Run in the rural South Australian town of Whyalla, the huge field of competitors took on six tests on the bitumen course throughout the day as Hagen Zerk in the Mustang Tungstan claimed the dramatic victory over Andrew Grant.

 

Very little separated the two right at the start with Grant steering his 2002 WRX Blue AWD to the fastest times on the first two runs, before a forgettable third one allowed Zerk to claim a lead just shy of six seconds.

The pair exchanged test wins over the next two, before Grant’s last attempt to reclaim the lead fell short as a five second penalty added to his woes.

 

Zerk eventually won the event by just eight seconds, while fellow 2WD class competitor Rosco McDonald in a XR8 Ute rounded out the podium a further 10 seconds off Grant.

 

While the competition proved to be an exciting contest, the event also ran a come and try day which featured 11 participants.

A big supporter of youth development and paving the way for individuals to join motorsport, the club has a large focus on come and try days for these events, which allows the participants to get a feel for driving and see the sport in action.

 

The event’s Clerk of Course Tony Arodda was thrilled with how it panned out from both perspectives and believed it was very important to help grow grassroots motorsport.

 

“It was a really great event that ran pretty smoothly. We generally get full fields at each event, which is usually capped at 30, but since many missed out, we decided to extend it,” Arodda said.

 

“For us, it’s important that we help develop individuals and get families involved, which is why we charge only $20 to enter an event and why a number of our members have gone on to do bigger events as the years go on.

“We ran this particular event in conjunction with Whyalla Car Enthusiasts because they are just a group of guys who meet up every Sunday with their cars – A lot of them are young with these done up street cars, so these events give them the chance do stuff they want to do in a safe environment.

 

“They then can see the benefits of doing motorsport and build their cars for a purpose. It’s really important and it’s a way for them to see what the benefits of being a member of the club is.

 

“From a competition standpoint, there were so many fast cars and so many competitive ones on the day too, but what Hagen did is unheard of – beating an all-wheel drive in a two-wheel drive car. 

 

“It was amazing. He is a really good steerer. He has the Mustang going really well.”