O'Brien Strikes Again, as Bishop Claims Maiden Title
IN his third year of circuit racing, Alwyn Bishop has claimed the inaugural Loaders ‘R’ Us Sportsman series crown with a clean sweep at the penultimate round of the Australian Trans-Am series at Lakeside Park on August 6-7.
Iwan Jones - August 2016
Bishop (Ford Mustang) drove away from pole position to four race wins on his way to claiming the crown in the Sportsman series, a class for over 5-litre competitors with a moderate budget. As the series draws to a close and with a maximum of 100 points on offer at the final round, Bishop’s 130-point lead is unassailable for Harry Charalambous (Ford Mustang) in second place and Dan Flemming (Ford Mustang) in third.
“I guess I would like to thank my sponsors (Blake Machinery Group and Agilis Accounting) for there support, without them it would be tough, and also to all of the Australian Trans-Am group for their help, it's been a great ride,” said Bishop on winning his maiden motorsport title.
Meanwhile, Australian Touring Car veteran Charlie O'Brien (Chevrolet Camaro) sealed his second consecutive championship in the Palmer Steel Industries Trophy Class, after claiming pole and clean sweeping all four races of the round.
Brett Curran, fresh from an impressive outing with the Touring Car Masters at Queensland Raceway sits in second in the Angliss Meats Toowoomba/Hutchinson Builders Mustang, 56 points ahead of Shannon O’Brien.
Category director John English (Pontiac Firebird), who was running third in the outright series prior to the round, and 5 Litre series competitor Tricia Chant (Ford Mustang) were involved in a collision in Friday practice, with the premature end to their race weekend hurting their hopes for higher honours in their respective classes.
A split 20-minute qualifying format was trialed at the round with the outright series cars taking to the track for a 10-minute session before the Sportsman and 5 Litre competitors, leading to the fastest times set in recent memory across all classes.
O’Brien entered unchartered territory with a 57.78, the fastest ever lap of the circuit by an Australian Trans-Am series car, to take pole position ahead of Russell Wright (Ford Mustang) who briefly held the record by setting an impressive 58.38 earlier in the session.
The Wellpro/Mustang Auto Parts Mustang of Rob Hackwood was the fastest of the Mulch Smart 5 Litre Classic competitors with a 59.55, as he also enjoyed a clean sweep of all four races. Hackwood reduced defending 5 Litre champion Sean English’s championship lead to a single point on count-back in the MPP Fabrication/Discount 4X4 Mustang heading into the final round of the series at Queensland Raceway on October 15-16.