Shannons Australian Production Car Championship Bathurst

The Class B Mitsubishi Lancer EVO of Bob Hughes, Rick Bates and Peter Gazzard has become the pacesetter after day one of practice for the 2007 WPS Bathurst 12 Hour, round one of the Shannons Australian Production Championship at Bathurst on Good Friday. It was also a celebration of a 20 year reunion for Bates and Gazzard who were teamed together in their Bathurst debut in the late 1980?s.

In the second session (of two sessons) held this afternoon the team lapped with a best time of 2 mins 33.8206 to be over a second ahead of the Gary Holt, Paul Morris and Craig Baird Class A BMW 335i while the Class B Subaru Imprezza WRX of Neil Crompton, Grant Denyer and Chris Alajajian was third quickest.

The second BMW 335i of Barry Morcom, Beric Lynton and Chris Pither was next ahead of the Pro Duct EVOs of Mark King, Mark Brame and Jason Walsh, and Bob Pearson, Anton Mechtler and Bruce Steward.

Thirty two cars completed day one in what is the biggest round of the championship and being a single race format the usual class handicaps won?t apply. Still the class final results matter and the rivalry within these groups is already intense.

There is also an strong interclass battle striving for outright supremacy ? and at this stage Class B for AWD Performance Cars has outperformed the Class A. Class C appears to be also in with a shot of an outright placing with the class fastest ? the BMW 130i of Luke Searle and Peter Kelly eighth quickest overall and less than five seconds off the outright pace.

Class D is a close contest between Ford and Holden with the former through John Bowe, Jack Elsegood and Chris Delfsma (Ford Falcon XR8) outpointing the Holden Commodore SS of Brian Walden, Garth Walden and Michael Auld for top honours.

Former team mates Colin Osborne (Toyota Celica) and Trevor Keene (Mini Cooper S) are fighting for Class E laurels with Osborne?s crew marginally ahead as the Jim Hunter led Subaru heads up Class F.

Of the diesel propelled cars the all girl crew of Samantha Reid, Christina Orr, Leanne Tander and Lauren Grey in their Holden Astra CDTI Turbo are two seconds faster than the Alfa Romeo 159 of Keene Booker, Renardo Rinaldo and David Stone but have their femme rivals of Helen Stig, Amber Anderson and Danielle Argiro in the Class E Celica just fractionally behind.

COMBINED SESSIONS
1 B.Hughes/R.Bates/P.Gazzard Mitsubishi Lancer EVO (Class B) 2:33.8206
2 G.Holt/P.Morris/C.Baird BMW 335i (Class A) 2:35.0708
3 N.Crompton/C.Alajajian/G.Denyer Subaru Imprezza WRX STi (Class B) 2:36.7918
4 B.Morcom/B.Lynton/C.Pither BMW 335i (Class A) 2:36.8212
5 B.Pearson/A.Mechtler/B.Stewart Mitsubishi Lancer EVO (Class B) 2:38.0352
6 M.King/M.Brame/J.Walsh Mitsubishi Lancer EVO (Class B) 2:38.0626
7 T.Sipp/C.D?Agostin/S.Nicholas Subaru Imprezza WRX STi (Class B) 2:39.1802
8 L.Searle/P.Kelly BMW 130i (Class C) 2:39.4353
9 C.Atkinson/D.Herridge/C.Crocker WRX STi (Class B) 2:39.8618
10 C.Delfsma/J.Bowe/J.Elsegood Ford Falcon BF XR8 (Class D) 2:41.5605
11 A.Moffat/D.Russell/S.Juniper BMW 130i (Class C) 2:41.8947
12 G.Deane/R.Rubis Subaru Imprezza WRX STi (Class B) 2:42.9473
13 B.Walden/G.Walden/M.Auld Holden Commodore VY SS (Class D) 2:43.3897
14 M.Trimble/D.Ryan/A.Fawcett/M.Craig Ford FPV F6 Typhoon (Class A) 2:43.5318
15 N.Pretty/J.Richards/S.Price/J.Perkins Holden Astra VXR Coupe (Class C) 2:43.8800
16 A.Shephard/S.Briffa/M.Bailey Mazda 3 MPS (Class C) 2:44.2242
17 D.Neville/B.Lowe/B.Neilson Ford Falcon AU TE50 (Class A) 2:44.3572
18 C.Osborne/N.Bates/J.Roecken Toyota Celica SX (Class E) 2:46.9549
19 D.Grant/M.Cini/M.Eddy BMW 130i (Class C) 2:47.0462
20 T.Keene/A.Bretherton/T.Slade Mini Cooper S (Class E) 2:48.0156
21 A.Letcher/D.Turner/N.Callaghan Ford Falcon BF XR6 Turbo (Class D) 2:50.8686
22 R.Mork/R.Prince/P.Vicary/M.Rambow Honda Integra Type R (Class E) 2:52.4607
23 D.Cribbin/R.Hill/P.Jenkins Ford Falcon BF XR6 Turbo (Class D) 2:52.5831
24 P.Conroy/T.Conroy/B.Hadley Honda Integra Type S (Class E) 2:53.3901
25 C.Schembri/L.Mertens/D.Mertens Toyota Celica SX (Class E) 2:55.0199
26 S.Reid/C.Orr/L.Tander/L.Gray Holden Astra Diesel CDTI Turbo (Class G) 2:55.1407
27 H.STig/A.Anderson/D.Argiro Toyota Celica SX (Class E) 2:55.2177
28 R.Howe/P.Faulkner/D.Tryhorn/D.O'Keefe Ford Falcon BF XR6 Turbo (Class D) 2:56.5640
29 K.Booker/R.Rinaldo/D.Stone Alf Romeo 159 2.4 JT (Class G) 2:57.4029
30 J.Hunter/W.Bossie/J.Williamson/M.Windsor Subaru Impreza RS (Class F) 2:59.1984
31 S.Smollen/P.Alexander/G.Mennell BMW 323i (Class E) 2:59.9228
32 I.Sherrin/G.Sherrin/S.Jones/J.Wallace BMW 120i (Class F) 3:02.649

PRACTICE TWO
1 B.Hughes/R.Bates/P.Gazzard Mitsubishi Lancer EVO (Class B)
2:33.8206 2 G.Holt/P.Morris/C.Baird BMW 335i (Class A) 2:35.0708
3 N.Crompton/G.Denyer/C.Alajajian Subaru Imprezza WRX STi (Class B) 2:36.7918
4 B.Morcom/B.Lynton/C.Pither BMW 335i (Class A) 2:36.8212
5 M.King/M.Brame/J.Walsh Mitsubishi Lancer EVO (Class B) 2:38.0626
6 B.Pearson/A.Mechtler/B.Stewart Mitsubishi Lancer EVO (Class B) 2:38.3610
7 L.Searle/P.Kelly BMW 130i (Class C) 2:39.4353
8 C.Atkinson/C.Crocker/D.Herridge Subaru Imprezza WRX STi (Class B) 2:39.8618
9 T.Sipp/C.Dágostin/S.Nicholas Subaru Imprezza WRX STi (Class B) 2:41.1539
10 C.Delfsma/J.Bowe/J.Elsegood Ford Falcon BF XR8 (Class D) 2:41.5605
11 A.Moffat/D.Russell/S.Juniper BMW 130i (Class C) 2:41.8947
12 G.Deane/R.Rubis Subaru Imprezza WRX STi (Class B) 2:42.9473
13 M.Trimble/D.Ryan/A.Fawcett/M.Craig Ford FPV F6 Typhoon (Class A) 2:43.5318
14 N.Pretty/J.Richards/S.Price/J.Perkins Holden Astra VXR Coupe (Class C) 2:43.8800
15 A.Shephard/S.Briffa/M.Bailey Mazda 3 MPS (Class C) 2:44.2242
16 D.Neville/B.Lowe/B.Neilson Ford Falcon AU TE50 (Class A) 4 2:44.3572
17 C.Osborne/N.Bates/J.Roecken Toyota Celica SX (Class E) 2:46.9549
18 D.Grant/M.Cini/M.Eddy BMW 130i (Class C) 2:47.0462
19 B.Walden/G.Walden/M.Auld Holden Commodore VY SS (Class D) 2:47.6685
20 T.Keene/A.Bretherton/T.Slade Mini Cooper S (Class E) 2:48.0156
21 P.Conroy/T.Conroy/B.Hadley Honda Integra Type S (Class E) 2:53.3901
22 C.Schembri/L.Mertens/D.Mertens Toyota Celica SX (Class E) 2:55.0199
23 H.STig/A.Anderson/D.Argiro Toyota Celica SX (Class E) 2:55.2177
24 R.Howe/P.Faulkner/D.Tryhorn/D.O?Keefe Ford Falcon BF XR6 Turbo (Class D) 2:56.5640
25 K.Booker/R.Rinaldo/D.Stone Alf Romeo 159 (Class G) 2:57.4029
26 S.Reid/C.Orr/L.Tander/L.Gray Holden Astra Diesel CDTI Turbo (Class G) 2:57.8078
27 D.Cribbin/R.Hill/P.Jenkins Ford Falcon BF XR6 Turbo (Class D) 2:58.4779
28 J.Hunter/W.Bossie/J.Williamson/M.Windsor Subaru Imprezza RS (Class F) 2:59.1984
29 S.Smollen/P.Alexander/P.Stubber/G.Mennell BMW 323i (Class E) 2:59.9228
30 A.Letcher/D.Turner/N.Callaghan Ford Falcon BF XR6 Turbo (Class D) 3:01.0807
31 R.Mork/P.Vicary/M.Rambow Honda Integra Type R (Class E) 3:05.0985
32 G.Sherrin/I.Sherrin/S.Jones/J.Wallace BMW 120i (Class F) 3:05.7070

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