How good is Morgan Park !

Round 4 of the OzGrind Ute Racing Championship was held at Morgan Park Warwick September 7-8 2024. This was the first time Ute Racing Qld has had a race round at this track and was well worth the wait. All the competitors agreed that they loved the track, the country hospitality, the amazing team of officials and volunteers, the facilities and the great racing. Thank-you Johnno we can’t wait to return next year.

Qualifying

The first Ute racing Qld qualifying session had a few surprises and did show those with track experience at this venue would benefit over the newbies at Morgan Park.

In the Production Utes pole went to Troy Montgomerie with a 1.31.727 lap. John Young achieved a 1.32.6 for 2nd on the front row. 3rd place was Mick McCloud 1.33.18. Craig Kasper, Steve Cook took out the rest of the field. Unfortunately, Matt Powell and his team chased a electrical issue all day and was not able to make it to the qualifying session.

In the V8 Class Brendan Exner continued his perfect record this year getting pole and Peter Clarke had to settle for 2nd.

Troy Montgomerie Pole round 4

Brendan Exner Pole V8 Ute Class

Racing

Race 1 Results

Production Utes had Troy Montgomerie take out the win over John Young. Mick McCloud got 3rd place ahead of Craig Kasper. The stories of woe for both Steve Cook with a gearbox issue ended his weekend before it really started and Matt Powell with the ongoing electrical issue had both competitors DNF race 1.

Brendan Exner got the set up correct out of the box and was way too good for the Commodore of Peter Clarke that struggled for pace over the weekend.

Race 2

Production Utes- John Young took the win after Troy Montgomerie lost a fuel line with only a hand full of laps to go when leading. Mick McCloud took out 2nd and 3rd place went to Craig Kasper. Steve Cook retired form the round with his gearbox issue, and Matt Powell kept chasing the gremlin in his BA Falcon.

Brendan Exner won the V8’s with Peter Clarke in 2nd now using the weekend as a set up test session.

John Young Race 2 winner Production class

Race 3

Saturday finished with race 3 . In the Production Utes, Troy Montgomerie fixed up the fuel line issue and went from rear of the field to grab the win. John Young held 2nd place with 3rd going to Mick McCloud and Craig Kasper very close behind in 4th.

Brendan took out the win in the V8’s. Peter Clarke 2nd.

Race 4 and 5 Sunday

Sunday had 2 races over longer distances that decided the round.

Production Utes- Troy Montgomerie was on a roll and pushed hard in the last 2 races of the weekend winning both races. Craig Kasper also stepped up on day 2 taking 2nd place in both races with some very close racing against Mick McCloud who took home 3rd in the remaining races.

John Young looked strong however the VZ Commodore did not want to play ball, with a computer issues and then to rub salt into the wounds losing a clutch early in race 5 resulting in a DNF. This hurt John’s weekend and also opened up the championship going into round 5 at Lakeside in November. That is going to be a huge race weekend.

Matt Powell and his team did a stellar job managing to get on top of the electrical issues with his ute and fought hard to get some track time in and gave it a great crack. It’s been a hard introduction to this series however Matt and his team are focused and going forward the results will come. Great work Guys.

The round results after a DNF from both Troy and John handed the points advantage to Craig Kasper for his first-round win! Mick McCloud snagged 2nd for the weekend and after winning 4 out of 5 races Troy had to settle for 3rd.

The round win in the V8’s went to Brendan Exner, 2nd to Peter in the Commodore.

At the end of the day it was a great introduction to Morgan Park to the series and we can’t wait to come back.

Last round is the Ute grand final to decide the championship at Lakeside early November and we have 3 drivers in the race for the championship in the production class it may come down to the last race of the year to decide.

Big thanks to our series sponsor OzGrind polished concrete for the ongoing support. Johno and the team from Morgan Park for the hospitality.

Next round Lakeside to crown the champion for both classes.

Categorised in: