The Sporting Car Club of SA has officially kicked off the 2022 Motorsport Australia SA Motor Race Championships season, with a spectacular twilight meeting at Mallala Raceway. 
  
Up to 100 competitors across six categories featured in the one-day race meeting that started in beautiful conditions in the afternoon sun, before concluding under the night sky.
  
While all six categories put on a show throughout their four races, it was the Excels that were once again the standout with more than 40 cars entered for the round.  

With the category split into two groups and contesting multiple heats during the meeting, it was multiple-champion Asher Johnson who enjoyed top honours after winning the final Top 20 race.  


However, he was once again challenged by young gun Jayden Wanzek, who finished just half a second behind the number one car after fighting his way into second place after being third for the opening couple of laps. 
  
Rounding out the podium a further six seconds off the front two was Ethan Fitzgerald, while Riley Matheson won the category’s consolation final after comfortably beating Michael Nowickyj to the finish line by seven and half seconds.  
  
In other categories, star RSEA Safety Motorsport Australia Rally Championship (ARC) co-driver Andy Sarandis enjoyed a clean sweep of wins in all four Improved Production races, despite the Mitsubishi Evo driver facing a fierce challenge from Scott Cook in his Nissan Silvia. 


Ford Falcon driver Shawn Jamieson also enjoyed a perfect run of wins with top honours in each of the four Saloon Cars races. Sharing the grid with the Saloon Cars were Holden HQ competitors, where Tony Bobridge and Lee Smith each gathered two wins apiece. 
  
It was a similar story in the Australian Sports Cars/FLibre/F3 field as Bo Jensen and Christopher Slusarsk both claimed two wins each across the category’s four races. 
  
The joint Sports Sedan/Sports Car field saw Ian Wilson pick up consecutive wins in the opening two races, before Mark Rosser steered his Audi R8 LMS GT 3 to victory in the final two races. 
  
In the Historic Racing/Sports: Formula Vee series, Andrew Ford enjoyed three wins in the category’s opening three races, before Adam Newton finished the weekend with a victory.