Begg's dominate Round 3 at QR
20/06/2016
Race 1
With qualifying out of the way, it saw Hamish Goetz take his first pole position of the year, starting round 3 race 1 from the front of the grid. There where 27 starters lined up for race 1 of after 4 failed to make the grid from qualifying.
Whilst the re-adjusted starting order may have confused some, with a few cars starting out of position, this didn't deter Goetz getting the jump from the start to lead Karl Begg into turn 1 on the Sprint Circuit.
Starting from P24, Gary Anger made a short trip through the sand on the exit of 1, dropping a couple of spots for his efforts, however still made up 3 spots in the opening lap.
With Karl taking the lead with a daring move under brakes into turn 2 after 3 laps, it left Hamish in P2, Justin Anthony 3rd, Murray Kent's new Torana, running faultlessly in 4th, Stephen Coe 5th, Murphy 6th, Rushton 7th and Streat 8th, these guys holding their spots from the green to the checker.
This break away group of leaders got away from the field early, thanks to Matt Mobsby’s Friday Night Drift session in turn 2, then having a spin on the exit of turn two on lap two, causing the field to bunch up while he gathered himself up, 9 spots down the order.
Having a poor qualifying session (17th) didn’t Michael Woodcroft from a storming drive to 10th in the first 3 laps, only to be nudged off at turn 3 by Neville Haines, both cars suffering minor damage and re-joining down the field, however they were too far behind to make major inroads and Woody finished in 20th and Haines in 15th.
Battle of the race was mid field, with Kemp, Rice, Walker and Anger. Kemp flying the BMW flag proudly with the 3 Commodore combatants.
Mobsby recovered from his earlier Drift Session Spin and picked his way through the pack for a 10th place finish.
Chris Begg in the sister car to the Outright winner, moved up 5 spots early to 10th before setting into 11th at the finish and 1st place in Group B.
Hot on his heals were Dean McMahon in a beautifully presented yellow Monaro, trailing Begg by only 0.25sec at the finish line.
Greg Lee and Bruce McKenzie flying the BMW flag for 13th and 14th respectively.
Haines recovered from his early dramas for 15th before receiving a 30 second penalty, leaving him in 20th.
Anger, Kemp, Walker and Rice finished nose to tail for 15th to 18th respectively, by only seconds apart after an entertaining race long battle.
Solomon, O'Farrell, Linton, Phoenix and Douglas filling the back of the field in a true privateers style battle, 22nd to 26th of the finishers.
Tony Vincent failing to finish due to a fuel pressure issue on the last lap, after running as high as 20th at the end.
Race 2
With the sun setting, 25 QTCC cars headed out for race 2 of the weekend. Karl Begg sat on pole after his race 1 win with Goetz, Anthony and Kent rounding out a balanced front 2 rows of BMW's and Commodore's, before the Commodores took the rest of the top 9. However, Mobsby made inroads early moving from 10th to 7th after the first lap.
Begg lead early and looked to be doing this one in a cantor. Justin Anthony showed increased pace from the #52 BMW and sat second ahead of the bigger horse powered Holden's of Goetz, Coe and Kent.
Murphy, Mobsby and Rushton formed a tight pack, battling for 6th to 8th. Haines moved up 6 spots on the first tour, negating his penalty from race 1.
Chris Begg ran wide exiting turn 4 and was out dragged to turn 5, dropping back to 17th after lap 1, undoing his good work in race 1.
McKenzie making a lightning start in the Bob Jane T Marts BMW to move from 14th to 11th early on. Rice also moved forward impressively gaining 5 spots to move to 13th.
On lap 3, with Coe making huge gains on both Goetz and Begg, he slowed existing turn 2 in a trail of undercar flames and horrendous smoke, ending his weekend early. No major damage, it was found that back at the workshop that an oil line let go.
Down the field Soloman, Phoenix, O'Farrell, Vincent and Linton waged their own battle, 5 very different cars on a similar pace made for a hard fought battle, but great viewing.
Greg Lee in the beautifully presented and fast BMW CSL 635 punched above its weight, hanging on to the back of the top 10 for much of it.
Anger and Chris Begg spent the early stages driving side by side, before Begg won out.
The yellow Monaro of Dean McMahon and Matt Mobsby's BMW battling an powerful yet entertaining big car, little car battle, with the bigger horsepower winning out on the longer straights of the National circuit, getting up for 6th.
Rice, Chris Begg and Anger waged a tight battle with Rice winning that one for 14th, Begg recovering from his earlier mistake poor start.
However up front, Karl Begg was falling into the clutches of a consistently fast Hamish Goetz in his Monaro, pealing off 1.20 sec laps with ease. This win was Goetz first win in five years of the championship, making him the 6th different winner in 12 races this year.
Kent snuck by Anthony for 3rd even though Anthony took a late and deep dive on the final corner of the last lap, these 2 leaving a slight gap to Murphy in the Hawgood prepared Commodore for 5th, who couldn't catch Anthony at the end.
McMahon and Mobsby had less than a second between them at the finish with a gap to Ruston having a lonely drive at the end for 8th.
Woodcroft held off Haines and Spence for 9th. Jim Spence in the Marlboro liveried Commodore was attacking Haines for the last couple of laps and got a great run out of turn 6 for an all out drag to the finish line. Greg Lee in 12th overall after moving up to group A after posting some impressive lap times in the BMW 635 Bruce McKenzie continuing a trouble free Saturday for 13th.
Rice and Begg were the first of the Group B cars, along with Walker and Kemp being separated by less than a second at the checker in the respective battles for 14th to 17th.
Anger slowed on the final lap due to loose ignition wire on the Commodore, dropping two spots but managing to hold onto 18th with Phoenix beating Soloman to the line by 0.2 for 19th and 20th.
The beautiful Alfa of O'Farrell 21st with Tony Vincent’s fuelling Commodore, Nick Linton and Malcolm Douglas filling rear of the field.
Race 3
Sunday saw a fresh Ipswich morning greeting the QTCC competitors with the return of Steve Hay and Brett Kennedy from Saturday's issues.
Goetz joined Begg on the front row after Saturdays win, as the field again used the short Sprint circuit for the second time this weekend.
A wild opening lap saw horsepower winning off the start on the race heading into turn 1 with Goetz leading the field away, however turn 3, where on cold tyres the Monaro spun under Goetz. The silver Monaro sitting sideway across, the track splitting the field before dropping to last after lap 1. The big winner from the chaos was Karl Begg, with a handy early lead.
On lap 2, Anger and Kemp touched going into 1 while dicing for 14th, Kemp ended up being beached in the gravel and Anger re-joining at the back off the field. The field slowed while Kemp's Diet Coke BMW was removed, his race done.
On the resumption, Begg held a gap over Justin Anthony, who continued his impressive form over the weekend with Kent, Murphy, McMahon, Mobsby and Woodcroft having his best run of the weekend rounding out the top 7.
Haines, Rushton, McKenzie and Spence having their own battle with a gap to Rice and Lee.
As expected Kennedy and Hay moved through the field with ease after starting rear of field, Kennedy moving up to 11th before retiring with an oil pressure issue again.
By lap 8, Kent had caught and passed Anthony for second, Goetz had nearly made it back into the top 10 and was cutting his way through the field as he pleased. Woodcroft and Haines were back together but this time around hadn't swapped any paint unlike race 1.
Haines getting by on lap 9, with Woodcroft dropping 5 spots at the end due to brake issues.
Down the field, Rice, Walker, Chris Begg and Tony Vincent waged battle for Group B honours, with Begg, leading Walker, Vincent and Rice across the line for 15th to 18th.
John Phoenix closing on Rice in the latter stages for 19th with the recovering Anger last car on the lead lap in 20th. Solomon, Linton and Douglas having trouble free runs at the rear of the field to finish 1 lap down. Dean Rices Commodore with a suspension issue struggled for both this race and the prior, but was fixed for race 4.
At the pointy end, Begg, Kent, Anthony maintained position over the closing laps for the podium. Gerry Murphy having a great weekend in the leased Hawgood car, ahead of Dean McMahon and the Valeco Homes BMW of Matt Mobsby continuing to punch above its weight in 7th.
10 seconds back, Haines held off the fast finishing Goetz for 7th, with Spence doing the same to Hay for 9th. Woodcroft, Rushton, McKenzie and Lee leading the remaining group A cars home.
O'Farrell, Kennedy and Kemp, failing to finish.
Race 4
The first race after lunch didn’t fail to deliver in excitement with the best racing of the weekend, this time on the long National circuit.
With the bigger horse powered cars better suited to this circuit, there was plenty of movement up and down the field. Kent lead Begg off the start, Begg's nightmare of being second into turn 1 continuing.
Anthony and Murphy lead McMahon and Mobsby, before Goetz moved up from 8th to 5th by the end of lap 1.
The top 6 established a small gap over Hay who like Goetz, had moved up 3 spots on the first lap.
Woodcroft, Spence, Rushton and Haines used their superior horsepower to hold McKenzie, Chris Begg and Greg Lee at bay.
The battle for Group B places was a close one with Walker and Rice separated by only a few car lengths with Anger, Vincent and Phoenix holding out Kemp for a lap or two before the faster BMW gaining ground after starting at the rear.
Solomon, Linton and Malcolm Douglas rounding on the rear of field.
On lap 3, Goetz got by Anthony whose BMW was experiencing driveshaft issues and falling down the pecking order before retiring on lap 7.
McMahon continued an impressive start to his racing career moving to 4th as Goetz relegated Begg to third on the exit of turn 3.
Hay picked off Mobsby and the ailing Anthony BMW for 5th.
Spence continued a strong weekend for the Brock liveried Commodore, holding 8th from Haines, Rushton and McKenzie. Woodcroft dropped back from as high as 9th to 12th in the middle stages, before getting the better of McKenzie by the finish to finish the last race in P11.
Lee had a faultless weekend, moving into Group A with ease, sitting comfortably on the back of the Group A runners.
Chris Begg's terrific weekend in Group B continued with highest place getter in race 4 over Rice and Walker.
Kemp made up 7 spots to finish 17th, after hunting down Anger and getting by on the last corner after the Commodore found 1st instead of third gear, running wide into the gravel for the 3rd time of the weekend.
Vincent pipped Solomon by 0.2 for 19th with Phoenix trailing a touch behind in 21st.
Linton and Douglas at the rear with trouble free runs.
At the pointy end there was still action to unfold.
Kent skipped away slightly in the new Torana and was looking good for his first race win in this car and 2nd win in 2016, but Goetz laid down some impressively quick and consistent lap times to haul in the leader under brakes into turn 3.
From here he was never headed and won by 7 seconds. Murphy passed Begg for 4th and McMahon took off after Kent, narrowly missing second spot by 0.07 of a second.
Hay was 6th, Spence pipped Mobsby by 0.6 for 7th, Haines and Rushton filling the top 10.
Overall results for the round
Group A
Pole - 1.19.29 National Circuit Hamish Goetz
Lap Records
1.19.30 National Circuit Hamish Goetz
55.48sec Sprint Circuit Karl Begg
1st - Karl Begg
2nd - Hamish Goetz
3rd - Murray Kent
Group B
Pole – Chris Begg
1st - Chris Begg
2nd - Dean Rice
3rd - Stewart Walker