The Wodonga Offroad Bash is always a popular event on the Victoria Drivers Series calendar and this year was no exception, attracting 68 entries from accross the state.

The weather leading up to the event was poor with Wodonga experiencing substanital rainfall in the week preceeding. To their credit, the Wondonga club put a lot of work into track preparation, ensuring that all standing water was removed and the surface was given every opportunity to dry out.

When many of the racers arrived on Saturday for practise, the weather had significantly improved and the track was already drying out. The red clay that Wodonga is famous for started off a little slippery but as the sun came out, grooved up beautifully with ample grip.

By Sunday when the business end of the weekend commenced, the track had not seen any rain in over 48 hours and was ready to go. Temperatures were cold and the track had some frost on it but this had cleared up by the time finals started.

Due to the number of entries, the club decided to drop a round of qualifying. This was met with a mixed reception however the decision was made to allow racers who travelled for long distances to get home at a reasonable hour.

In his first major race meet since returning from retirement, former Australian champion Ray Munday headlined the list of drivers competing. Eyes were also on the current onroad state super stock champion, Ben Sterling who recently made the switch to off-road - could he challange Munday and likely world championship qualifier Leigh Cheeseman (pictured above wrenching his 4wd) for a podium finish?

2wd Summary

540
From the first qualifier, Harrison Ryan stamped his authority on the class putting in several consistent 10 lap runs to take TQ from Matt West and Dave Engledow. The only other drivers to register a 10 lap run for the day were Daniel Simm and Shane Timmermans however the consistency was not quite there for them to challenge for the overall win. After a DNF in the first final, Harrison went on to take leg 2 then narrowly edge out Dave in leg 3 to steal the overall win. Matt West was third.

Stock
In the stock class, Glenn Wilson jumped out of the blocks with an 11 lap run in the first qualifier despite the slippery conditions. The "doctor" looked denagerous early however suffered from several electrical problem - later found to be as a result of a dodgy motor. Also fast were John Caval and Simon Ryan with young gun Nathan Burge snapping at their heals. In the finals it was all Wilson, taking both leg 1 and leg 2 to secure the win. John Caval took leg 3 to secure second position with Salis coming home third.

Modified
All eyes were on the modified race to see whether Ray Munday could make the dream return from a short winded retirement. Munday, piloting his brand new Assoicated B4.1 was immediately fast, almost registering a 12 lap run in qualifier 1 and taking the TQ from Leigh Cheeseman and John Grenville. ben Sterling was not far behind in 4th. In the finals it was all Munday, taking all three legs of the finals. Cheeseman put in a standout driver, demonstrating his recent improvement and taking the race to Munday in all three legs, finishing only 11s, 3s, and 1s behind in each of the finals respectively. Ben Sterling had a great battle with Johnny G to narrowly edge him out for third.

4wd Summary

Stock
Even though there were only 6 entrants to the class, the battle was fierce with some aggressive driving from all observed. John Caval took at qualifier 1 with Wilson taking out qualifier 2 and securing TQ. Nigel Spokes and Luke Brouwer were never far behind, securing third and fourth positions on the grid. Brouwer drove like a madman to take leg 1 of the finals. In leg 2, possibly the worst marshalling effort in recorded RC history was put in by Shane McKay, handing the win to John Caval. Coming in to leg 3, Caval, Brouwer and Wilson were all tied on points but it was Wilson who got a clean start and took the race and overall win. Second place went to Brouwer with his debut podium finish with John Caval in third.

Modified
Coming into the race, Cheeseman was expected to take the battle to Munday, fresh from his recent success at the Ausrtalian Titles in Townsville. Unfortunately did not turn out to be the case though with the battle during qualifying being between Munday and Grenville. Cheeseman narrowly held off first time modified racer Matt Chisholm to hold onto third position. In the finals, Munday blitzed the field in leg 1 with a 12 lap run. He continued that form into leg 2, recording a fastest time of day and sealing the overall win. Behind him John Grenville continued to nudge the 12 lap benchmark set by Munday, getting as close as a 11 lap 1s run in leg 3 to secure second position. Chisholm managed to overcome Cheesman to take third.

Truck Summary

Stock
Keen to turn his luck around after electrical issues in the 2wd class, Salis (sporting an 18th century brushed motor) came out firing, taking both qualifiers to secure TQ. In second position was Paul Sims closely followed by Shane Timmermans and Nigel Spokes. In the finals, it was all Salis, taking the first two legs to seal the victory. Paul Sims had some bad luck and slipped back to fourth overall, allowing Spokes to take second from Shane Timmermans in third. This class saw some fierce driving with emotions running high.

Modified
A field of three assembled to challenge for the mod truck title with Bryce Shoemark narrowly edging out Knox racer Michael Ellis for the TQ. With Shoemark having a DNF in leg 1 of the finals, Ellis took the early advantage. With his truck repaired, Shoemark took leg 2 taking it to the decider. In possibly the closest finish of the day, Ellis took his maiden driver series win, edging out Shoemark by 0.131s, both recording PB's for the day. Neil Russel was third.

SC Truck Summary

This class Was run for the first time at a Victorian Drivers Series round and attracted 6 entries. Ben Sterling set the early pace from Bryce Shoemark and Mat Thurling, all recording 10 lap runs. In the finals, Thurling took leg 1 but Sterling recovered to take both leg 2 and leg 3 to seal the win, ending the day with a PB. Thurling held on to take second place with Neil Kovacs in third with his Factory Team SC10. This class is growing all the time and is likely to become a regular feature at future drivers series rounds.

Wrap Up

As usual, the Wodonga Club turned out a brilliant surface and ran a great race meeting. Many thanks to those racers who made the long journey and special thanks to Chris, Peter, Mat, Shane, Ben, Rod and the rest of the Wodonga crew for their hard work (apologies if I have missed anyone).

Round 2 of the drivers series moves to Mildura on 3 October 2010.

Click here to view the full results.