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The 944

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2006 off to a flying start

The 2006 944 Challenge got off to a spectacular start at Winton on April 6-7. Although most drivers enjoyed a 5 month break from motor racing, an number of entrants were scrambling to get their cars prepared in time for the event. Perfect weather greeted the 19 competitors for the first round and with a hot forecast, 2 practices and 5 races, some of the tribal elders were wondering how they would make it through the weekend. With only the final three of the five races counting for Championship points, it would be a long process to get a good grid slot for the first of the points races.

Qualifying: Kane Rose returned to dust off the cobwebs and quickly showed  that he hadn’t lost his form during a year out of the 944 but couldn’t quite beat Brent Rose on time. Brent posted a time of 1:38.13, just a whisker under his own lap record  and it looked like Brent and Kane would once again be in their own league, over a second ahead of Rob Lange in 3^rd.

Paul Stephenson (8^th), Chris Lewis-Williams (15^th) and Gareth Downes (19^th) all debuted their new cars and Ken Knight (6^th) re-appeared after a long absence from the series.

John Goddard qualified an unusual 13^th, but the real problem for John was that his stable-mate Barry Rowe had out qualified him in a car with steel panels, power steering and air conditioning (according to Barry). Unfortunately for John, the result will be on Natsoft for years.

Race 1: Lange got the jump on Kane into 2^nd while Brent led the way. Howe was comfortably holding down 4thwhile John Smallman, Stephenson and Knight were in a 3 way fight. Goddard had a blinder of a start jumping from 13th to 8th while Adrian Zadro fell off and dropped to the back of the field and Gary McDermott's race ended at the side of the track after three laps.

The tight Winton layout made passing difficult as always, and passing chances through driver error provided the best chance to move up. Kane made his way past Lange on lap 3 then set out after Brent, passing his brother on lap 6 and holding him off until the finish. Lange finished 3rd, 5 seconds behind followed by Howe. In the final lap, Stephenson went in deep at turn 1 taking himself and Smallman wide and opening the door for Knight pass and take 5th. Stephenson recovered best to finish next, ahead of Smallman. Goddard and Comand followed, and Rowe had a big spin falling back to 17th. O'Keefe came from the back of the grid to complete the top ten.

Race 2: Brent was pulled off the start grid by the officials for what appeared to be an oil leak, leaving Kane Kane to roll away with the race uncontested. Lange wasn't far back in 3rd, but not close enough to make a race of it, and well clear of Howe in third. The next group was tight, headed by Knight ahead of Goddard, Smallman, O'Keefe and Stephenson who lost it on lap 5, falling 6 places then retiring next lap. Knight retired on lap 8 with a gear linkage problem leaving the Goddard to finish 4th ahead of Smallman, O'Keefe, Comand, Phillipson, Lewis-William and Zadro. Brent Rose recovered from pit lane to climb back up to 12th.

Race 3: The first of the points races saw Kane again clear out while Goddard jumped O'Keefe and Lange to take up 2nd, leading a swarm of 9 cars jostling to get past. Brent was picking his way through the pack steadily, and finally emerged in second taking O'Keefe through with him. After a busy 8 laps, Goddard got shuffled back to 6th while Lange and Lewis-Williams filled 4th and 5th. Mike Phillipson finished 7th followed by Comand, Zadro, Stephenson and Knight, after losing a big chunk of front bodywork in the battle.

Race 4: Situation normal at the front as Kane, Brent and O'Keefe held position from start to finish. From 4th, Lange had an electrical fault which cost 4 laps and a DNF. With a few spins in the pack from Lewis-Williams, Howe and Philipson, the rest just had to avoid the dust storms to finish.

Race 5: At last...the last race. Somehow we ended up as the second last event and most had their minds on packing up and going home. Unfortunately, a "major" through the esses saw Anderson and Lewis-Williams come to grief with some big damage to both cars. The race was red flagged and a full re-start ordered causing some doubts for the drivers who don't like carrying spare fuel. This time the field only managed 3 corners before Goddard and Stephenson speared into the dirt locked together and bringing out a safety car. The mess was cleared in just one lap and both cars were able to continue, although some distance behind the field. McDermott's car stopped again to end a frustrating weekend, and Howe was entertaining, first passing then spinning then re-passing to claw his way from 12th to 4th. O'Keefe looked to have 3rd sewn up but pressure from Lange cause him to lose the back end at turn one, creating another massive dust cloud, and falling back to 10th place. At the end of 46 laps of progressive grids, It was Kane followed by Brent, Lange Howe, just as they qualified. Phillipson and Zadro were the big improvers for the weekend in 5th and 6th followed by Knight, Stoffels, Comand and O'Keefe filling the top ten.

Once the points were tallied, Kane Rose won the weekend with maximum 76 points. Second was Brent Rose with three second places, and O'Keefe with his two thirds enough to allowing him to have a big final race spin and still make the podium.

With the exception of some car damage, it was a great start to the new season, where 17 of the 19 drivers set new personal best times showing that the standard is still getting better, even in the 944 Challenge's 8th year.

3rd Dennis O'Keefe, 2nd Brent Rose, 1st Kane Rose

Points for Round 1