As racing continues to thrive in 2021, attention will turn to state based racing this weekend, with Tasmania and New South Wales to hold the first round of their respective state circuit championships
With Wakefield Park hosting the Motorsport Australia New South Wales Motor Race Championships and Symmons Plains the location for the Motorsport Australia Tasmania Circuit Championship, both events will be special for different reasons.
For the first time in five years, Wakefield Park will have more than 130 entries at one round as it celebrates the 2021 season opener with a healthy 135 competitors across eight categories.
One of those categories is the newly created All Invited, where nine people possessing little motorsport experience will be able to build up confidence in a relaxed environment.
The usual New South Wales categories will be on show throughout the busy weekend with Formula Vee, two Improved Production classes, HQ Holdens and Superkarts all enjoying fields just shy of 20 cars.
The remaining two categories, Formula Cars and RX8 Cup will have their races streamed via the circuit’s social media channel with the latter boasting the largest field of the weekend
Wakefield Park’s Operations Manager Dean Chapman was thrilled to celebrate the first round of the year with such a big entry list.
“We are really excited because it’s great to see motorsport to where it was pre-COVID in terms of numbers, so we’re expecting a great weekend of action,” Chapman said.
“It’s a huge turnout, in fact we are about 35 odd cars more than I expected – especially in the Formula Cars who have one of the biggest fields in years.
“We’re also really happy with the All Invited Class too. To have nine completely new people involved with the sport means that there are nine more people with Motorsport Australia licenses who can do our events.
“I am just looking forward to it so much and so will spectators who have free access all weekend.
“I must give a big shout-out to all our amazing officials too who constantly dedicate their time to our sport. Without them, we can’t be where we are.”
Photo: Angryman Photography
South of the mainland, it’s the Light Car Club of Tasmania who has the honour of hosting 100 entries for the first state round of the year.
Like New South Wales, they will have eight categories in action, with a number of similar categories along with Excels, Sports GTs and Regularities as part of Tasmania’s line up.
Also taking place on the weekend at Symmons Plains is the first round of the Tasmanian Supersprint Championship, with a full field of 16 cars taking part in the level.
With everything ready to go ahead of the weekend, event Clerk of Course Rosemary Taylor was eager for an exciting race weekend.
“I think people are a bit hungry for motorsport, even if we did manage to get a couple of rounds in last year. Everyone is hoping to get a full year of competition this year, so it will be interesting,” Taylor said.
“We decided to run the supersprint to give people a taster for what it’s like at state as a lot of them in the SuperSprint are entry-level club members.
“Even though it’s not the first event we have done for the year, the Boost Mobile Race Tasmania being our first, it’s still a big weekend for circuit racing in Tasmania and I hope it goes off without a hitch.
“Spectators are welcome, but we obviously have to be careful we don’t get more numbers than allowed.”
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