36 fastlane
McBain and Benny Phillips to secure his
ticket to the final. Rob Camilleri took out the top qualifying
honours for the category.
Super Sedan racer Chris Lioulios was
another with a lot to celebrate. By winning
his bracket, the Roxby Downs (SA) racer not
only went ‘back-to-back’ at the event after
winning 2018’s South Coast 660, but also
made it ‘three from three’ at Portland as
he also claimed the win at the 2018 South
Coast Nationals in November. “I am definitely very happy, it has been a
great weekend even though we had some
problems with the car with the trans brake
– I ended up having to foot brake the car
old-style which made the win even more
rewarding,” Lioulios said.
On his way to the victory over Alex Gkroidis
in the final, Lioulios took on Martin Mirco
(semi-final), Ned Karanovic, Graeme Cooper
and Peter Furlanetto while Gkroidis took
on Stephen Griffin (semi), Enio Marrocco,
Phillip Busbridge and Joe Carbone – setting
a ‘Perfect Light’ along the way in his round
three battle with Marrocco (click here
to see more on Gkroidis’ Perfect Light
performance). Earlier in the weekend, as
was the case at the South Coast Nationals,
“Quite a few people jumped in to help and
I have to thank them, including Steve Hunt
who put in so much for us, as well as my
whole crew, my mate Benny Phillips and my
wife Natalie; we couldn’t be happier with
the result.
“I am hoping to be at Mildura, but Natalie
is due to have our first child at any time – I
was waiting for the phone call!” he laughed.
“I would like to be there and I have entered,
but we will have to see how it pans out.”
In the Super Gas ranks it all came down to
Colin Griffin and Jason Wilson in the final,
with Griffin taking victory in his Toyota
Celica. The Mount Ridley (Victoria) racer had
earlier faced off against Michael DeRose
(semi) and Graeme Spencer while Wilson
took on Top Qualifier Charlie Saraceno in his
semi-final after defeating Anthony Panetta
in his opening round.
“The first couple of events this season
were a little hard for me as we wrapped
our heads around the fuel change for the
bracket, but at the South Coast 660 I think
I finally got on top of it!” Griffin explained.
“The car came around and started
performing like it should and I was pretty
happy with how it all went. It was running
well all weekend and didn’t give me any
trouble – it sure was a big relief to win as
it has been a bit of a dry spell for a little
while.