The Shannons Motorsport Australia Festival took over The Bend Motorsport Park on the weekend with competitors in the Hyundai Excels and Sports Car Invitational enjoying plenty of track time.
 
With the weekend originally meant to host the final round of the 2021 Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships season, changes to SA COVID-19 restrictions caused the national component of the event to be cancelled.
 
Despite the disappointment of those who could not attend, the state-level competitions still put on an impressive show with the Excels once again highly entertaining.
 
Run as the Exedy Excel Supersprint, 17 competitors took part in the category’s meeting which saw them battle it out over four 20 minute races.
 
While there were some big names missing from the entry list, there were still a number of young guns who regularly compete throughout the year – most notably Jayden Wanzek.

Wanzek got off to a good start and secured pole position, which he converted into a race one win with Brad Gartner, Shayne Nowickyj and NSW based rising star Rylan Gray all battling it out for the minor positions behind him.
 
The race one winner backed up his victory with another in the second outing, however Gartner significantly closed the gap to just two tenths of a second.
 
A thrilling third race went right down the wire as all four drivers were fighting it out throughout the whole eight lap race and just half a second separated the four at the chequered flag – Gartner securing the win over Waznek by the smallest of margins – one thousandth of a second.


Order was restored in the final race as Waznek took control again and stormed home to a two second win over Gray, while Nowickyj rounded out the podium ahead of Gartner.
 
In the Sports Car Invitational, GC Marine Australian Prototypes Series star Mark Laucke ended the weekend with two wins out of three races.
 
After a troubled opening race, which saw the veteran spin out, he bounced back nicely in the final two races – comfortably winning both by more than 20 seconds.
 
Finishing behind Laucke both times and winning the opening race was Benjamin Cheney, while Matthew Roesler rounded out the podiums in the second two races.


In addition to both racing categories, The Bend also hosted an Observed License Test (OLT) as well as some social activations for fans.
 
Three young newcomers to the sport completed the testing with all hoping to start their careers in 2022.
 
One of the participants in Aaron Semler praised the event for the opportunity and revealed how it had an effect on his desire to compete.
 
 “The sowing of the seed was planted to get the car finished before Shannons was planted by Greendog at Misch’s Enduro. So the race was on before the race to finish the car, get it set up and log booked all before this weekend,” Semler said.
 
“It was a steep learning curve being my first time out on track ever in a competitive environment. So happy with how the car turned out, it’s got some great potential and I’ve got plenty to learn as a driver.
 
“Big thanks go to Shannons, Exedy, Circuit Excel SA and The Bend for making the event happen in very uncertain conditions.”