.Haggarty/T.Haggarty intensive rivalry with both father and son never more than 2/10 second apart all race.  Father Tony took the honours to grab 8th spot to Simon’s 9th, just ahead of Greg Tasker who was making a return to IRAX after a 9 month lay-off.  Tony Palmer came in 7th and found the third fastest outright lap of the entire weekend.  Greg Smith chased son Ollie all he way but had to settle for 6th to Ollie’s 5th. Anseline was rock-solid in 4th, and Nick Kelly charged through the field to take 3rd.  Richard Bloomfield drove in second place, as added his second “Driver Excellence Award” to his runner up trophy.  Opie underlined his perfect weekend to take top spot.

Overall points for the meeting were:
OPIE - 49
BLOOMFIELD - 39
KELLY - 35
ANSELINE - 34
O.SMITH - 28
PALMER - 24
TASKER - 20
T.HAGGARTY - 20
G.SMITH - 19
S.HAGGARTY - 19
MEDLAND - 9

The series decider looks set for a wonderful crescendo at Eastern Creek on October 23/24.  TV coverage will ensure the biggest grid for Radical yet – can’t wait!



Photos by John Morris and Simon Haggarty