34 fastlane
SOUTH COAST RACEWAY
DELIVERS EMOTIONAL VICTORIES YET AGAIN
Under beautiful blue skies at
South Coast Raceway in mid-
January, the 2019 South Coast
660 and round six of the 18/19
Summit
Racing
Equipment
Sportsman Series once again
delivered popular and emotional
victories after two great days of
on-track action.
The January 12/13 event hosted more
than 150 racers who delivered race fans
with plenty of exciting racing from start
to finish, but it would be Colin Griffin
(Super Gas), Jake Berias (Summit Racing
Equipment Junior Dragster), Paul Jennings
(Super Street), Greg Oberti (Modified Bike),
Chris Lioulios (Super Sedan), Craig Baker
(Modified), Glenn Henley (Top Sportsman),
Paul Stephen (Supercharged Outlaws) Rob
Cassar (Competition Bike) and Craig Geddes
(SuperComp) who ultimately took out
victory in their respective classes.
Runners-up were Jason Wilson (Super
Gas), Brodie Zappia (Summit Racing
Equipment Junior Dragster), Tony Barbara
(Super Street), Jake Hamilton-Moderate
(Modified Bike), Alex Gkroidis (Super
Sedan), Chris Farrell (Modified), Rick Smith
(Top Sportsman), Jason Keily (Supercharged
Outlaws) Danny Rickard (Competition Bike)
and Mick Simic (SuperComp).
Also on offer were two perpetual trophies
which were introduced at last year’s South
Coast 660 – the Chris Stewart Memorial
Trophy in Supercharged Outlaws and the
Phil Parker Memorial Trophy for Modified
Bike – with Paul Stephen and Greg Oberti
obviously very pleased to take out the
special accolades.
Thanks to his Supercharged Outlaws victory,
Raby (NSW) racer Paul Stephen not only took
home the Chris Stewart Memorial Trophy
and an ANDRA Christmas Tree, but will
also have his name inscribed on a special
Chris Stewart memorial shield housed at
South Coast Raceway’s HQ. In addition, he
also received the Top Qualifier’s Medallion
thanks to TileCo-TheShowerPeople and KC
Tools as well as a Summit Racing Equipment
pack after topping qualifying on day one of
the event.
Stephen completed a solo pass to clinch
the victory after last year’s winner Jason
Keily was left stranded behind the start line
when his car failed to start. Stephen had
earlier dispatched Mark Hunt in the semis
after enjoying a bye in the opening round,
while Keily had taken a win from Mike Evans
in round one ahead of a semi-final bye.
“The Chris Stewart Memorial Trophy is
pretty special to me. I am proud to have that
one in the trophy cabinet for sure; he was
a good man, a genuine bloke, and it was a
sad day, that is for sure,” said Stephen.
“Overall, the weekend was great, I couldn’t
fault the car – it ran like it was on rails, we
top qualified and went through the rounds
and it was just spot on with not one drama
all weekend, it was one of those great
weekends.
“My thanks goes to the staff and everyone
down there, this is fantastic: it has been
a long time between drinks but I have my
second tree now; the other one now has a
partner!” concluded Stephen, while thanking
supporters Atlantic Oils, Smart Fuels, Craig’s
Automatics and Macarthur Garages, as well
as Flat Out Services for his chassis.