The Motor Sports Club of Tasmania held its first khanacross for the new year with more than 30 competitors part of the opening round of the multi-club series.
Taking place at Symmons Plains Raceway, all competitors completed seven runs spread across three different track formations, with each recorded time added to an accumulated total.
With the three tracks proving to be quite a challenge for all competitors, penalties became a regular occurrence as every driver, except for three, received some form of a time punishment across the event.
And the penalties almost played a key part in determining the eventual winner, as Lyndon Kettle nearly lost his lead on the final run after suffering a five second penalty.
However, luck was on his side as the second placed Heath Johnston, who received a flag penalty earlier on the day, got a flat tyre on the final run and was unable to capitalise on Kettle’s error – the final winning margin between the two just 2.5 seconds.
Both drivers were the standout performers of the day as they posted the two fastest times on all but the final run and each picking up three run wins.
A further 25 seconds behind was the best of the 2WD drivers and the final run winner in Stephen Turner. Behind the wheel of a Mitsubishi Mirage, Turner comfortably secured third place ahead of one of the only drivers to get a clean run all day in Christopher Russell.
Rounding out the top five behind Russell was John Brozek, after he held off a late fightback from Alexander von Bertouch.
Other notable results from the event saw the seventh and eighth placed Mark Sutcliffe and James Willson make up the 2WD podium, the 12th placed Rachel Harvey as the fastest woman and Jack Sutcliffe pick up the junior win.
Speaking after his outright victory, Kettle, who last won the club’s khanacross series in 2016 was thrilled with how the event transpired.
“I’m very happy. I have been really keen to win the series again and this has been the perfect start. If I can get a few more of these over the year, it will be very nice,” Kettle said.
“I was lucky Heath got that flat tyre, which helped me get the win. The outright results were put up just before the seventh run and I had a four second buffer, but then when I received that five second penalty- I thought I was done because there was nothing in it.
“Normally you don’t win an event if you get a penalty as it’s always so close but because there were so many penalties, the event was opened up. Add Heath’s flat tyre is what got me the win essentially. I guess the environment we were running at was difficult.
“Normally, our khanacrosses are run on gravel at our usual track, which is much easier, but this event, we were driving around flags on a paddock, so it was very easy to make a mistake going in the wrong direction or to hit a flag.
“Overall it was a really fun event and it was great to get out there and compete again.”