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Images thanks to Ian Welsh / Shifting Focus Photography
We reached the mid-point of the 2019 Heritage Touring Cars series over the 13th and 14th of July, with the third round of the season held at the Historic Racing Car Club Queensland’s Historic Queensland at Morgan Park.
HRCC’s 42nd running of Historic Queensland brought 240-odd historic touring, sports and racing cars to Morgan Park and put on a brilliant race meeting over a sunny and pleasant winter’s weekend.
As is customary, we kicked off competition proper with qualifying on Saturday morning. Terry Lawlor went quickest, putting in a 1:21.23 late in the session. Tony Karanfilovski was right on his tail with a 1:21.45 and Glenn Gerstel put in a mighty effort to put the ex-Murray Carter Group C XE Falcon third on the grid.
The two Sierras were back out front for race one and put on a great show. Lawlor led Karanfilovski home, the two finishing just two tenths apart with the Sierras able to pull out a sizeable gap from Adrian Allisey’s ex-Leeson/Willmington Walkinshaw VL.
A little ways back Mark Taylor and Peter Jones put on a classic show as they tested the might of Taylor’s 1990 VL against Jones’ lithe JPS M3.
After such a strong run in qualifying it was no surprise to see Glenn Gerstel leading the Group C competition in the first race of the weekend. Phil Verwoert was quickly coming to grips with his new VH Commodore and took second place in class, with Frank Binding in hot pursuit in the Army Reserves Falcon.
Our next event was the Lloyd Bax Trophy handicap race, which produced plenty of overtaking and excitement, particularly in the closing stages as Terry Lawlor chased down the Isuzu PF60 Gemini of Steve Axisa. Lawlor was able to put the RS500 into P1 in the closing meters before the chequered flag, Axisa finishing in second. Tony Grant steered his ‘78 RA40 Celica into third, doing well to pick up a podium in his Heritage Touring Cars debut.
The handicap did plenty to shake up the order, with two Group C drivers claiming steps on the podium. Russell Keam was right on Tony Grant’s tail, claiming fourth overall and third Group C. In Group A John Douglas and David Harris enjoyed a pitched battle, finishing just a tenth apart in sixth and seventh to claim second and third Group A.
Race three was our trophy event for the weekend, awarding the Glenn Seton Trophy for Group A and John French trophy to Group C. Terry Lawlor continued his winning run, stretching out a comfortable lead to Adrian Allisey and picking up the Glenn Seton Trophy. Phil Verwoert continued to improve, pushing the VH past Glenn Gerstel to win the John French Trophy.
A little further back and Gavin Adamson and Peter Woods put on the dice of the race, with Adamson able to keep his PF60 Gemini ahead of Woods’ Volvo 242 GT.
Terry Lawlor was able to complete a clean sweep of the round, his second in as many meetings, with another dominant performance in race four. He made good use of the clear air out front, besting his previous Group A over 3000cc lap record, which had stood strong for the past five years. An impressive effort, especially considering that he set the previous mark in ‘Godzilla’, the Nissan GT-R.
Adrian Allisey capped off a competitive meeting in second, with Mark Taylor picking up his second podium of the weekend in third. Overall, Group A competition wrapped up with Lawlor taking home the maximum points haul and Adrian Allisey and Mark Taylor completing the top three.
Glenn Gerstel put in a great drive to complete his weekend, steering the XE to fourth overall and leading the Group C drivers home. Frank Binding was similarly quick, just ducking ahead of the Group A VK Commodore of Wayne Clift to claim P5 and second in Group C. Phil Verwoert completed his first meeting in the VH with a strong finish, third Group C. This put Gerstel on top for the weekend, followed by Verwoert and Steve Axisa.
Going into Muscle Car Masters in August, Terry Lawlor tops the Group A tables, followed by the M3s of David Towe, Bill Cutler and Peter Jones. Milton Seferis is just two points clear of Russell Keam in the Group C series, with Aaron Cameron in third.
Thank you to the Historic Racing Car Club Queensland and the many volunteers who support our sport for another magic weekend at Morgan Park! We’re already looking forward to our next visit to the Sunshine State.
Heritage Touring Cars will return to New South Wales over August 31st and September 1st for Muscle Car Masters. From there we head to Victoria for the season finale at the VHRR’s Historic Sandown over the 25th to 27th of October.
Stay tuned to www.heritagetouringcars.com.au for more from the Legends of Bathurst.
