The Ballarat Light Car Club was one of the first clubs in Australia to return to competition under the Return to Race strategy, with 22 members entered in the Victorian event.
Taking place at Ballarat Airport, the 22 drivers had to complete six tests across the day with each test score adding to a total time and it was Ben McKee who comfortably won the club’s first motorkhana for the year.
Behind the wheel of a Subaru, McKee was too strong for his rivals as he won all six tests to enjoy a 14-second outright victory over Paul Gladman, while Peter Jowett rounded out the podium just two seconds off the runner-up.
Consistency saw Rodd Hall rewarded with fourth place ahead of Jake Gladman, with the latter giving McKee his biggest challenge over the course of the day, however a disastrous final test for the Ford Laser driver saw him knock two cones and out of contention.
Jordan McDonald was the best of the junior drivers, securing a top 10 finish, while Piper Sargent was the fastest woman on track – her campaign ending in 17th outright.
Click here to view full results.
After a highly successful outing, Clerk of Course David Haddon was proud to tick off a minor milestone as the country edges back to normality in motorsport.
“We had the perfect weather for it, we had more people than we expected with 22 entrants and we were working around the clock to have so many things go right, which was a nice feeling,” Haddon explained.
Photo: John Tonks
“I was so nervous on the day but everybody had a great time and we ended up with about five juniors, some women and even some new members which was really good. Benny won the event by a long way in his four wheel drive.
“A big thank you to everyone who helped out, especially my wife Christina and children, Paige, Brittany and Oakley – they worked really hard in getting this together. It was just good to see people enjoying themselves.
“As for the safety of everyone who attended - first off, we only had 10 people per test, we didn’t have timing cards, which worked a lot better for being able to score because we had one sheet and we also had plenty of social distancing, which was good to see.”
Also taking place over the weekend was the North Australian Motor Sport Club’s Test and Tune day at Hidden Valley Raceway in the Northern Territory.
More than 30 members rolled up for the club’s return to motorsport, with competitive drivers taking out their race cars for testing and other members getting a chance to drive on the track.
Photo: North Australia Motor Sport Club
Following the Test and Tune Day, the club’s Event Secretary Garry Dempsey was thrilled to be able to have a solid session ahead of a potential competition restart later this month.
“It was great to get cars back out on track and everyone was happy to be out playing with their toys again,” Dempsey said.
“The restrictions in place changed the way the event ran a little bit, but it still ran smoothly. Obviously we had no spectators which made it a bit quieter but otherwise it was a fun enjoyable day.
“A big thanks to the volunteers for helping with the event and members for complying with the COVID-19 requirements that we had in place.
Photo: North Australia Motor Sport Club
“It definitely gave everybody hope for the near future and it was good preparation for our first race meeting we hope to hold on 21 June.
“We’ve been meeting with the state government regularly so hopefully we can release a full schedule of events in the coming weeks.”