HTCAV – 2019 JUST CARS Cup Sandown report
Words: Darren Knight
Photos: Phil Wisewould
The first Just Cars 50 km Enduro for 2019 has been run and won. Weather was good for the 19-21 July event at Sandown and there were tight battles through the field, but in a grid that included an array of desirable Aussie and US muscle, the Pony Cars were victorious and dominated the weekend.
Qualifying – Mustangs Lead the Way
Saturday’s early morning qualifying was the first event of the weekend where, on a cold track, Andrew “Hollywood” Clempson’s ’69 Fastback Mustang 351 took an impressive pole with a 1m 21.9s lap.
Joining him on the front row was Michael Miceli’s similar Boss-302 Fastback with the legendary John Mann’s Camaro and Darryl Hansen’s ’68 Trans Am Mustang on the second row. The scene was set for some tight racing…
Race One – Fast Start
Clempson shot away to an early lead while Miceli went nowhere – bagged up in a cloud of tyre-smoking wheel spin. To his credit, Miceli soon sliced past the cars that had overtaken him and began pressuring Hansen for second. However, just as he regained those lost places, a fuel pressure problem saw Miceli circulating slowly back to the midfield.
Clempson reaped the benefits of some recent testing and suspension development by taking an easy win from Hansen, with the rapid Daniel Van Stokrom (Torana) taking a fine third in front of John Mann, who was having a frustrating time with the gearbox in his `69 Camaro.
Further back in the field, Don Knight (Cortina) succumbed to a blown head gasket, Brent Trengrove (Camaro) had a persistent oil leak and Daniel Myers endured shifter issues in his 308-powered Kingswood. Ben Dahlstrom was also on the retirement list; his S Series Valiant out with suspected head gasket failure as category debutant Harrison Draper (driving the ex-Russell Pilven Datsun and no relation to the famous Mini racing family) had an entertaining baptism of fire by dicing hard with the BMW 2002 of Rob Van Stokrom.
Not a newbie but absent from the field for some years was XY Falcon racer Karl Wittick. His only prep on the big white Ford - after seven years - was to have the fluids changed; it even ran tyres that had outlived several Prime Ministers! Despite this, the car performed faultlessly all weekend as Wittick mixed it up with the Toranas of Nathan Gordon and Stephen Pillekers.
Race Two – Sunday Sprint
Clempson again made a great start in the early morning 5-lap ‘warm up’ before the big race in the middle of the day, but this time Hansen was having none of it and fought back to snatch the lead over the hill at the end of the back straight.
Miceli had again sliced through the field from midfield and a huge battle erupted for second place between his and Clempson’s spectacular Pony Cars.
Inches apart, they thundered down Sandown’s long front straight. Miceli gained the upper hand at Turn 1 but locked a brake into Turn 2, going off the track then spearing back on, leaving Clempson no option but to cannon into Miceli’s front guard.
Avoiding that drama, Hansen took a strong win from Daniel Van Stokrom, who was well clear of Mann in third while Chris Stern (`68 Mustang) was an excellent fourth after a rocket start. Originally built by Melbourne’s Rian Nott, the Stern Ford was one of the earliest Group Nc cars to appear when the class began in the mid-Nineties.
Joe Calleja showed his continued improvement with fifth place in his ’69 Mustang Fastback in front of Miles.
Despite a fairly damaged nose, Clempson set the fastest lap on the final tour on his way to an eventual eighth place behind Danny Myers’ Holden HQ.
Draper and van Stokrom continued their battle from Race 1, but the youth of the former saw the rookie edge away to a five second lead in the Under 2 litre class. Bill Trengrove struggled with shifter issues in his Group Nb Mustang, leaving last year’s Class Champion Andrew Cannon (Mustang) unopposed in Nb. Don Knight had taken the start in this sub-category after fellow Cortina punter Rod Evans drove home to retrieve a replacement head gasket but it blew again; a crack in the block found to be the real culprit post-race.
Race Three – The Big One
Fuel tanks were brim-full as competitors took no chances with a 17-lap, 50km journey ahead of them for the JUST CARS Cup.
Hansen hooked up nicely to grab an early lead, while Clempson wasted no time rounding up those starting in front of him and soon moved into second.
Stern and Calleja were engaged in a spirited battle, as were Cannon and Miles. Finally getting into his stride, Bill Trengrove rounded up the latter two before gearbox gremlins struck again and forced him out.
In a shocking few laps for the “General”, Pillekers, Gordon and Myers all retired, as did Mann in the most spectacular fashion. The Big Chev let go in a huge plume of oil smoke heading into Dandenong Road corner. Mann fought for control as he slid on his own oil but ended up in the sand trap.
The following Daniel Van Stokrom had a real Cole Trickle, “Days Of Thunder” moment as his entire forward vision was blocked by the smoke - the Torana got through unscathed, though.
Shortly after, with just one lap to go and a podium in the offing, Calleja slid off on the sizeable oil slick and lobbed in the sand trap next to Mann’s stricken Camaro.
Hansen missed all the drama at the front and scooped the JUST CARS Cup, with Clempson second in front of Driver of the Meeting Daniel Van Stokrom.
Miceli was fourth from Stern, who copped a time penalty post-race that dropped him to seventh. Wittick’s return from retirement was a big success, while Harrison Draper grabbed a top ten finish to close out an impressive performance in his debut meeting.
