The Motorsport Australia WA State Speed Series continued over the weekend as a double round at Collie Motorplex saw an entry list of more than 120 competitors across the two days take to the track.
 
With Saturday’s competition being held on the circuit’s long track, a bumper field of 76 competitors battled hard in order to post the fastest lap throughout the day – an honour eventually claimed by Tom Hamlett.
 
Behind the wheel of a Cosi Sorgiovanni’s Dallara F3, Hamlett proved too good for the strong field as he recorded his round-winning time of 1:06.4791 on his ninth and final lap – a time just under two seconds faster than the next best driver.
 
Hamlett never looked in doubt of taking the win as he had led right from the get-go – his first lap time of 1:07.2246 also unbeaten for the whole day. 
 
Taking out second place with a time of 1:08.4547 was Peter Morley, who posted his best time on his seventh and final lap, while John Webb rounded out the top three just half a second off. 
  
Following the official competition, event organisers ran a special timed session of the long Collie track for interested competitors, with 28 taking part. 
 
Once again, it was Hamlett who took out top honours, only this time he went to another level – his third lap time of 1:05.2873 setting a new track record and breaking the one set by Hamlett himself by nine tenths.
 
“I’d like to thank Cosi for trusting me to drive his Dallara, I know it must be hard, it is an awesome car that on that last run just got better and better with every lap as the tyre temperature and pressure came up,” Hamlett said.
 
Finishing the bonus session in second place a further nine and a half seconds off was Robin Mullett in his Nissan Silvia, while just three tenths separated the runner-up with the third placed Justin O'Hehir.
 
Although Morley was unable to secure the win in Saturday’s official competition or took part in the timed run session, he would enjoy success in Sunday’s competition – a sprint of Collie’s shortened circuit. 
 
With Hamlett absent, Morley was the most dominant driver of the 56 entered competitors – his ninth lap time of 40.473 seconds earning him an emphatic victory of two and a half seconds over Webb. 
 
Not only did Morley claim the victory, but he also set a record in the process – beating Sorgiovanni’s 2019 time of 43.1319 seconds by more than two and a half seconds.
 
“I’d like to thank my mates who helped me get the car out there, Gary Thorn and Simon Gunson, also my Grandson Zac for his help in the pits at every event, Brett from Pace Motorsport for putting together the new engine - it is a rocket ship now,” Morley said post-event.


While Morley broke the record, Webb also managed to beat it with his final time of 42.9910 seconds, which was two tenths faster than Sorgiovanni’s time. 
 
Rounding out the podium a further five seconds off Webb was Mazda RX-7 driver Bradley Scrivener, who had just edged out O'Hehir for third place by half a second.
 
Highlighting the closeness of the competition, the battle for fifth saw four drivers split by less than a second, with Andrew Metford guiding his RX-7 to fifth on his 18th and final lap of the day.
  
The Motorsport Australia WA State Speed Series continues next month with round nine of the 2023 season to take place at Carco.com.au Raceway on 5 August.