ENZED CMC ROUND FIVE/SIX

ROUNDS FIVE AND SIX OF THE ENZED CENTRAL MUSCLE CARS CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

As the teams from Enzed Central Muscle Cars (CMC) prepare themselves for their final meeting of the season, some will have a few questions running through their minds.

Where did it go wrong? What if I hadn’t tried that pass? Should I have waited till the next turn? Did I have the wrong car set-up? Do I need more horsepower?

There are probably a few more soul-searching questions that could be asked, but, when it comes down to the facts of the matter, motorsport is not easy, motorsport is fickle, and motorsport can make you go from hero to zero in the blink of an eye. A couple of drivers in particular will be presenting themselves with a different style of questioning. Those questions are more likely to lead them down a psychological path, a path of maintaining composure and serenity.

The reason for this is that Dean Hansen in his

Group 1 HQ and Shane Holland in his Group 2 Camaro head into the final round at the new Supercars venue of Hampton Downs with a points lead that has each of them holding both hands on his respective championship trophy.

At the beginning of the season, you wouldn’t have picked Hansen to be in the running. That’s not meaning to be derogatory; it’s just that when you look at the competition around him and the fact that he is in only his third season of motorsport, you wouldn’t have placed any money on him. Holland in Group 2 would’ve been a good bet, but Hansen in the yellow Group 1 HQ not so much. Hansen was certainly showing potential to be a points-stealer in his early seasons. He won rookie of the year in his opening stanza and has pretty much been a regular top-five contender ever since — but, to be clear about the situation, he is putting on the gloves and getting into the ring with the likes of Angus Fogg, Dean Perkins, and a host of other veteran drivers with amazing cars who are happy to trade punches all weekend long. However, in saying all this, regardless of who you are, your abilities, your history, your likelihood of being a top contender, it all means nothing if you don’t finish races. Remember: to finish first, first you must finish.

When the crews arrived at Highlands and Timaru in January it was Steve Noyer leading the way for Group 2 and Angus Fogg for Group 1. In fact, they were both doing so well that many were shrugging their shoulders in the belief that the champions were sorted and the meetings would just be procedural. Sure, there was still potential for successes and failures throughout the grid, but, going on form, it was almost a sure thing. That, of course, is where the predictions went haywire. Highlands and Timaru were season game changers and Timaru International Motor Raceway in Timaru was a major turning point in the Group 1 and

Group 2 fights. Not only were mistakes made, but valuable championship points were syphoned away by winners that nobody predicted would or should be.

Let’s sum it up as simply as possible.

Janine Douglas scored her first-ever win in the category, which was, without argument, a fantastic achievement and one that should be celebrated loudly. Andrew Sinclair stole a win in the big Plymouth Cuda — a car he borrowed from his dad because he had blown the engine in his Commodore. The returning Hugh Gardiner took a major spoil in his Camaro. None of that helped Angus Fogg maintain his Group 1 lead, and even though he topped qualifying and won the first race, this was completely nullified by his did-notfinish (DNF) in race three.

Then we had the other chap, the five-time champion Dean Perkins, who was unable to secure a race win at all — but he did successfully grab two podium spots.

That left Hansen. Timaru was not high scoring for him at all, but it didn’t need to be. Four races and the highest position achieved was fifth. Here’s the thing, though: he finished each race, which was all he had to do — staying on the track, taking a chequered flag from each outing, and watching his points tally increase.

In Group 2, Noyer had already lost the championship lead to Holland by the time they hit the Timaru tarmac. Highlands was a shocker for him, and he was never going to recover, as Holland finished well ahead of him on the leader board in every race.

Then, with the South Island foray behind them, came the penultimate round at Manfeild. This is not a highly technical circuit, but it does require horsepower and a smooth, calm ride — something that was right in the wheelhouse of Dean Hansen. However, he needed to put up a challenge nonetheless, and that would mean facing off against not just the regulars but also other drivers who had returned and, as always, added extra plots to the weekend of racing.

Greg Honnor was one of those. He is one of the CMC originals and every time he turns up at the track he is pushing hard up the front end of the field. He didn’t fail to impress this time around, either, with a third, fourth, and fifth on his tally. He is one of the toughest drivers to pass; if you manage it, you’ve had to earn it. Honnor nearly achieved nothing for the weekend, as he had to fly in a replacement rocker arm at the start of the weekend, along with another crew member to help with the engine repairs.

There were more veterans on show as well. Gary McKelvie and Bruce Dreadon had both arrived back after a substantial break. While they weren’t chasing trophies, they were nonetheless putting on a show for the crowd — and one particular section of the grandstand got to see a small display close-up.

Michael Eden had also returned in the big blue Falcon that he’s had it almost since new. It’s still circulating the tracks in anger, but it became a little angrier than usual when it had an electrical short in the rear during the first lap of race one. This set fire to the oil-tank breather, which in turn started to burn on top of the fuel cell. With a lungful of smoke, Eden pulled into pit lane and hurriedly gestured to the fire crews for assistance. He was a very lucky chap; aside from some blistered paint, a destroyed oil catch filter, and some severed nerves he was able to return.

Those returnees had little effect on Holland’s Group 2 fight, which would just be a case of needing to stay clean as there was no Noyer at the meeting and no other Group 2 driver with a real chance of catching him. To be fair, it could’ve been done, and not considered an impossible task, but it was highly unlikely to happen as a did-not-start (DNS) weekend would be needed for him to fail at his task. The thing is, Holland started and finished every race, and gained one extra-special bonus: his first race win in the category, coming in his very first season with CMC.

It wasn’t the same good news for Bruce Kett. His Group 2 Camaro had constant engine issues, and he ended up pushing it into the trailer after race three. This meant it was game over for Group 2; the

other drivers in the class would put up a challenge, but it was purely for the fun and adventure of racing rather than trying to secure glory — and, really, there is no better reason to be out there. Meanwhile, back in Group 1, something drastic needed to happen, something that would be somewhat unpleasant, but, without it, the chase would become virtually impossible when the final round gets under way at Hampton Downs. Perkins and Fogg needed Hansen to fail. They needed him to lose a massive number of points with a DNS, a DNF, or penalties, and, on top of that scenario, they had to find the podium.

The maths started well for Dean Perkins, who not only grabbed the top result in qualifying but also in the first race, winning from start to end. It wasn’t a surprise, as Perkins has always had a solid outing at Manfeild. For Fogg, it was a second position, but the crux was Hansen’s solid placing of fifth. During this opening challenge, there was more to watch than just those three drivers; two in particular were raising eyebrows. Craig Boote had made the journey north for basically his first-ever real run at the Feilding-based track, and he was honest in admitting he had a steep learning curve ahead of him. Where that story goes sideways is that Boote finished fourth in his first race there. He was somewhat helped along by the other driver that many took notice of: V8 Ute racing veteran Peter Ward, who bought Sean Fowler’s Torana. Ward was watching Boote during the practice sessions and noticed how terrible he was on the turns. After a few chats in the garage and some advice on braking zones and driving lines, Boote was able to turn the advice into pure magic. He secured mid-pack finishes in the two handicap races and a solid second place in the final race of the weekend. It was again quite magical. Ward was more than just an advice man, though. He completely muffed three of his four race starts due to it being only his second time racing the beast, and he is yet to learn the intricacies of the clutch-to-rev ratio — it’s no V8 Ute! However, he ended up with stunning lap times when he did finally get under way, and, while he spent three races playing catch-up, he was constantly passing other cars, and, to cap off his potential, he secured a third place in race three. Ward is a name to take note of for future seasons.

Returning to the championship battles, even though Paul Boden in Group 2 grabbed a second placing ahead of Holland in race two, it wasn’t going to change the status of their particular trophy chase. In Group 1, not even Fogg winning race two would be enough to switch things up as Hansen finished fourth.

As always, there is a twist in the tale — as stated earlier, this is motorsport and it is a cruel mistress. Perkins was down in the dumps for races two and three, old tyres and an overheating engine forcing him to back off the pace and not lay down the challenge that many expected. However, between races three and four the team decided to do some more research on the car to find out the cause of the heating problem — only to find that there was none; the oil temperature gauge had been giving a false reading.

Knowing that his engine was in fact fine, Perkins went out in the final race and did what we expected him to do on that circuit: he cleaned up the field, with his closest challenger Craig Boote coming in 4.2 seconds behind.

Fogg was taken out on a turn and thrown into the gravel trap. He returned to the race but finished eighth, his chase for the championship practically over.

What about Hansen? Well, he did it again by crossing the line in fourth. He now goes to the final round with an 80-point advantage over Perkins, and that makes things juicy. Both Perkins and Fogg could still win the championship, but for that they need Hansen to fail and they both still need to perform.

No pressure then.