Shegog, Hill and Wood
Gidney inherited 4th place and set off by
himself. When Akhurst pulled off this gave
him 3rd place. Vernall and Hill resumed
battle with Jason Holmes watching on, a
recovering Barrett forcing his way through
in pursuit of Gidney again but it was a
failed attempt he finished 4th from Vernall
5th. Holmes pipping Hill for 6th across
the line. Shegog and Cottam in their TF
Cup cars finished 8th and 9th and Andrew
Watson 10th. Michael Wood pulled off on
lap 3 with mechanical dramas, while Trent
Price ran out of fuel on the last lap after a
strong run that would of seen him inside
the top 10.
It was a great weekend of racing which
saw strong racing in the field, a special
mention to James Dodd who after many
years of racing picked up his first trophy
winning the Classic class in his MG B
Roadster! Other trophy winners were
Richard Milligan (Open V8), Adrian Akhurst
(Open 4 Cylinder), Jim Robertson (MG
Midget Special), Chris Gidney (Modern),
Michael Wood (Classic V8).
Round 1 and Stephen Jones ventured down
from NSW for his first run of the year in a
Midget with significant Victorian history.
New to the series was David Hope in his
MG B who unfortunately had fuel pump
problems preventing him from taking part
in Qualifying. We trialled rolling starts for
this round and what a spectacle it provided
for the crowd as the field rolled around
side by side.
In Qualifying it was Robin Bailey
who quickly asserted himself in with a
1:20.3946 while Richard Milligan took
second with a 1:20.8009 to lock the front
row out. Andrew Howell didn’t take long
to get back in the swing of things; a
1:22.9516 was the fastest of the 4 cylinder
brigade with Glen Wood (TF Cup) and
Rod Barrett (ZR) rounding out the top 5.
Immediately problems hit in qualifying with
John Stevenson (B) blowing his clutch,
Trent Price (F) had gearbox issues, Jim
Robertson only managed to complete one
timed lap and then to top it off Bailey had
a front end failure towards the end of the
session, the damage underneath caused
damaged to one rim as well as a few more
parts, Unfortunately Robin packed up and
will sort it out and be back no doubt.
Race one rolled around and with Bailey
out it left a hole at the front and Andrew
Howell seized the opportunity to get
alongside Milligan off the start, A great
start mid pack by Phil Chester saw him get
up alongside Barrett, Gidney, Wood and
Shegog on the run to turn 1 with 5 wide
at one point! Once they sorted themselves
Round two of the 2014 MG Road Racing
Championship got underway with glorious Ross Kaigg
Melbourne weather at the MGCC run
Sandown VSCRC 2. The series welcomed a
few drivers back for the first time in 2014,
Robin Bailey in his GT V8 sporting a few
new upgrades, Andrew Howell returned in
the rocketship Z R Judd while Ross Kaigg
lead a gaggle of MG B’s with Peter Rose
and Greg White following suite. Jim Dodd
debuted his MG ZR after running his B at
Page 44
M.G. Car Club Victoria
Rod Barrett
out it was Milligan at the front from Andrew
Howell. Glen Wood immediately settled into
3rd and bridged the gap behind, Barrett
initially moved into 4th before dropping
behind Wayne Shegog in his TF Cup car,
after Shegog struck problems having to
retire, Barrett moved back up to 4th only
for Jim Robertson to come past in the last
few laps and steal 4th back as Phil Chester
in his TF Cup chased hard on Barrett’s tail.
Chris Gidney in his ZR 160 placed in 7th
while Ross Kaigg (B) had a relatively lonely
race in his MG B but took a strong 8th place
overall. Adam Cottam visiting from South
Australia in a TF Cup took 9th overall and
Andrew Watson ZR 160 took a solid 10th
place. Unfortunately Trent Price dropped
out with gearbox problems while looking
strong and ended his weekend.
Gidney fairly fast. At the end of lap two
Howell had got back into second place with
Wood in a strong third outright. Robertson
was in 4th and trying to stick with a flying
Glen Wood. On the fourth lap Shegog got
past Gidney while Barrett got past Chester
and a four way battle ensued. It didn’t take
long for Shegog to pass Barrett as well and
Chester ran into fuel issues late in the race
which made life a little easier for Gidney
to wipe his brow. This gave Gidney a sniff
at Barrett with just a couple of laps to go.
Further down the field Adam Cottam had
moved up the field in his TF and had now
caught Ross Kaigg who all of a sudden
found himself under a bit of pressure.
Kaigg used all his experience to hold off
the bright orange car for the remaining
laps, succeeding and finishing in 9th place,
Cottam 10th. Andrew Watson had dropped
one spot and found himself in 11th and as
the race went on Peter Rose in his trusty
old MG B was reeling him in but ran out
of laps, Alana Ondarchie in her Triumph
found herself all alone but behind it was
a great dice between Rodney Gibb and
Jim Dodd who found themselves closely
matched as Steven Jones found problems
in his Midget dropping off, Gibb and Dodd
were very close and Dodd pushing Gibb in
case he made any mistakes but the wise
old fox held him off. Back up the front and
Milligan took a solid win by 10 seconds
from a recovering Howell, the long gap
back to Glen Wood a further 16 seconds
back rounded out the podium. Robertson
The Hobson Stores Trophy race was
just the second ever rolling start for MG
Racing but it almost looked like they had
done a few more, only Andrew Howell
caused some confusion as he got stuck in
1st gear as the flag dropped, Glen Wood
happily taking a clear run while Howell had Stephen Jones
to settle for 7th place by turn 1. Wayne
Shegog forged ahead having rounded up 5
cars by turn 1 from rear of grid. Up the back
straight Milligan lead Wood, Robertson,
Chester, Barrett, Gidney and Howell.
Barrett started pushing Chester hoping for
a mistake early on while Milligan took a
solid lead; Shegog had moved up to 9th by
the end of the first lap and was catching
JUNE 2014
Page 45