Two popular Queensland state categories concluded their 2023 campaigns last weekend, with competitors flooding to the popular Morgan Park Raceway for three days of jam-packed action.  

The HQ Nationals fielded a massive field for their season finale, while the Motorsport Australia Queensland Circuit Racing State Championships saw six exciting categories take to the track for one final time this year.  

The battle of classic Holden machinery provided plenty of entertainment from start to finish, with 41 competitors battling it out across their six heats and final feature race.

The field would be split across each outing, leaving plenty of opportunities for the likes of New South Wales trio Brett Osborn, Luke Harrison and John Baxter to split the honours.  

All three drivers would go on to win two heats each, with an additional second place to all three meaning they all sat on equal points by the end of the weekend.  

However, it was Osborn who would return home with ultimate bragging rights after victory in the 41-car feature race as he finished ahead of Harrison in second, while Baxter had to settle for 11th.  

As for the other State Championship categories, it was the Circuit Excels taking centre stage with four races of their own as Zane Rinaldi gained a narrow advantage over fellow Queenslander Jack Wood to take round honours.  

Both drivers would enjoyed race wins across the weekend, but a second-place finish for Rinaldi in race four would proved the difference in winning the round by five points.  

It was a similar story in the Formula Vee class, where Alex Macdonald took advantage of bonus points to narrowly edge out Alexander Hedemann – despite the duo finishing in identical positions across the four races.  

However, not all categories saw such a close outcome.

Rod Lynch and Mark Wright delivered standout performances in the Improved Production and Sports Sedans category, with Wright achieving a flawless clean sweep in the Sports Sedans class, while Lynch secured three consecutive wins in his Holden VF Commodore. However, Paul Spiteri disrupted Lynch’s clean sweep by clinching a win in race four with his Mazda RX7.

There were also clean sweeps from Liam Loiacono in Formula Ford and Christopher Farrell in Sports and Racing, while Roman Miller took the win in Production Touring despite the pressure from Mark Bailey behind.  

The final category of the weekend was the Super Mini Challenge, which saw 14 competitors in a mix of Mini machinery.

The class saw three different race winners across the weekend, but in the end, it was Brayden Larkin who prevailed ahead of Anthony Elliott and Blake Mills.