AMSF Rookie Rising Stars show promise for national futures
August 05, 2011
Only one week has passed since AMSF young
gun Jon Collins made an impressive national debut, and this weekend he was back
with his Victorian challengers and fellow AMSF Rookie Rising Star Callum
Mitchell, for round three of the Victorian State Circuit Racing Championships
at Sandown Raceway.
Heading into the weekend, both drivers were placed in the championship
top ten with Mitchell in seventh on 116 while Collins rounded out the top ten
on 64, and both were keen to improve on their Round 2 Sandown performances.
Opening practice would see Collins post times in the low 1:18’s,
with Mitchell not far behind in the low to mid 1:19’s, but both rookies knew
there was more to come from driver and machine and were confident that small
performance adjustments would make qualifying a successful outing.
Saturday’s 20 minute noon session saw the 19 young racers hit the
track in view of clean air and a promising result. Collins posted nine laps to
secure a grid place on the verge of the top ten, going 11th with a
1:16.9719, while teammate Mitchell put his Minda machine on the seventh row in
13th with a 1:17.5012, both fastest times set after brief visits to
pit lane to ensure the Go Markets Mygale machines were in the zone.
Race 1 started with some close
racing as by the close of lap one, the teammates crossed the line one after the
other, before lap two saw Mitchell move ahead. Unfortunately for Collins he was
involved in an incident with Hodge at turn 8 that put him to the back of the
field. Collins quickly regrouped and gained another 5 positions, ending the
opening race in 14th. Rookie Rising Star Mitchell shot from 14th
to 12th where he battled with Hodge posting consistent times before
the duelling pair moved into the top ten as McRae and Barbour retired. A late
pass from Jacobson put Mitchell into 11th as the chequered flag
fell.
Race 2 set a new challenge as the
heavens opened and the track became slippery, seeing times fall by almost 20
seconds a lap across the field. Shortened to a six lap dash, a perfect start
from young Collins saw him move to ninth before making contact with Jake
Fouracre who missed a gear between turns 3 & 4. This dropped Jon into 12th
behind Lloyd. Fighting on in the wet to regain a top ten result, Collins passed
both Lloyd and teammate Mitchell on the final lap to secure ninth. After
Brabham was penalised post race Collins was granted eighth position and
valuable points. Mitchell ensured both AMSF machines would finish in the top
ten after dropping a couple of positions at the start, Callam fought back hard
to finish 10th.
The final race of the weekend was wet again and saw
the team results of race two reversed as Mitchell secured seventh, but with the
race being red flagged on the last lap that became eighth, swapping finishing
positions with Collins who would close out the top ten. Mitchell’s race started
well, straight into seventh on the opening lap and was then racing with Brabham
and Howell from the green to the flag. The wet conditions minimised opportunity
for progression, but the young racer fought on to drive an intelligent race,
gaining valuable ‘wet miles’ to end the weekend. While Collins jumped four
places on the opening lap to be in 4th position battling with
Jacobson and continued to post good times, before running wide to avoid another
competitors car which saw him drop to tenth on lap five, and tenth would be
where he would bring his #32 Minda Motorsport Mygale home, unable to find the
room on Fouracre to move further into the points.
As another round of the Victorian State Circuit Racing Championships
is completed, the AMSF Rookie Rising Stars have again gained valuable track time
and taken the opportunity to further hone their developing race craft. Mitchell
holds on to seventh in the championships standings with 162 points, while
Collins moves into equal eighth position on 99 points heading into the final
round at Phillip Island in October.
#32 Jon Collins
“ Overall pretty disappointing weekend for me, we had the car speed
to compete at the front, but a couple of mistakes and being in the wrong place
at the wrong time cost me valuable points”
I’m happy with the car set up and I’m
looking forward to a better result at the next Round Phillip
Island”
#11 Callum Mitchell
“This weekend was really character building.
“Race two was a really hard race in terrible wet conditions so
finishing was an achievement in itself, then with race three also in the wet it
meant the weekend was a bit of a setback but that’s racing and even though I
didn’t achieve my expectations, the weekend was still another solid top ten
result.
“We had good results at Phillip
Island at round one so
I’m looking forward to, and feeling positive about my national debut there in
September, and then our final state round in October.”
The AMSF Rookie Rising Star and CAMS Rising Stars are proudly
supported by CAMS, the Australian Sports Commission, Minda Motorsport, Go
Markets, Penrite, OAMPS, Relux Slabs, Revolution Racegear and Mark Webber.