O'Brien Begins Title Defence
FORMER Australian Touring Car Championship round winner Charlie O’Brien has started his title defence in perfect fashion, with a pole position and a clean sweep of all four races in round one of the Australian Trans-Am series at Lakeside Park.
Iwan Jones - March 2016
The 16 strong American muscle car grid was highlighted by the debut of Touring Car Masters convert Brett Youlden, who spent the weekend trying his feet around the challenging 2.41 kilometre circuit in Category Director John English's 1967 Mustang Coupe.
O’Brien, who will be driving the multiple championship winning 1972 Chevrolet Camaro this season, started his tilt for a second consecutive title with a blistering 59.14 to claim pole position, only six hundredths of a second ahead of Ian Woodward in a 1966 Ford Mustang who completed the front row with 2015 series front runner Brett Curran 1967 Ford Mustang starting third.
O’Brien took the first race win of the year from pole, closely followed by Curran and Anthony Tenkate in his 1969 Ford Mustang. Martin O'Kane became the first race winner in the Sportsman Class, coming home in his 1970 Chevrolet Camaro ahead of the Mustangs of Alwyn Bishop and Harry Charlambous. 2015 5 Litre series champion Sean English continued his form from the last season, taking the chequered flag ahead of Mark Bowtell in his 1968 Pontiac Firebird and 2014 series champion Mike Collins in his 1965 Ford Mustang in the 5 Litre Class.
O'Brien repeated the dose with a win over Curran and John English in race two. Tenkate fell down one sport to fourth following a wild moment entering the carrousel on lap 1. Martin O’Kane went back to back in race two, taking the chequered flag ahead of Bishop, Charalambous and Colin Velt in his 1967 Ford Mustang in the Sportsman Class, while Sean English secured his second race win over Bowtell and Collins in the 5 Litre Class. After engine problems on Friday, Russell Wright was handed a drive of the 5 Litre 1966 Mustang thanks to Ron Prefontaine and impressed with a seventh place finish after starting from the rear of the field.
After his victory in the final race of the weekend, O'Brien is now on an incredible run of 11 consecutive race wins at Lakeside. John English placed second in the final race after a brilliant dice with Toowoomba-based Curran, who impressed with some great pace across the weekend to take home second for the round.
O'Kane won the Sportsman Class, with Alwyn Bishop coming home unscathed in second place and Charalambous in third.
Bowtell took his first race victory in the 5 Litre Class in the final race of the weekend, enjoying a great battle with fellow championship contender Sean English who placed second and Robert Hackwood who debuted in the series with a third place finish at the hands of the 5 Litre 1966 Mustang driven by Wright in the previous race.
Reflecting on his flawless weekend, O’Brien said he had made a number of changes to his new steer during the off season.
“What an awesome effort by Ian ‘Woody’ Woodward, wife Kaye and Robbo to prepare the Camaro for round one. It wasn’t a winning capable car when I first drove it in November and it certainly proved to be the goods this weekend,” said O’Brien.
“I think I wasn’t the only competitor to make play with the set-up over the off season and it was good to see closer competition in the first round with Brett Curran and John English keeping me on my toes, I think the next round will be even more difficult with my nephew Shannon and Russell Wright also wanting to feature at the top end of the field.”
The second round of the Australian Trans-Am series will be at Queensland Raceway on April 30 and May 1.