TRAN AND CONNELL COME FROM BEHIND TO WIN WINTON 300

Benny Tran and Ben Connell have taken a dramatic, come-from-behind victory in the 2022 Mountain Motorsports Winton 300, taking the lead on the second-last lap of the 100 lap endurance marathon after their BYP Racing team-mates, Jimmy Tran and Tom Vucicevic, suffered a throttle position sensor on their Honda Civic agonisingly close to the finish.The Tran/Connell Honda Integra was embroiled in a three-car battle with the Tran/Vucicevic Civic and also the Myles Jones/Parry Anastakis Civic in the race’s early stages, before the Jones/Anastakis entry retired with a mechanical problem on lap 40, stopping at Turn 8 and triggering the race’s first Safety Car intervention.That prompted a flurry of pit stops which mixed up the race order, and there would be two further Safety Cars on laps 60 and 67 to deal with the Daniel Van Der Heyden/Paul Currie Commodore, which suffered a pair of off-track excursions at Turn 11 and Turn 4.When the race restarted for the final time, Tran/Vucicevic held the lead from the Daniel Kapetanovic/Adam Thompson BMW 328i, and Kapetanovic set some of the fastest laps of the race as he applied the pressure to Tran. However, Kapetanovic was forced into retirement 17 laps from home due to an overheating issue, suspected to have been caused by radiator damage sustained when he was attempting to pass the lapped Mitsubishi Evo X of Chris Sutton.That left Jimmy Tran leading Ben Connell by over a minute, but with just a handful of laps to go, Tran’s Civic developed a throttle position sensor problem which caused it to slow to a crawl; Connell powered past on the back straight on lap 99 to take the lead and ultimately the win.Jimmy Tran was able to limp the Civic to the finish in second position, while the father-and-son combination of Todd and Jett Herring finished third outright in their Mazda MX5, the last car on the lead lap.The top three combinations pocketed prize money thanks to the event sponsor, Mountain Motorsports - $1,000 for Tran/Connell, $600 for Tran/Vucicevic and $400 for Herring/Herring.The fancied Steve Johnson/Matt Mackelden Ford AU Falcon was the race’s first casualty, retiring after just five laps with a power steering failure.Kyle Gurton snared the final round win of the season in the TA2 Muscle Car Series Framed by Hytek in his Dream Racing Mustang, backing up his wet weather wins in Races 1 and 2 with third and second-place finishes in Races 3 and 4.Sound Australian driver Brad Gartner won Race 3 and took second place for the weekend, while local driver Jackson Rice won the weekend’s final race to round out the overall podium.Jett Johnson comfortably secured the TA2 title with a consistent run to fourth overall, with Graham Cheney and Nicholas Bates completing the top three in the standings.The Legend Cars Australia Series produced some of the most entertaining racing of the weekend, with Ryan Pring ultimately taking out the Australian title as the most consistent performer across the five races.After Brendon Hourigan and Billy Finnegan swapped victories in Races 1 and 2, Pring emerged victorious in the top-10 reverse-grid Race 3.Race 4 was one of the most dramatic of the weekend; after storming to the lead, Finnegan ran off the road at Turn 7, falling to the rear of the field. That left Pring and Hourigan battling for the lead, but the two cars came into contact on the exit of Turn 3. The damage to Hourigan’s car ended his weekend, but Pring was able to continue, albeit losing a few places.Robert Hogan capitalised on the drama to win the race and also took victory in the final, but fourth and second-place finishes were enough for Pring to wrap up the title ahead of the consistent Shane Tate, with Hogan rounding out the weekend podium.Wet weather conditions played havoc with the Stock Cars and Thunder Sports vehicles, many of which were not equipped with wet tyres, but Brett Mitchell was not deterred by the slippery track and won three of the four races in his OzTruck, winning the round and clinching the 2022 Stock Cars Australia Series.The weather improved for Race 4, enabling Scott Nind to take the win in his ex-Xfinity Series car.Richard Herring (Mazda MX5) was the best of the Thunder Sports competitors in his Mazda MX5, using the wet weather to take the fight up to the more powerful Stock Cars in the weekend’s first three races.Photography Credit: Colson Photography