MEGUIAR’S APC FLASHBACK: THE BEND MOTORSPORT PARK, 2019

11 Apr MEGUIAR’S APC FLASHBACK: THE BEND MOTORSPORT PARK, 2019

As round two of the 2024 Meguiar’s Australian Production Cars season approaches at The Bend Motorsport Park across May 31-June 2, we take a look back at the series’ first visit to the track for its 2019 season finale where the battle for the outright title came all the way down to the fourth and final race of the weekend.

With four one-hour races playing out over the event and the championship still up for grabs, it was an intense battle from the start, but it was in the third race that things were really turned on their head – with Iain Sherrin elevated from third to first in the standings while Chris Lillis was demoted to third from the lead.

Sherrin (#18 Sherrin Racing BMW M4) lead the Coleby Cowham/Lindsay Kearns (#25 CK Motorsport Ford Mustang) pairing by just two points ahead of the final race, while Lillis (#64 Jack Motorsport Holden HSV VF) was 13 points adrift from Sherrin and 11 points away from Cowham/Kearns.

Also set to be decided in the final race was the C1 Championship, with the Kaden Olsen/Frank Mamarella #14 N-Gen Racing Hyundai i30N leading the Cem Yucel/Iain Salteri #40 Harding Performance Volkswagen Golf by 11 points heading to the final race. The #15 N-Gen Racing Hyundai i30N of Charlie and Alfie Senese was set to secure third in the class championship.

The third race had been action packed from start to finish, with the #18 overcoming previous issues that had plagued it across the weekend and Grant Sherrin taking a strong lead early in the race.

The Mustang driven by Lindsay Kearns settled into second before jumping Sherrin in the pit stops and was commanding the race before with just eight minutes to go, it suffered a traction control issue which saw it lose pace.

Sherrin would win the race outright and in A1 while Kearns would take second and the A2 class win. Third across the line outright was the B1 class winning #66 FullGas Racing Subaru WRX STi, driven by Matthew Boylan.

Meanwhile Lillis – who was leading the outright championship ahead of race three – finished the race 10^th outright and first in AM1 despite starting from second on the grid, as a buckled rim from a kerb strike forced him into the pits on lap three for a tyre change and lost him valuable position to his championship rivals.

He did still secure the AM1 class win in that race, with his class competition Michael James seeing his #75 MRJ-US Customs Holden HSV VE withdrawn from the race when a hub nut sheared off the left rear.

Also taking out class victories in race three were Paul Razum (AM2 #41 Penrite/Enzed/Boronia Towbars Holden Commodore, 9^th outright), Kaden Olsen (C1 #14 N-Gen Racing Hyundai i30N, 5^th outright), Haydn Clark and Scott Aho (C2 #35 MDR Motorsport Toyota 86, 12^th outright) and Richard Luff and James Keene (D #511 MWM Racing Mini JCW, 15^th outright).

This all saw the championship stakes as high as possible heading into the fourth and final race later that same day.

When all was said and done, it was Iain Sherrin of Sherrin Racing who was hailed as the outright champion for the category from Chris Lillis (Jack Motorsport) and FullGas Racing’s Dimitri Agathos and Matthew Boylan in one of the closest outright battles witnessed by the APC in recent years.

The class championships were also confirmed as Iain Sherrin (A1 – #18 Sherrin Racing BMW M4) Coleby Cowham and Lindsay Kearns (A2 – #25 CK Motorsport Ford Mustang), Chris Lillis (AM1 – #64 Jack Motorsport Holden HSV VF GTS), Darren Forrest and Paul Razum (AM2 – #41 Penrite/Enzed/Boronia Towbars Holden Commodore), Dimitri Agathos and Matthew Boylan (B1 – #66 FullGas Racing/Nova Employment Subaru WRX Sti), Frank Mammarella and Kaden Olsen (C1 – #14 N-Gen Racing Hyundai i30N), Kyle Gurton (C2 – #95 Aaron Cameron Racing Toyota 86) and Tom Needham (D – #51 Prime Motorsport/Allcarbitz/Penrite Mazda 3 SP23).

The MRF Tyres Team Award and its prize, valued at $50,000 – was claimed by C1 class championship runners-up, the #40 Harding Performance Volkswagen Golf R of Cem Yucel and Iain Salteri.

Iain Sherrin was at the wheel of the #18 and had a great start to lead the Mustang, driven by Cowham, into turn one while Nathan Callaghan in the #64 impressed to move up to third position.

Disaster soon struck for the Mustang, dropping back in the pack with a return of the traction control issue before recovering to get back to eight position before the compulsory pit stop window. Soon after completing his CPS, he was forced back to the lane and out of the race – and the outright standings – by a failed wheel bearing. He had headed into the final race second in the championship but would end up fourth due to the non-finishing result.

Sherrin and Callaghan followed each other to the pits at the opening of the CPS window, with the Jack Motorsport team enacting a lightning quick stop while also taking advantage of the fact they had to change only one tyre while the A1 cars like Sherrin had to change two.

When the field was reset following the stops, it was Callaghan who was leading the way ahead of Carr and Sherrin and if they had finished the race in this order, the championship contenders would have finished tied on points with Sherrin winning on a tie-break.

It wasn’t to be however, with Carr first conducting a great pass on Callaghan to take the race lead before the #64 succumbed to a blown left front tyre after Callaghan ran off the road and picked up some debris while pushing hard with three laps to go. This would see him drop down the order before stopping completely on the last lap at the start of the straight before he was able to limp it across the line.

Carr won the race and the A2 class ahead of the A1 winning Sherrin and the B1 class winning FullGas Racing. Also taking class race wins in race four this afternoon were Salteri (C1), Callaghan (AM1), Aho (C2) and Luff/Keene (D). There was no race finisher for the AM2 class as the #41 failed to finish the race due to mechanical failure.

The championship spoils were presented at a special end-of-season function that evening at Tailem Bend Motorsport Park.

Before then, the field celebrated the weekend’s round winners at the track, with race four outright and A2 winner Bradley Carr (#8 Carr Motorsport BMW M3) taking the round outright spoils ahead of Grant and Iain Sherrin and Agathos and Boylan.

Carr also took out the A2 round win while Duane West (#9 DWE Motorsport Holden HSV VF GST – Class A1), FullGas Racing (B1), Yucel and Salteri (C1), Haydn Clark and Scott Aho (#35 MDR Motorsport Toyota 86, C2) and Richard Luff and James Keen (#511 MWM Racing Mini JCW, D) took out the round victories for the other classes.

WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY AT THE TIME – 2019 MRF TYRES AUSTRALIAN PRODUCTION CARS CHAMPIONS QUOTEBOARD

Outright champion and A1 champion: Iain Sherrin – #18 Sherrin Racing BMW M4, sharing the drive with Grant Sherrin this weekend

“This feels absolutely awesome, particularly after yesterday – it was such a hard day yesterday and coming into Sunday morning 22 points down we thought it was a long shot. We knew the car was fixed and it would be fast, so we said we have to win both races and even though we didn’t win the last race, things fell into our lap there. I guess we had a really bad day yesterday and they had a really bad day today, but it has been a battle all year. Hats off to those guys (#25 and #64), they both had new cars this year and they did extremely well and took it to us all year and were consistent and that is what will get there in the end is consistency in this category. I am just ecstatic, to be National Championship is just awesome. I couldn’t have secured it without all the efforts of not only Grant but also dad (Michael Sherrin) and the entire Sherrin Racing team – it is a real team effort, and this championship belongs to all of us.”

A2 champions: Coleby Cowham and Lindsay Kearns – #25 CK Motorsport Ford Mustang

Coleby Cowham

“We had the same issue in race four as in race three, we believe it is a wheel speed sensor which is messing with the electronics and so we lose ABS and traction which normally would be fine but the brake pedal is so sensitive that it locks up too easily and so it is almost undriveable without it. We ended up learning how to drive it and got up to a reasonable pace but then the left rear wheel bearing failed for the second time in a day so that is something we need to look at and that was the end of it for us today. It would have been good to have a proper fight in the last race but very happy for everyone else, of course we are hugely disappointed but that is motorsport! It is pretty cool to have the A2 championship trophy to take home.”

Lindsay Kearns

“The car was great all weekend and at the end of the year to come away with the title for A2 was good. I just can’t believe how well the pit crew applied themselves, they did practice after practice and then they pulled it off in the pit stops and just really put us in a great spot in both races.”

AM1 champion and 2^nd in the outright title: Chris Lillis – #64 Jack Motorsport Holden HSV VF GTS (shared driving duties this weekend with co-driver Nathan Callaghan)

Chris Lillis

“If at the start of the year if anyone had said that was what was going to happen (to be 2^nd in the outright standings) we would have been pretty pumped but it is hard when it is so close. But 2^nd is pretty good and it is a good result for our car, we have batted above where we should be all year and that combined with a third place at Bathurst earlier this year, we can’t complain.”

Nathan Callaghan – co-driver of Lillis, 2^nd in AM1 championship and driver of the #64 in the final race of the season which decided the outright standings

“The AM1 Championship is great, that was our aim at the start of the year. But as we got through the year and we were getting close and closer to the outright championship that is where our focus started lying but we are really stoked to take home the AM1 Championship in the first time they have ever run the class. I don’t think you could even script what happened today. Before the race we made up a little plan of ‘winning’ and that was all happening but then we had a tyre go down (three laps out from the end of the race). But I was happy with how the car ran, it was mint, until the tyre went down.”

AM2 champions: Darren Forrest and Paul Razum – #41 Penrite/Enzed/Boronia Towbars Holden Commodore

Darren Forrest

“We are pretty happy, it is really cool. We have enjoyed it and had a great time. Met a lot of people, had a lot of fun, wrecked a lot of stuff! In the last race we are not sure what happened, the brake pedal went rock hard and we have a blown diff. We are not sure what happened first, not sure if the diff blew up because I got a fright when the brake pedal went hard and went back a gear or what happened. But at the end of the day, we had fun!”

Paul Razum

“We are very happy. We came in this season in the deep end with it being the first circuit racing we had ever done. It was a massive learning curve but we are really happy with how it has gone. The APC is a really professional series and we are really happy with how it is run. I would like to be doing a new car next year, we are planning on having a big crack at the Bathurst Six Hour but we will see what is happening with the car.”

B1 champions: Dimitri Agathos and Matthew Boylan – #66 FullGas Racing/Nova Employment Subaru WRX STi

Dimitri Agathos

“It is great to get the win the championship. We were consistent all year and Matt was super fast so it helped us with our slight disadvantage with the car at some rounds, we navigated that and just got up to speed. I would like to thank Nova Employment as without them we wouldn’t be racing in the series. We also want to thank all of our other sponsors including All Drive Subaroo, they built a bulletproof and fantastic engines, and Croydon Racing Development who just get the most power out of our engine; and also my thanks to our whole team, our pit crew who sacrifice their time to help us go racing.”

Matthew Boylan

“The whole year was fantastic. My thanks goes to the FullGas team for letting me drive their car and to the Agathos family who run the whole team. The class is awesome, the tyres were great – we didn’t really like the tyres at the first round but now we think they are fantastic and I think everyone likes them. The Bend is the best track I think we have been to and we are very happy.”

C1 champions: Frank Mammarella and Kaden Olsen – #14 N-Gen Racing Hyundai i30N

Frank Mammarella

“I am feeling very relieved, we didn’t think we were even in with a chance at the beginning of the year but as the season went on and we became more consistent it looked like a possibility so we just focused on that more than anything. An Australian title is something we have both always cherished and this is a great start for us. We are absolutely ecstatic and very proud of the team, this is a great achievement for us.

Kaden Olsen

“It is, I am going to say, well-deserved – we put tireless effort in to get to this point now. The whole team has worked over the top on pit stops, weekends – the boys have just been unreal and I am extremely happy.”

C2 champion: Kyle Gurton – #95 Aaron Cameron Racing Toyota 86

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet to be the C2 Australian Production Cars Champion winner as yet, but I am sure it will. Overall it was an awesome year in the series with all of the endurance racing and the Aaron Cameron Racing did a absolutely fantastic job. I want to send a massive thank you to MRF Tyres, all of the marshals at every round and all of the track staff.”

D champion: Tom Needham – #51 Prime Motorsport/Allcarbitz/Penrite Mazda 3 SP23

“I am pretty stoked to have taken out the championship for this season. We are pretty disappointed with how the car went this weekend but stuff happens, cars fail every now and then. All up I am pretty excited and keen to come back next year to race again. I want to send a big thank you to all of my sponsors – Allcarbitz, Penrite, Smash Attack and AUS Host; Prime Motorsport, Neil Longmore, Brendan Elvery and my brother Joe, Chris Holdt, Allan Turner, Bob Shields and Jason Cassells for driving with me this weekend; MRF Tyres and Racefuels; and finally, my parents for giving me the opportunity to drive this season and their work getting the car ready every time.”

2019 MRF Tyres Team Award winners & 2^nd in C1 Championship – Cem Yucel and Iain Salteri – #40 Harding Performance Volkswagen Golf R

Iain Salteri

“It is really awesome to take out the MRF Tyres Team Award. It was something we wanted to do from early in the year and the class C1 Championship this year has been so close. The difference between whether we had a good car, or a bad car depended on where we were, we were fast sometimes and they (#14) were fast sometimes and they were really good in the 2^nd and 3^rd races today. We are just stoked to take out the Team Award.”

Cem Yucel

“To take out the MRF Tyres Team Award – I am super excited, the team is excited, the sponsors are excited. It is a great result for the team and a great result for MRF Tyres too, we have been really happy with the tyres – we haven’t had a failure all year. When it comes to 2^nd in the C1 championship, it was a good result, it has been a challenging year for us developing the new car as we go, and it has also been a super challenging class with some super competitive cars.”

Bradley Carr – round outright winner, round A2 winner, outright and A2 race four winner – #8 Carr Motorsport BMW M3

“We had an absolutely cracking pit stop, we had one this morning and again this afternoon. I think we were the fastest pit stop out of the whole crew. I knew I had to do a fast pit stop as I knew we didn’t have the pace of the Sherrin Racing BMW M4. I had done the calculations and I thought we would end up four or five seconds in front which we did, but then Callaghan held me out or most of the race with a class act performance. I could not get past him, and he made that thing as wide as possible. It was an unfortunate end to their race. For us this is just unreal, and this is probably one of the best race weekends I have had.”