Sandown, May 16-17, 2015

Round 2 Race report.

The weekend started off on a high with Tim claiming pole with a sub lap record time some 0.7 sec quicker than his closest rival. Things however would take a turn, with Tim losing control of his Commodore and hitting the armco on the warm up lap. Quick work by Ken and the crew had Tim back out on the track to take up his original position in time for the start of the race.

Race 1 was a great dice with Travis and Tim racing hard right up to the last lap when Travis took the lead from Tim who was having trouble with brakes failing due to the accident damage.

Race 2 saw Tim get the jump on Travis at the start, after a slight coming together at turn 1, Tim went through to the lead. On lap 2,

Travis had a near miss with the wall at turn 3 after hitting the curb too hard, this allowed Tim to build a 2 sec gap, which remained until the end of the race.

Shortly after race 2, Travis became ill and was taken to the medical centre, then off to hospital for some tests. It was later revealed he was suffering from an inner ear infection. This left Tim alone on the front row for race 3 in the Rowse Motors / Beat the blues Gippsland Commodore. After a great start Tim was leading comfortably until a gearbox issue caused him to lose his lead to Andrew Nowland. A great battle continued with the pair racing hard side by side up the back straight, where again gearbox issues prevented Tim from retaking the lead and the win.

This weekend Tim had a new logo on the car, “Beyond Blue, Beat the blues Gippsland”, in support of a great cause and initiative to raise funds for the Beyond Blue Foundation. They are holding an event on July 26 in Melbourne, where you can walk, jog or run 5km, 10km or 21km to raise awareness and funds for people suffering with depression / mental illnesses.

If you would like to donate or join the cause, please contact Louise Clark via the “Beat the Blues Gippsland” Facebook page for more information.

Saloon Cars, Round results:

1    Timothy Rowse     Holden VT Commodore    94 
2    Andrew Nowland    Ford Falcon AU         90 
3    Harley Phelan     Holden Commodore VT    78