News
Vic State Racer On-Line Magazine
Check out the below links for the online Vic State Racer Magazine, official publication of the "Victorian State Circuit Racing Championship"
Issue 4 - October 2010 Here
Issue 3 - July 2010 Here
Issue 2 - May 2010 Here
Issue 1 - April 2010 Here
Round 6, the Final Points Round for 2010
Round 6 at Phillip Island September 25 & 26 was the last points round for season 2010. The weather started out bleak but by Sunday, everyone should have had out the Sunscreen as it was a beautiful day.
With the Rocket Racing Team HQ only arriving back home from Perth late Thursday night, it was a bit of a rush to get the car and equipment prepared to leave for the Island on Friday night. I think the crew were also still recouperating from a very busy visit to Perth for the Nationals, the weekend before.
Rod Qualified the #33 HQ in 3rd position, with Jordan Symes on Pole and Carl McHenry in 2nd. Race 1 and Carl had gearbox problems off the start enabling Rod to jump into second behind Jordan. Spud Wood quickly joined the party and for 6 Laps of racing, the lead must have changed at least 10 times, between Spud, Jordan and Rod. Rod took out the Chequered Flag with a margin of 35 hundredths of a second to Spud with Jordan in 3rd.
Race 2 on Sunday morning saw the same 3 guys, joined by Carl McHenry for a great 8 Lap race. Rod struggled for traction leaving Spud and Jordan to fight it out to the Flag with Spud taking the win, Jordan in Second, Rod in Third and Carl in Fourth.
The final race on Sunday afternoon was looking to be a beaut. Again, the usual suspects of Spud, Jordan and Rod fought it our in a close battle with multiple lead changes. On the last lap, Rod hit the lead and looked set for the Win until, at MG corner, the third last, he got tagged and spun by Jordan who had locked up his brakes coming down the hill. Spud escaped the carnage and took the Win with Carl McHenry in second. Rod managed to get restarted and with the buffer the lead group had built, managed to bring the 33 HQ home in Third.
A disappointing finish to the Round but still enough points to seal the CAMS Victorian Championship for the Rocket Racing Team again in 2010.
HQ Nationals - Perth, Western Australia
The HQ Nationals Title was held in Perth this year on September 18 & 19 and a large field of 43 HQ's from around Australia, came to compete for the Title. The WA HQ Association put on a fantastic event and made all the Interstaters very welcome.
The Victorian contingent contained the current National Champion, Spud Wood, along with John Wise, Reggie Wood, Tracy Moulden, Simon Tabinor and Rod. Tracy, John, Rod and Simon arranged transport of their cars to Perth and back on a truck and trailer supplied and driven by Rod's wife's cousin, Michael and his partner Sam.
This enabled us to fly to Perth, saving a number of days on the road towing our vehicles.
The weather in Perth was magnificent, the venue fantastic and the track looked fast and challenging. Due to a grid capacity of 37, the HQ's were divided into 2 groups for the rounds of Heats before the Final Title race on Sunday. With Heat results of a second and two firsts, Rod qualified in second place on the grid for the Final with Gavin Porteous from South Australia taking Pole with 3 straight wins.
The 22 Lap Final on Sunday was a magnificent race which saw Gav Porteous lead from start to finish with Rod coming in second place, Gary Bonwick (QLD) in third and Spud Wood (VIC) in fourth. The racing over the entire weekend was fast, competitive and very clean, a great credit to all drivers.
A huge thank you to our Team mates, Dennis, Jeremy and Michael for taking the time and expense to come with me to Perth, to Mick & Sam for getting our cars safely to and from Perth, to Tracy & Ian for sharing our retreat whilst staying in Perth and to everyone associated in organising and running the event. It was probably the best race meeting we have ever attended.
Round 5 and 2 Wins and 2 Second Places Win the Round
Round 5 at Winton Motor Raceway August 28 & 29 was a surprise weather wise with a great weekend with plenty of sun. A smaller field of 15 HQ's gridded up for a Practice Session on Saturday morning and after the 20 minute session, the Rocket Racing Team HQ had posted the fastest time. The 20 minute Qualifying session in the early afternoon had HQ33 on Pole with a very slender 9 hundreds of a second lead over Spud Wood.
Race 1 and Spud got the jump after Rod messed up a gear change. Spud maintained his lead over the 6 lap race with Rod coming in second, 2 tenths of a second behind.
Race 2 on Sunday morning and this time Rod had a great start and headed the field into Turn 1 for the 8 Lap Race. He maintained the lead for the entire race with Stephen Whyte coming in second and Spud Wood in third.
Race 3 and again Rod got the jump on the field to take the lead by Turn 1 for this 10 Lap Race. Stephen Whyte was on Rod's tail and half way into the race ran wide whilst trying to duck underneath on turn 7 and hit Rod in the Driver's door. Rod still maintained the lead and won the 10 Lapper.
Race 4 and the final race of the weekend and Round had Rod starting again out of Pole for a 6 lapper. After 3 Laps, Stephen Whyte made a great move to get inside Rod and take the lead. Stephen lead the race till the end to take a great win. Rod came in second place to finish off another great weekend and take the Round Win.
Rod and the team are now preparing to head over to Perth for the HQ NAtionals, September 18 & 19. With a good consistant run at Winton, minimal prep work should be required to get the car ready. The car will head off on a truck with 3 other HQ's from Victoria a week before the event and the team will fly over on the Thursday before. We're all excited about the journey over to Perth and meeting and competing with HQ Teams from all over Australia. The WA Club have done some great preparation for the event which should be fantastic both on and off the track.
Round 4 and another Clean Sweep for Rocket Racing Team
Round 4 saw us again at Sandown Raceway for the second time this year. The weather in July certainly wasn't as kind with Saturday being a pretty cold, wet and miserable day. Qualifying on Saturday morning and Rod and the team decided to take a gamble by going out on dry (buffed) tyres and although it wasn't raining, the track was still pretty wet. The gamble didn't pay off and we Qualified in 7th, out of 24 HQ's.
Race 1 on Saturday afternoon and after learning their lesson from Qualifying, this time Wet Tyres were put on the Rocket Racing Team HQ. A ripper start from Rod saw him pass everyone in front to lead the pack into Turn 1. Spud Wood jammed his shifter and lost about 10 places. Rod lead the field for the entire race which finished with Adrian Brown in 2nd and Carl McHenry in 3rd. Spud managed to get back up to 4th.
Race 2 on Sunday started great again with Rod taking the lead but it turned out to be a very short race when Graham Francis tried to go 3 wide over the Dandenong Road hill. It didn't work as he got a bmup which saw him slingshot off the track and into the tyre barrier. The remainder of the race was spent behind the Pace Car whilst crews repaired the barrier.
Race 3 and both Rod and Spud got great starts with Rod holding a slender lead. Unfortunately for Spud, he received a Black Flag for apparently jumping the start and had to serve a Stop/Go Penalty. This allowed Rod to take a comfortable win from Carl McHenry and Adrian Brown.
Race 4 and the final race for the weekend saw some more great, clean racing. Rod got a small buffer over the field although a fast finishing Spud Wood certainly got within striking distance on the last lap. With another first place, the Rocket Racing Team took a clean sweep and collected maximum points for the round. Still 2 more rounds to go this season, first at Winton and finishing up at Phillip Island. We are also travelling to Perth in September to compete in the HQ Nationals so the remainder of the season will be a busy one.
Round 3 Winton & the "Dallas Crane Challenge"
A very emotional round for everyone in our Club with the recent passing of Dallas. Chaplain Arthur Bartlett performed a fantastic short service on Saturday afternoon for everyone and we all shared some drinks and a chat afterwards. Many of Dallas's family were also there to share this very special weekend with us and with this round being a Shannons Nationals round, therefore giving the HQ's television coverage, there was certainly no more motivation needed to try and perform well.
Bruce Heinrich, from South Australia, set the pace from Qualifying and the first 3 Races with Rod coming second to Bruce in all 3. The 15 Lap Race 4 and "Dallas Crane Challenge" main event and Rod got a blinder start and lead the huge field of HQ's into Turn 1. A Safety Car in Lap 2 bunched everyone up and the restart again saw Rod get a slight buffer for a couple of Laps before Spud caught up and made a pass on Turns 1 & 2 queezing Rod towards the concrete barrier after turn 2. This caused Rod to loose some momentum and John Wise, Andy Williams & Carl McHenry all managed to get by Rod through Turns 3 & 4. With about 8 Laps to go, Rod passed Carl for 4th position and took out after the lead bunch. Unfortunately, shortly after this, turning onto the Back Straight, Bruce Heinrich came into the corner too hot behind Rod, hitting him in the bumper and causing him to spin off the track. With only a few laps remaining, the best Rod could do in the end was 8th position although with Three 2nd positions and One 8th position, we still managed to win the Round in the Victorian Club Championship.
Congratulations to Andy Williams on a great drive and winning the inaugural "Dallas Crane Challenge".
Round 2 Clean Sweep for Rocket Racing Team
Rod and the team took away a clean sweep from Round 2 of our Championship at Sandown Raceway on May 22 & 23. The weather again was fantastic with 2 days of sunshine and even though we had a smaller field of 22 HQ's, the racing was fast and furious. Qualifying saw the Rocket Racing Team HQ on Pole with Carl McHenry 2nd, Adrian Brown 3rd, Brian Blackwell 4th, David Tessari 5th and John Wise 6th.
In Race 1, we managed to get a great start and lead the field for the entire 8 Laps. Carl McHenry maintained 2nd place with John Wise and Spud Wood coming back up to positions 3 and 4 respectively.
Race 2, the last race for Saturday, was much the same for Rod with a good start and lead for the 6 Lap Race. Carl McHenry broke his Gear Shift, dropping him back to 9th place. Spud took Wisey to finish 2nd with Brian Blackwell and Adrian Brown filling the top 5 positions.
Race 3 on Sunday morning proved to be a handful for the mid-field drivers as an incident at Dandenong Road with cars blocking the track caused mayhem with some drivers trying to do the right thing and slow down and others looking to pick up a few quick places. For Rod, a good start kept him in front of Spud for the start of this 10 Lap race. On lap 4, Spud made a great move under Rod heading into turn 2 to take the lead. Spud led for the next 3 laps until the Safety Car was sent out due to the Dandenong Road carnage. On the restart, Lap 8, Rod got the jump on Spud and took the lead before Trun 1. From there, Rod managed to hold off a strong finishing Spud to make it 3 Wins from 3 races.
John Wise was very consistant and again finished in 3rd Place. Carl McHenry, who suffered the broken gear shift in Race 2, had a blinder of a race to finish in 4th place.
Race 4, and the last race of the Round, was shaping up to be a beauty with nothing between the top 4 drivers. Rod again had a great start and with Spud missing a gear change at the start, relagating him back to 5th position after lap 1, Wisey took up the chase. On Lap 3, Carl passed Wisey and took off after Rod. Spud had also recovered from his bad start and also took Wisey to be in 3rd position. Carl was definitely on the money pace wise and sat on Rod's bumper for the majority of the remaining laps. On several occassions Carl even got up alongside Rod going up the back straight but being stuck on the outside made it very difficult to try and pass, especially over the top.
After 8 Laps of hard racing, Rod managed to take the clean sweep with Carl in 2nd, Spud in 3rd, Wisey in 4th and Stephen Whyte filling the top 5 positions.
Thanks again to my fantastic team mates, Dennis and Jeremy, for another great weekend of racing. Michael, our 4th Crew Member, couldn't make it to Sandown as he was earning some serious browny points by taking his family on a cruise.
See the write-up of the HQ's at Sandown in the on-line "Vic State Racer" magazine, the offical publication of the Victorian Circuit Racing Championship.
Click Here to see the Rocket Racing Team HQ on the front cover and article on Page 6.
More news after Round 4 at Winton for the "Dallas Crane Challenge".
Rocket Racing Team takes out Round 1 of the 2010 Season
Unusually warm weather greeted all 25 competitors at the Phillip Island circuit on April 17 for Round 1 of our 2010 Championship. Even stranger, the great weather actually stayed around all weekend.
We're not sure if it was the unusually warm weather or a change in the Premium Unleaded fuel but many teams had severe problems with pinging or pre-detonation, causing head gaskets to blow and even worse, blown engines. At least 4 teams blew engines and countless guys were replacing head gaskets over the weekend.
Luckily, although we did have to reduce our timing, our Rocket Racing Team HQ went like a charm. First in Qualifying and Winning all Three Races. Young Jordan Symes put in a fantastice effort to finish 2nd in all three races with third place on the podium being shared by Stephen Whyte, Carl McHenry and Spud Wood.
See the write-up of the HQ's at Phillip Island in the on-line "Vic State Racer" magazine, the offical publication of the Victorian Circuit Racing Championship.
Click Here to see the magazine. HQ write-up is on page 16 & 17.
Rocket Racing Team wins 2010 Bathurst Tyrepower HQ Challenge
After a mammoth 2 days of racing at the iconic Mount Panorama circuit in Bathurst, Rocket Racing Team clinched victory, taking wins in Race 1 and Race 3 with a 3rd in Race 2. The weather Gods threw everything at all the competitors this year and the field of 56 HQ Holdens were up to the task, providing a great spectacle of close and exciting racing.
After qualifying in Second position behind Andy Williams, Race 1 saw Rod take the lead before Turn 1 and stay in front of the massive field to take the win.
Race 2 started not long after a heavy rain shower and with the track drying, many competitors took the plunge and put dry tyres on. Rod played it safe and remained on wets. Retaining the lead until a Saftey Car incident on lap 2, the restart saw Spud Wood and Keven Stoopman overtake Rod on the now dry circuit but after lap 4, the rain came again, playing back into Rod's hands. Spud and Keven, in particular, managed to stay in front by the end of the race giving Rod a 3rd in Race 2.
By Race 3, the weather had improved, the track dried and all competitors confident enough to go to dry weather tyres. Rod started out of 3rd position on the Grid and on Lap 2, overtook Keven and made out after Spud, who had managed to build a small buffer. After a failed overtaking manoeuvre on the outside of Spud going up Mountain Staight, which saw both drivers going way past their brake markers, both managed to hold their positions. Spud locked a brake coming onto the Start/Finish Straight enabling Rod to use his momentum to overtake Spud as they entered Turn 1. From there, Rod managed to keep his slender lead as Spud was forced to fend off a hard charging Andy Willaims, which eventually saw both of them coming together in the Controd Straight kink with Andy coming off second best and hitting the concrete barrier sidways at over 200kph. Luckily Andy was Ok and his car, although ending up in the sand trap, will live to fight another day.
Rod took the Chequered Flag for the Race win, capping off a fantastic race meeting at the iconic circuit. Many thanks to our team of Dennis, Jeremy and Michael along with our valued Sponsors and special mention to Nev Haley of Autotrac Advanced Automotive and Keith Davidson from Davidson Race Engines.
To see pictures of our 2010 visit to Bathurst, see our Pictures page
To see the National HQRA Bathurst weekend report, click HERE
Rocket Racing Team wins 2009 Victorian Championship
After a clean sweep at Winton Raceway on November 7 & 8 in the last Points Round for the season, our team has clinched the HQRA Club Championship for 2009. This means we've won both the CAMS VSCRC (Victorian State Circuit Racing Championship) and our Club Championships this year.
A huge thankyou to our Sponsors and Team members for a fantastic season !!!!
Bathurst 2009
The Bathurst 12 Hour in 2009 was our team's first excursion to Bathurst. What an experience, 52 HQ Holdens at the iconic Mount Panorama circuit. For our first ever race meeting at Bathurst, we were absolutely wrapped with the end result finishing 4th.
Click here to read our write-up on this event.
Newsletters
Below are links to our Victorian HQ Club Newsletters.
Please Note: These files are PDF's and require Adobe Reader to open and view them.
If you don't have Adobe Reader, click here to download it.
2010
| October 2010 |
| August 2010 |
| May 2010 |
| April 2010 |
| February 2010 |
2009
| October 2009 | ||
| August 2009 Part 1 | August 2009 Part 2 | August 2009 Part 3 |
| May 2009 Part 1 | May 2009 Part 2 | |
| February 2009 Part 1 | February 2009 Part 2 |