Thrilling VMRC Finale
The Nation’s Action Track certainly lived up to its name, the final round of the Victorian Motor Racing Championships (VMRC) was an exciting event with four categories in action, including one national series. The Australian Super Trucks was the national series joined by 2 Litre Sports Sedans, the APRA Nissan Pulsars and Victorian Super TT.
Australian Super Trucks
The big rigs had six races across the weekend, four for the regular drivers and two Truck Team races for the mechanics.
The regular races produced four different winners; the opening encounter was dominated by six-time truck champion Steven Zammit. He beat home Robert Fern and Queenslander Marcus Prillwitz.
In Race 2 Zammit set the fastest lap of the race, but failed to greet the chequered flag. This allowed Fern to take up the running and take the win by 1.8s from Prillwitz, with Shannon Smith in third. After failing to start Race 1, Dale Cornfoot in his first ever truck race finished fourth just 0.3s ahead of Mark Noonan.
After a challenging first two races Frank Amoroso took victory in Race 3, he beat home Cornfoot who also set the fastest lap, Noonan was third. Zammit made it back out on the track, but his truck was not running on song.
The second Fern took the final race victory of the weekend, Lachlan Fern dominated the race, winning by 8s from Cornfoot. Prillwitz was third, he led a train of six trucks separated by 3s across the line.
Harvey Dale won the first Trucks Teams race of the weekend, while Lachlan Prillwitz prevailed in an absolute thriller.
2 Litre Sports Sedans & APRA
It was a dream weekend for James Harris in the 2L Sports Sedans, taking a clean sweep of four victories across the weekend.
The championship protagonists were up the front all weekend long, with series leader Steve Howard and Lynda Devlin hot on the heels of Harris throughout.
In Race 1, Harris driving his Nissan Bluebird beat home Devlin in her John Cooper Works Mini by just under 3s, Howard was third ahead of Lauren Talbot.
Race 2 saw the top four finish in the same order, however the top two pulled a significant margin on Howard and Talbot who were forced to fight for third.
Harris was in a league of his own in Race 3 winning the race by 10s, this was due to the intense fight for second. Howard in his legendary Corolla beat home Devlin by just 1.4s, with Talbot’s Honda Civic a distant fourth.Howard could not continue this momentum into Race 4, he was no match for either Harris or Devlin. He did however hold Talbot at bay to finish fourth by just 0.8s.
Dan Smith dominated the APRA Pulsar class, he controlled all four races and often found himself ahead of many of the 2L Sports Sedan runners.Matthew Butters and Lee Nutall finished second and third in the APRA round points respectively.
Victorian Super TT
Nathan Lebrocque in his Holden VE Commodore with the Toll Holden Dealer Team retro livery, took all four wins outright in a big field of 16 cars.
There were clean sweeps all round in the various classes, Lebrocque took the wins in the Over 2L Slick tyre class, Carl Gibbs was unbeatable in Over 2L treaded at the wheel of his Mitsubishi Starion, while Declan Kirkham was peerless in the Under 2L class driving a Nissan Pulsar.
David Buntin may have taken pole outright, however he could not match Lebrocque who won Race 1 by over 12s. Buntin was second while Joe Stickland pipped fellow Commodore driver Mitchell West. Gibbs finished in fifth with Kirkham outright sixth.
Race 2 saw Kirkham pose the biggest threat to Lebrocque and finished just 5s back in second position, while Treaded tyre class winner Gibbs was third.
Lebrocque was on another planet in Race 3, he beat home Joe Strickland by a margin of 53s, not 5.3s, 53s. Kirkham was third and Gibbs fourth.
Strickland was closer in the final race, but only just within 30s of Lebrocque. Strickland was handed a 5s penalty, but still did enough to finish second. Kirkham was third with Gibbs in fourth, those two separated by just 1s.
The 2025 VMRC calendar will be announced in the coming weeks, keep an eye on the Winton Raceway and website for the announcement.
Words: Dan McCarthy Photos: F11 Media
