John McLaughlin scored his third career TA2 race win with a narrow victory over Josh Haynes in Race 1 of Round 2 of the PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Series framed by Hytek at The Bend Motorsport Park.

PWR Pole-sitter Jett Johnson dropped to third off the start as Haynes took the lead from McLaughlin into Turn 1. 

Seperate incidents at Turn 1 sent a number of cars scrambling in the midfield. Michael Coulter and Graham Cheney clashed which saw the former pull the Kobelco Mustang off into the infield and retire from the race. There was also a concertina involving Lachlan Granger, Chris Sutton, Jason Hassett and debutant Brad Schomberg which turned Schomberg around and sent him into the pit lane for a quick repair job.

CXC Racing’s Dylan Thomas passed Johnson for third on Lap 3 when Johnson went deep into Turn 6 allowing Thomas to take the position on the exit.

Haynes lead the opening four laps before coming across a slowing Brad Schomberg on the exit of Turn 16, this saw McLaughlin close in on Haynes heading into the final section before he ran wide at the penultimate corner, allowing McLaughlin to take the lead and hold on for the win.

Elsewhere in the pack, Mark Crutcher was a major beneficiary of the opening lap melee, making up eight positions to 12th after starting at the back due to car troubles in qualifying, while Graham Cheney charged up to 11th after being caught up in the Lap 1 incident.

Full results remain provisional while Granger is under investigation for a driving infringement and a breach of the tyre regulations.

The PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Series framed by Hytek returns for Races 2, 3 & 4 tomorrow at The Bend Motorsport Park, which will be live streamed on the TA2 Racing Australia facebook page.

QUOTES

John McLaughlin, driver #17 myraceprofile.com Ford Mustang.

“Really happy to win the first race of the weekend here for my first time at The Bend.”

“Haynes is super quick, I was chasing him for the first half of that race, I could see I had a bit more pace in certain areas but in other areas he would pull away, so it was a bit of a see-saw battle the whole time.” 

“Once we came around on that lapped car, it kind of baulked Josh a little bit and he defended into the next corner which was fair play but then he ran wide on exit which opened the door for me to get by and I was able to pull a little gap on him from there.”

For the first time since 2019, South Australia will hear the thundering sound of TA2 as The Bend Motorsport Park plays host to Round 2 of the 2022 PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Series framed by Hytek at the SA Motorsport Series event this weekend, April 22-24.

21 cars make up the grid for TA2’s return to The Bend which will include Round 2 of the 2022 TA2 Southern Series, including two South Australian debutants in the form of Dean Lindstrom and Stephen Short in a pair of Ford Mustangs.

Lindstrom is an experienced racer with national titles in Go Karts before stepping up to Group C Touring Cars and Sports Sedans. Lindstrom won state titles in HQ Holdens and Formula Ford and competed in the national Driver to Europe Series with a podium at the Formula 1 supports at Albert Park. Lindstrom also had two starts at the Bathurst 1000 in V8 Supercars in the early 2000s and most recently campaigned a Mazda RX-3 in Improved Production competition.

Short comes from a history in dirt karts, super karts and motorcycle racing including a couple of appearances in the Finke Desert Race, and recently competed in state-based Improved Production racing in a Mazda RX-7.

Queensland HQ Holden stalwart Brad Schomberg will also make his TA2 debut this weekend, substituting for Warren Wadley in his Ford Mustang, while Queensland Sprintcar racer Michael Rowell will make his first TA2 Muscle Car Series start. Inaugural series champion Russell Wright will hop out of his regular Ford Mustang and steer the #10 Dodge Challenge owned by Peter Robinson.

After clean sweeping the season opener under lights in Sydney, Nash Morris will not make the trip to The Bend, electing to focus on his upcoming Super2 event in Perth the following weekend. This leaves the contenders list wide open with the likes of Jett Johnson, Josh Haynes, Dylan Thomas, Zach Loscialpo, Michael Coulter and John McLaughlin looking to challenge for race wins and podiums this weekend.

17-year old Johnson scored a quartet of second-place finishes last time out in Sydney, and will be looking to topple Morris at the top of the PROMAXX Cup standings, while 18-year old Haynes will be looking for a more consistent performance this time around after car troubles earlier in the weekend preceded a storming drive from 21st to fourth in the final race.

Johnson and Haynes will both cut their first laps of the state-of-the-art circuit at The Bend this weekend, as will up to half of this weekend’s grid.

The field will take on four races across the weekend, one on Saturday and three on Sunday. The first two races will run over eight laps, the third race for ten laps and a 12-lap finale.

This weekend will also see the return of a Top Ten Shootout to set the grid for the first race of the weekend before a progressive grid format will follow. This will be the second shootout in series history after the first Top Ten Shootout was taken out by George Miedecke at Winton in 2019.

All of Sunday’s action can be watched live and free courtesy of a live stream produced by Fuzzy Media, with post-produced highlights to air on 7Mate on Saturday, 7 May.

The TA2 Muscle Car Series headlines the first round of the SA Motorsport Series, racing alongside the Australian Formula 3 Championship, the MARC Cars Australia Championship and the South Australian GT Challenge.

QUOTES

Keith Short, Short Motorsport - #34 Chevrolet Camaro (Stephen’s father)

“We stared seeing them around and started researching them a bit, my best friend from years ago works across the road from Peter Robinson’s base for TA2 in Queensland, so there was a bit of to-and-fro between my mate and Pete as we got more and more interested.

“I had an Improved Production car as well as my son and it was getting hard to find parts for them, so it really appealed to us the fact you could just buy parts off the shelf and they have the spares truck at the events instead of having to carry around parts ourselves.

“We have run the TA2 at The Bend in some Sports Sedan events already where it could fit in with them and Stephen has done a couple of practice days in the car.

“We’re a family team and to see and read about all the other small family teams involved it looks to be a category that was attainable for us and we’re really excited to become a part of it.

"Hopefully we can get a few more cars involved in South Australia, we tend to be a little bit behind when it comes to new categories but we had a lot of interest in the car when we ran it for the first time in the Sports Sedan race.”

Dean Lindstrom, driver #30 Ford Mustang - TDP Mobile Services

“I’m interested in driving categories with close racing instead of constantly having to upgrade cars to be competitive, so TA2 really ticks the box for me and it looks like a really good category of racing. They look good, sound good, drive well and do everything a good race car should do.”

“I did a shakedown of the car in March and then went out last Thursday to The Bend for a test day ahead of the first race.

“The first drive was great, the support from the category from Peter and Cameron Sendall (Technical Manager) was fantastic and that’s a real attraction for the category. Even the piece that Paul Morris did on the Enforcer and The Dude Show was a great insight so I felt pretty confident it was the right thing to do and still feel that way heading into the first weekend, the introduction to the car and series has been great.

“For the amount of cars that are similar you’ll have good racing because they’re all the same, I know in the category there will be people a fair bit quicker because of their driving, so wherever you are in the field you will be close to someone.

“The maintenance should be pretty good and I like the idea that it’s supported by the category so you don’t have to take loads of spares with you and not be worried that somethings going to happen and you can’t get the car ready if you don’t have something.”

“It’ll be a family team with my kids. I originally came from Melbourne so a lot of our racing friends are all based over there but my kids are super keen for me to do it and they’ll help out and we’ll get a couple of other friends to assist along the way.”

SCHEDULE 2022 PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Series Round 2 - The Bend Motorsport Park, April 22-24

Friday Practice 1 - 9:30am (20 minutes) Practice 2 - 12:30pm (20 minutes) Practice 3 - 3:30pm (20 minutes)

Saturday Qualifying - 9:30am (20 minutes) Top 10 Shootout - 11:30am Race 1 - 1:30pm (8 laps)

Sunday Race 2 - 9:30am (8 laps) Race 3 - 11:50am (10 laps) Race 4 - 2:50pm (12 laps)

ENTRY LIST 2022 PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Series framed by Hytek Round 2 - National Series & Southern Series, The Bend Motorsport Park, April 22-24

MASTERS, #4 Mark Crutcher (NSW), Ford Mustang - Crutcher Developments MASTERS, #9 Brad Schomberg (QLD), Ford Mustang - Wadley Property Group MASTERS, #10 Russell Wright (QLD), Dodge Challenger - Wright Property Developments PRO, #11 Michael Coulter (NSW), Ford Mustang - Kobelco/Sydney Truck and Machinery MASTERS, #15 Michael Rowell (QLD), Ford Mustang - Pacific Petroleum/Carroll Tyres PRO, #17 John McLaughlin (QLD), Ford Mustang - myraceprofile.com PRO, #21 Zac Loscialpo (NSW), Chevrolet Camaro - Tempest Solutions/Excelerate Motorsport MASTERS, #24 Nicholas Bates (NSW), Ford Mustang - Nicholas Bates Motorsport MASTERS, #26 Jason Hassett (VIC), Chevrolet Camaro - Hass Pumps MASTERS, #30 Dean Lindstrom (SA), Ford Mustang - TDP Mobile Services PRO, #34 Stephen Short (SA), Ford Mustang - Short Motorsport PRO, #37 Josh Haynes (NSW), Chevrolet Camaro - Elvin Group MASTERS, #50 Paul Hadley (NSW), Chevrolet Camaro - Illawarra Engineering Services PRO, #51 Graham Cheney (NSW), Chevrolet Camaro - Illawarra Engineering Services MASTERS, #68 Dylan Thomas (NSW), Ford Mustang - Sensational Kitchens/CXC Racing MASTERS, #69 Anthony Tenkate (QLD), Ford Mustang - Tenkate Plant Hire PRO, #70 Lachlan Granger (NSW), Ford Mustang - Wild Digital PRO, #74 Murray Kent (QLD), Chevrolet Camaro - Retro Motorsport/Fit Flask PRO, #93 Aaron Tebb (NSW), Chevrolet Camaro - Waltec Motorsport PRO, #117 Jett Johnson (QLD), Ford Mustang - NAPA Auto Parts MASTERS, #321 Chris Sutton (NSW), Ford Mustang - Motofit

17-year old Jett Johnson will carry the support of NAPA Auto Parts for the remaining rounds of the 2022 PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Series framed by Hytek.

The grandson of three-times Bathurst 1000 winner Dick Johnson and son of Supercars race winner Steve has revealed a striking new look for his Ford Mustang TA2 featuring the iconic NAPA Auto Parts brand.

NAPA Auto Parts is the perfect fit for Johnson and the family dynasty that has made his surname recognised Australia wide and has also been inducted into the popular NAPA Know How Motorsport Academy as one of its premier drivers.

Johnson, who claimed his maiden circuit racing title in the 2021 Northern Series, is carving his own name in the sport. Having started in karts and competed in Hyundai Excels, Johnson debuted in TA2 in 2021 and immediately competed at the front of the field, scoring his first race win, round win and title in his freshman year.

“The thing I love about TA2 is that for young kids like me, trying to forge a career in the sport, the cars have a really raw driving style. They have no traction control, no ABS, they have a lot of power and all of the cars are the same except the different body shells for Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge.

The Academy is aimed at fast-tracking grassroots racing car drivers in Australia and New Zealand, offering exclusive and insightful content that can give them the edge over their rivals on and off the track.

Jett currently sits second in the 2022 series after a quartet of second-place finishes at the opening round at Sydney Motorsport Park.

The next round of the PROMAXX Performance Exhausts TA2 Muscle Car Series will be held at The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia on April 22-24 at the Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS).

All of the action will be live-streamed online with post-produced highlights on 7Mate.

QUOTES Craig Denyer, TA2 Muscle Car Series Manager  “In a time when there appears to be less and less motorsport available on free to air television, this is great news for motor racing fans and cements the TA2 series well and truly on the home of motorsport, the 7 Network. “In today’s constantly changing media landscape, fans now have a real choice as they can watch the days racing as it happens on live stream, catch up a week later with a highlights package on 7Mate,  or download from 7Plus at any time - all at no cost. “This is a fantastic endorsement for the TA2 Muscle Car Series which I am sure our fans, teams and commercial partners will embrace as a major step up, while we continue to grow and expand the TA2 series into regional areas such as Western Australia and also into New Zealand. “We are looking forward to working with Fuzzy Media and the AMRS in delivering quality motor racing coverage of the best bang for buck motorsport option on track.”

The TA2 family is deeply saddened to hear of the recent passing of one of our own racers, Jack Childs.

Jack passed away in his sleep in the early morning on Tuesday March 15, 2022 at 71 years of age, only a couple of weeks before his 72nd birthday. He is survived by his lovely wife Christine and three daughters Letta, Charmaine, Nita and grandson Jaxxon. He also had a son David who previously passed away.

Childs first jumped behind the wheel on the dirt track at 19 years of age in an FJ Holden at Toowoomba’s Echo Valley Raceway.

Concentrating on his career, Jack then moved to Rockhampton in 1972 and managed numerous pubs throughout Gracemere, Innisfail, Townsville and Rockhampton, meeting his lovely wife Christine in Rockhampton six years later.

Childs returned to speedway racing in 1982, competing in the Bomber class regularly at Rockhampton’s Rocky and Bouldercombe Speedway and won the 1983 Queensland Title. Moving into the Modified Production class, Childs visited tracks such as Rocky Speedway, Toowoomba’s Hi-Tec Oils Speedway, Maryborough Speedway, Bundaberg’s Carina Speedway, Cairns International Speedway and Mac’s Speedway in Mackay until the late 1990s, winning two Rocky Speedway Club Championships and scoring several podium finishes.

Moving from Rockhampton to Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast in 2007, Childs upgraded to a Rocket Super Sedan previously owned by Danny Smith, participating in three National Series and the prestigious Grand National race in Tasmania.

Childs retired from speedway at the end of the 2017-18 season and has always been a huge supporter of the sport through his business Think Money, sponsoring drivers and events, and received a fitting send-off at Gympie’s Mothar Mountain Speedway in May, 2018, bringing to an end what has been a memorable journey.

After a long Speedway career and having always harboured a desire to compete in road racing. Childs made his TA2 Muscle Car Series debut at Winton Motor Raceway in 2019, with eight race starts to his name and a best finish of 23rd position.

Jack’s Mustang was later sold to Garry Rogers Motorsport which was recently campaigned by Owen Kelly and Jason Bargwanna in the National Trans-Am Series.

After a couple of years out of the seat, Jack had been planning a return to TA2 competition at the time of his passing.

TA2 Muscle Car Series founder Peter Robinson paid respect to a “real gentleman” of the motorsport community and while he didn’t finish on the podium in TA2, he was a winner in all aspects of life and a much respected member of the TA2 family.

“It’s funny how things come full circle in life, but I first met Jack Childs over 20 years ago when I used to fix the power steering on his Super Sedan car.“I got a call from Jack one day and he asked ‘is this the same Peter Robinson that used to help me with the power steering on my Super Sedan?’

“He was a passionate Speedway racer but always had a dream to go circuit racing and these TA2 cars were right up his alley, being a user-friendly car to work on that was welcome to drivers at any experience level. He said ‘If you’re a part of this series I want in, I trust you from when you used to work on my cars and I love everything about this series’.

“Jack applied himself to this new form of racing extremely well, attending race driver training classes at Norwell Motorplex through a business acquaintance and fellow TA2 racer Chris Pappas, and he also received tutoring and support from experienced Queenslander racer Rod Dawson.”

“We all loved Jack and Christine and they were truly suited to the TA2 family and their passion and attitude to racing was outstanding.

“Not only a savvy racer he was also a very good businessman and holds the sales record for a second-hand TA2 car at $173,000 which I don’t expect to be broken anytime soon.”

“Although Jack wasn’t a podium finisher in his TA2 career, he was a well-respected competitor and a real gentleman. We are all deeply saddened by his passing and send our thoughts and condolences to Christine and his family.”

Rod Dawson, a successful Queensland race team owner, added that Childs was the “Nicest, kindest soul” that he had the pleasure to work with.

“The greatest thing about Jack was his approach to racing. He had raced in Speedway for over 50 years before he tried this new challenge in road racing and he took everything in his stride and was just happy to be out there giving it his all.”

“One of my best memories of Jack was when we went to Sydney Motorsport Park in 2019 for the TA2 races and I was on the radio the whole session telling him when to brake and change up and down the gears. Well when you’re on top of the pit building you can’t see around Turn 6, so once Jack disappeared around Corporate Hill I had to count the seconds and guess where he would be to call his braking and gear change markers. So when Jack came in he reported that he was going very deep in to the corners around there, only for me to tell him that I couldn’t actually see where he was on track!”

“He had two shoulder operations during the couple of years out of the seat, and only a few weeks ago he had got the clearance from the doctors to go racing again. He was at my workshop last week getting things ready to go racing again, but we will race on inspired by his passion for life and motorsport.

TA2 Racing Australia wishes to extend their condolences to Christine, Letta, Charmaine, Nita, Jaxxon and Jack’s wider family.