DEVISTATING FINISH TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP

SLIDE-FX Racing’s Adam Trewhella is sitting in the box seat for a championship win at the final round of Toyo Drift Australia on the 22-23 September 2007.

In what would be the biggest round of the season, SFX Racing was in the box seat to take a championship victory over Robbie Bolger and Christian Pickering. Friday testing proved the team was on the pace straight out of the truck. Borneo mastered the tricky entry into turn one and smoked the Toyo Tyres well over the rest of the course. Keith Rance took to the track quickly reporting back it was very similar to Barbagallo, his massive entries into the final corner a highlight of the day.

Notable events included Keith Rance having a minor altercation with Jack Monkhouse during Saturday practice resulting in damage to the front left hand wheel station and Adam Trewhella frying his clutch in Saturday practice. After a season of abuse the Xtreme Clutch finally gave up under the intense pressure but the engineering team quickly set about making repairs and rebuilt the clutch in record time and made repairs to Keithy’s suspension to ensure all cars were ready for battle Sunday morning.

Qualifying saw both Keith Rance and Clinton Brown lay down some consistent runs to qualify mid pack, while Borneo set two scorching laps to sit in the top spot until Luke Fink came out with the most jaw dropping pass of the day. Borneo qualified in the top 7 for the round which placing him within striking distance for a run at the championship.

Trewhella faced of against an improving Matt Mingay in the round of 32 in a tit for tat affair. After the first 2 battles the judges couldn’t find a clear winner so it went to a re-run. Trewhella lead out with a smooth run beating Mingay. In the trailing run Mingay lead aggressively driving the best he had all weekend to equal the score with the judges deciding on another re-run. Borneo lead out in the final re-run with a brilliant lap putting the squeeze on Mingay once again. Knowing Mingay would use his speed advantage into the first corner Borneo made a rare mistake and missed 2nd gear. By the time he had corrected his mistake Mingay was gone, Borneo tried in vein to catch the red hot Mingay but even a small mistake by Mingay leaving the track through the last corner wasn’t enough for Borneo to extract a victory.

Adam Trewhella “Either I missed the gear or it didn’t engage properly but by the time I had sorted it out Mingay was well on his way into the first corner. I’m pretty disappointed with what happened, I think I had Mingay figured out after the first couple of battles and I was confident I would have got through to the top 16. On the up side though we did say at the start of the year we wanted a top 5 finish and that’s what we got so maybe 2008 will be our year.

Id like to thank all my sponsors particularly Japanese Wholesale Spares and Miluc Civil for their increased level of support during the season without them we wouldn’t have been able to achieve any where near the result we did, also Toyo Tyres for the awesome rubber, it so important now to have good tyres with the level of competition stepping up and Toyo have a great product that makes my life a lot easier. All the sponsors are equally important and I can’t thank them enough.”

After an up and down qualifying Keith Rance drew Chris Easton in Top 32. Keith had the disadvantage of following on the first battle. Keith “Lap Dance” Rance showed good speed but a few straighten ups meant he went into the second leg trailing Easton on points. The second battle would be a scrappy affair with Rance allowing Easton through for a pass on the exit of turn one, although the pass seemed to be under grip Rance had it all to make up, he made a massive straighten up on the last corner after over cooking the entry and the battle finished with Easton the clear winner.

Keith Rance “ I had some great laps in qualifying but couldn’t put it together for the judged runs, I’ll put it down to learning the process a bit better for next years championship. The battle with Easton was a beauty, I made a few too many mistakes but the pressure was on that’s for sure. When Easton passed me I probably gave him too much room and made it heaps easier for him to complete, next time that won’t be happening I can guarantee it.”

Clinton Brown unluckily drew Leighton Fine for his top 32 battle, the opening battle saw Clint chasing Fine with all he had, unfortunately Clint made an error on the exit of turn 1 which lead to him trailing on points going into the second battle. Clint lead out in the second battle going for a huge entry into turn one only to over shoot and run wide into the dirt, Fine swooped to make the pass and seal Clint’s fate. While Clint recovered to drive a nice run he had a few too many mistakes to stay in contention.

Clinton Brown

For the first time this season the SFX Racing team took an early shower with all being knocked out in the top 32 round. SFX Racing CEO Glenn Campbell summed up the effort for the year. “This year has been full of learning for the crew and drivers, we started out with the knowledge that 2007 was for developing the team structures and process’ as a whole. I think we achieved what we set out to do other than winning the championship but a top 5 result is nothing to be sneezed at and that was our aim, so mission accomplished. I’m proud of all the people involved with the team and I cant thank them enough for their efforts during the season. We are expanding to a four car operation next year, we will have 2 new cars coming to the series and we are looking to win the championship at the same time. Its going to be a busy off season with more work to be done than during it, but I’m sure we will be back bigger and better than ever when 2008 kicks off. We will keep everyone informed with the team developments over the coming weeks so stay tuned, it should set the cat amongst the pigeons. Lastly we have to thank our sponsors/partners for their efforts as well, we surely couldn’t do it without them and their support is highly valued by the SFX Racing organisation, so thankyou from myself and the whole team to Miluc Civil, Japanese Wholesale Spares, Toyo Tyres, Hi Octane, ACL, Gates Racing, Gatorz, Royal Purple, Sunoco, Wilkinson Suspension, K-Sport, Turbosmart, and Autronic.”

SFX Racing would also like to congratulate Robbie Bolger on his maiden Toyo Drift Australia Championship, the staff at Drift Australia and all the associated parties that make Toyo Drift Australia a fantastic championship.

Till 2008……………