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944 Racing Association 944 Challenge Sandown July 2005 |
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Morriss Wins as aggrometer climbs
Plenty of cars were turned round over the weekend when maybe a "toot" rather than a "tap" would have been suffice. Robert Lange, Phil Meiklejohn and Anthony Westaway were just a few who could consider themselves hard done by. Home ground advantage saw Charles Davison (Easternats/Sandown Raceway) the quickest qualifier from Brent Rose (Melbourne's Cheapest Cars), Morriss, Slavko Tupek (Abbotsford Body Repairs), Robert Lange (Lange Engineering Geelong) and Steve Canny (RPM & Performance Clutch/Mr. Brakes) out of a twenty-one car field. In the opening race Morriss made a terrific start to be the early leader from Rose while pole sitter Davison found himself back in the mid-field after the first lap.
Challenges come from near and far in the second race with the aggressive Davison throwing his chances away on the opening corners as Rose took the lead from Morriss, Dibenedetto and John Goddard (Plaza Auto Sales Bendigo). Lange was on a charge in this race as were Comand and Tupek. It took Morriss most of the race to find a way past Rose and he finally succeeded with two laps to go. Lange had driven a terrific race and he was right on the leader's tails for the last few laps of the race. Dibenedetto caused chaos with his spin. at Dandy Road corner while Brendan Morter and Canny charged through the field to finish in the top ten after starting from the rear of the grid.
Goddard copped a 'stopngo' which made him extremely s#@##* while Morter, Canny and Dibenedetto was a terrific early scrap. A less aggressive Davison was picking up a lot of places while Philip Meiklejohn (Coppens Signs) and Amber Anderson (Cutlass Marine) was a good contest at the back of the field. Rose and Morriss found that passing at the gum tree was game, but good, and they did it several times with Lange also getting in on this act. Dibenedetto was really putting in a terrific drive as he climbed into fifth place in the latter stages of the race. Rose lost contact with Morriss on the final couple of laps and it was up to Lange to mount a serious challenge. He tried everything but that yellow car just got wider and wider. Davison, Morter, Canny and Tupek continued their battle to race end while Goddard had to battle hard to get past Joseph Stoffels (Sovereign Press) over the closing laps. Chris Macgeorge -Vic State Racer
SANDOWN – IS THERE A BRIGHT SIDE? Melbourne’s Sandown International Raceway played host to the fifth round of the aPorschaPart 944 Challenge on July 23/24, 2005, with Team Harris Motorsport in attendance and trying to cement its place in the Championship top ten. Qualifying An absolutely freezing Saturday morning saw 21 Porsche 944s hit the track, many (including THM) running the new Wolf3D Engine Management System for the first time. A couple of competitors had problems with their engines and didn’t make the qualifying session, indeed retiring from the meeting altogether. After the first lap, Team Harris Motorsport’s Binzel 944 started belching out a lot of smoke from the engine compartment. It was so bad that the driver compartment filled with smoke and driver Damian Harris received a ‘Meatball’ flag and had to return to the pits. A dislodged engine dipstick and a full oil catch tank were obvious symptoms of a more terminal problem… As a result of all this ‘action’, Harris did not post a competitive time and would line up in 21st (and last) position. Race One – 9 laps Sadly, race one of three would be THM’s only race of the weekend. Alone on row 11, Harris was away tardily, immediately making little headway on McDermott, Anderson, Bailey and Cullinan. A few laps down saw little change, with the Binzel 944 suffering from a noticeable lack of punch. Still, Harris managed to pick off numerous cars to bring it home in 11th by the end of the event. With the bonnet up after the race, it was immediately apparent that serious engine problems were coming to a head. The oil catch tank was overflowing (that’s not easy to do – it is a 4 litre container) while the engine bay was once again filled with black stuff. It was time to pack up and go home. Upon further inspection, a sick engine has proven to be just the impetus for Team Harris Motorsport to come back even stronger. The engine was still original throughout and in need of not only a rebuild but an update! It looks like Team Harris Motorsport will miss round six at Phillip Island but will be back for the Island Magic meeting. Christine Harris Partnership Manager Team Harris Motorsport |
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John
Morriss (Motorsport Leasing) come out with the majority of the points on offer
for this round when he won two races plus a third place and managed to steer
clear of any trouble in some very rough 'n tumble, bruising racing.
It
took Rose a few laps to finally find a way post Morriss and once he did he set
about opening a winning break.
What
a pearler of a race the feature race turned out to be with Morriss and Rose
turning it on as they passed and repassed each other lap after lap. In the
closing laps they were joined by Lange and Comand.