Trans Am Shakes the Mountain

The sixth round of the 2024 Trico Trans Am season would be a special one.  The penultimate round would be held at Mt Panorama, during the last ever Bathurst International, and would also be the start of the ‘Mountain to the City’ double-header.  

A blockbuster field of 22 cars included race winner Tim Brook, who would return to the category after a year absent.  A handful of drivers would again come from the AASA’s TA2 Muscle Car Series, including Sprintcar drive Domain Ramsay, Mark Crutcher, Jason Pryde and Des Collier.

After two race victories at The Bend and three at Queensland Raceway, Todd Hazelwood has leap frogged the GRM pair to lead the championship with 660 points.  Reigning champion James Moffat follows on 628 points, as Jordan Boys has climbed past James Golding for third with 613 points.

With the final round of the championship just around the corner, and only two days of running available for the Trans Am crews, every point would be crucial before the final round in Adelaide.

After dropping to fourth in the championship, James Golding started strong, setting the fastest lap during the only practice session of the weekend with a 2:11.763.  Tim Brook would show his speed finishing the second with a 2:13.028, as Todd Hazelwood slotted into third with a 2:13.059 lap.  Unfortunately, Elliot Barbour would fail to turn a lap, with the car stopping at The Cutting on his outlap.

James Golding showed no signs of slowing down, qualifying on the pole (2:10.672), but not by much ahead of Todd Hazelwood (2:10.693) lining up alongside, and Nathan Herne in third (2:10.811).

Golding would hold the lead into Hell Corner for Race 1 and never look back, as James Moffat gained two places with a daring move up the inside, moving up to third from seventh at the end of Mountain Straight. Both Todd Hazelwood and Tim Brook would be hung out wide on the exit, kicking up gravel and losing a position each.  

The Safety Car would come out as John Hollinger had a massive shunt at McPhillamy Park smacking both the outside and inside concrete walls.  Hollinger would be okay, but his Trans Am Camaro would not see any more action.   No one could catch James Golding, even on the restart as he pulled away to take a dominant victory.  Nathan Herne would finish second as James Moffat held off championship leader Hazelwood for third.

In the Pro-Am class of Trans Am, Joshua Thomas would lead the way, finishing the first race in twelfth, with Mark Bailey finishing four-seconds adrift, and Mark Crutcher holding off Brett Niall for third on the Pro-Am podium.

​At the start of Race 2, Nathan Herne would drop to fourth from second as the field entered Griffins Bend and Nash Morris sustained front right damage and a cut tyre.  The Supercheap Auto Racing team would fix Morris’ Ford Mustang to finish the race, two laps down. Edan Thornburrow and Mark Crutcher also made trips to pitlane, with Crutcher going back out and Thornburrow retiring with a drive belt issue.

Up front, no one could match James Golding, who would clean sweep the weekend, from practice to the final race.  Reigning champion James Moffat would hold off Todd Hazelwood again who would finish second and third respectively.  A special mention goes to Elliot Barbour, who won the MPI ‘Up on the Wheel’ award for gaining the most positions throughout the two races.

Joshua Thomas again would be the leading Pro-Am driver at the end of Race 2, finishing tenth, with Mark Bailey and Brett Niall line astern. 

The Trans Am teams would use Sunday to prepare and setup their cars for the streets of Adelaide and the final round of the 2024 championship, which would be held the following week at the VAILO Adelaide 500.  Todd Hazelwood still leads with 716 points, however, Moffat has closed in now on 694 points.  Jordan Boys still sits in third with 659 points, but only just as James Golding has reeled him in, only 13 points behind.  The first part of the ‘Mountain to the City’ has been complete, now to finish it all off in the city of Adelaide.