Photo: T PattersonThe 2010/11 IRC Series kicked off at Manfeild Park this past weekend, with more than 200 entries covering ten race classes and two full days of warm, sunny Manawatu weather pleasing drivers and race fans alike.
Countless days of heavy rain in the build up to the season opener made setting up a logistical nightmare for the IRC organisers and race teams, with waterlogged pit areas having to be cordoned off and the entrants having to share their pit spaces with fellow competitors.
However, this was a small price to pay for the magnificent weather that welcomed the IRC on Saturday and Sunday, after a wet and windy Friday practice day had drivers looking to the heavens for sympathy.
The weekend’s racing was dominated by New Zealand motorsport’s young talent, particularly in the Formula First, Formula Suzuki and Sports Car classes.
Four drivers led the way in the Formula First class, with multiple champion and class stalwart Michael Shepherd hounded by teenage drivers Kyle George, Matt Higham and Ryan Hellier.
While Shepherd took pole position and the first race win, it was George who goes into Taupo’s Labour Weekend event with a one-point lead in the championship after a third place in race one, and two victories on Sunday.
V8 Ute and V8 Supercar regulars Caine Lobb and Gene Rollinson were the class of the Formula Suzuki field, with Lobb taking pole and the opening race and Rollinson countering in the second.
Lobb took the round win with victory in race three when Rollinson struck trouble and was forced for retire from the final race.
20-year old Todd Sherley was another to show his hand in the Sports Cars, taking pole position in his Jamie Aislabie-built machine from the turbocharged catamaran lookalike of Mark Galvin.
Sherley looked odds on for the race one win until a faulty spark plug lead saw him slow to a halt, handing Galvin the win. The pair battled hammer and tong in race two for a one-two finish, but it was Sherley who made the most of slow traffic in the handicap race, coming through to fifth spot with Galvin lagging back in ninth.
Locked in battle in the Bridgestone Porsche Championship were Ian Hayr and Conal Dempsey, with the pair squaring off in startlingly contrasting machinery – Hayr in his Porsche GT3 and Dempsey in his Porsche 964 Turbo, which was also cross-entered in the GT1 class.
Hayr took qualifying honours and the race one victory, but it was Dempsey who used his race craft to take the weekend outright with wins in both races two and three.
The Pro 7 class read like a book all weekend, with James Parker, Dean McMillan and Matt Lockwood finishing in that order in qualifying and all three races.
The same couldn’t be said in the NZ6 class, however. Adam Newell took pole in the Super 6 class after Shane Wenzlick lost a timing chain in qualifying. Newell took the race one win while Wenzlick won both races two and three.
Harrison Lingard took the pole for the HQ Holdens, running off the back of the Super 6 grid, but it was Darren Swinburn who took two race wins, with Darrel Harris – an HQ regular for many years and one of two female entrants in the class – won race two with a terrific drive under pressure.
SS2000 honours were split between Justin Herbert and David Geraghty, and while local driver Ross Thurston took pole in the GT1 class in his Mitsubishi Evo, an engine failure handed the first race over to Cameron Jones, with Max Pennington and Conal Dempsey will races two and three; Dempsey tuning his Porsche 964 Turbo up to over 540hp to compete with the big boys in the GT1 class.
Peter Stevenson, Paul Johnson and Robbo Robinson shared the Pre-65 wins, as did Richard Silver, Rick van Swet and Laurence Axcell in the Super Minis.
The Manfeild opener was the first of a seven round calendar for the 2010/11 IRC Series, with the next round taking place at the Taupo Motorsport Park on Labour weekend, October 23-24.
