{"id":148306,"date":"2016-06-13T01:15:49","date_gmt":"2016-06-12T15:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=148306"},"modified":"2021-06-03T16:00:41","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T06:00:41","slug":"crowds-welcome-wondai-sprints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2016\/06\/13\/crowds-welcome-wondai-sprints\/","title":{"rendered":"Crowds Welcome Wondai Sprints"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A bunch of tough Holdens and Fords in the Touring Car class line up to have a go at the track<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

June 13, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

South Burnett residents were in rev head heaven when the inaugural Wondai Street Sprints roared into action at the weekend.<\/p>\n

The event, organised by the Motors In Motion committee, went off almost without a hitch, although organisers were still tearing their hair out with minor changes within hours of the racing starting.<\/p>\n

CAMS track inspector Ian Mayberry, who came up from the Gold Coast for the event, picked up some changes that had to be made on Saturday morning, but these were quickly rectified by painting a few lines, and placing out a few more hay bales.<\/p>\n

Mr Mayberry said the track surface was excellent.<\/p>\n

“South Burnett Regional Council should be congratulated for an excellent job.”<\/p>\n

The 100 entrants raced against the clock over the 1.6km course. Each had the opportunity of running the course 10 times, five times on each day.<\/p>\n

The fastest time was recorded by Toowoomba driver Ray Vandersee in his own designed and built race car, a Skelta G-Force.<\/p>\n

Vandersee set the course record of 57.20 seconds.<\/p>\n

Next best were the openwheelers of Darren Duffield (58.09) and Vikki Paxton (58.88) who both recorded their best times on their ninth attempt.<\/p>\n

Duffield spun out on his last attempt at beating the clock (see below).<\/p>\n

The slowest lap time was recorded by Justin McCarthy in his Austin 7, while still exploring the circuit on his first lap: 123.27.<\/p>\n

McCarthy’s times improved during the meet to 109.51.<\/p>\n

The starting line was hectic over the two days, with vehicles rolling up and then roaring off in a cloud of burned rubber.<\/p>\n

Some competitors found the two sets of chicanes on the long back straight tight, especially the two open-wheelers.<\/p>\n

However, the chicanes were necessary otherwise the entrants would have gathered too much speed.<\/p>\n

Organisers positioned grandstands at strategic points around the circuit to allow spectators to gain a better view of the racers.<\/p>\n

Spectators also took the opportunity to wander freely around the pit area and chat to the drivers.<\/p>\n

They were entertained by commentator Will Hagon who kept up a non-stop commentary – about the cars, drivers and motor sport in general – for the two days.<\/p>\n

A shuttle bus was kept\u00a0busy running backwards and forwards from the parking area to the racetrack, ferrying passengers across for the racing.<\/p>\n