Barry Nowell secured the 2024 Motorsport Australia Khanacross Championship in spectacular fashion, racing to his second title around Symmons Plains Raceway in Tasmania.

Nowell previously won the Khanacross Championship in South Australia’s 2022 edition, and was hungry for the win again in 2024.

Hosted by the Motor Sports Club of Tasmania in November, the weekend was held on a mixture of tarmac and gravel surfaces. Nowell led his Baxtec 23 to victory as the only non-Tasmanian driver of the weekend, representing the Geelong Motorsport Club.

“I previously have won the 2022 Championship in South Australia and came sixth outright at the 2023 Queensland event. I had also contested the Championship in 2013, 2014 and 2019 with no wins. So I was hungry for another win,” Nowell said.

“My main preparation for this event was developing a suitable tyre and suspension combination that would perform reasonably well on both surfaces.

“As I was coming to Symmons Plains for the first time, I took every opportunity to become familiar with the tracks, doing the track walks when available, and intently watching other competitors complete the courses.

“Every test run was unique, sometimes run in opposite directions but also with extra loops or chicanes, and different sections of the gravel track being utilised.”

Behind Nowell, it was Leigh Ford of the North West Car Club and Motor Sports Club Of Tasmania’s Lyndon Kettle who finished behind in Outright second and third place respectively, with a minute separating the top three competitors.

“After the first three runs of the event I was in fourth place, so I had some work to do. Some of my competitors also suffered some bad luck with time penalties and reliability issues, which allowed me to hold the lead during the second day,” Nowell said.

“Being in the lead just increased the pressure not to make any mistakes, it was a great relief when I crossed the finish line of the last test.

“The Championship in Tasmania presented a unique challenge, where competitors had to switch between gravel and bitumen surfaced tracks multiple times on the same day and tyres were limited to road-based tyres only.

“A total of 18 tests were run, resulting in over 33 minutes of runtime for competitors, which was an impressive amount for a field of 50 cars. Overall, a very challenging and well run event.”

Beyond the Outright title, there were many more victories to be had across various classes. Class B was won by Bradley Trenham, while Class C was awarded to second outright winner, Leigh Ford, Class D was won by Jason Street, Class F and Outright by Barry Nowell, and the competitive Class G won by third outright place-getter, Lyndon Kettle.

In the Junior category, it was Maklyn Midgley who was quickest over the weekend, wining the category and finishing 27th overall. Meanwhile, Joanne Woolley topped the Female category and finishing 38th outright.