Trevor Jackson
THERE was no shortage of action at McNamara Park over the weekend, with the master of Mac Park and Round 3 of the South Australian State Championship on the card.
Arthur Sissis claimed the title yet again, but could not relax, as Ted Collins and Dallas Skeer were waiting in the wings for any slight mistake.
At the pointy end of the field in the main feature race the pace was hot, with little separating the top three on the grid.
As expected, Sissis topped list after a blistering time of 1:08.615 on his 1000cc Superbike.
Collins, also on a Superbike, was close to a second behind, while Skeer filled the final place on the front row of the grid on his 600cc Yamaha with a time of 1:09.996.
A red flag stopped the race on the first lap after two back-markers tangled, then as the race progressed another red flag emerged to hold proceedings up further.
Once underway again, Sissis began to show his true pace and opened a handy margin.
In the end he greeted the chequered flag some eight seconds ahead of Collins, with Skeer a further eight seconds in arrears.
Along the way Sissis set a fastest lap of 1:08.586.
However, he had set a new lap record earlier in the day, with a time of 1:07.846 in leg four of the Superbike State Championships, the fastest anyone has been around McNamara Park.
The Master of Mac Park consolation saw a small field compete, with Sandro Malatesta claiming the honours, from Daniel Spendlove and Rob O’Brien.
Samuel Pezzetta claimed the Lightweight master of Mac Park feature, with a comfortable victory over Cooper Rowntree and Tayla Relph.
The Sidecar Master of Mac Park went to Grant Howarth and Scott Deslands just ahead of Alan Smith and Ryan D’Aniello, with Tony Shanks and Rebecca Boggiano rounding out the podium.
Ryder Gilbert claimed the honours in the Junior Master of Mac Park, with six seconds ahead of Rikki Henry, with Seth Dellow rounding out the podium.
Gilbert set his fastest lap of the race on lap four with a time of 1:24.871.
Throughout the weekend various categories provided entertainment, with the Fearless group, a bunch of Harley Davidsons, providing a symphony of sight and sound.
Sam Bennett was best of the bunch, with four wins to claim the weekend’s pints.
Peter Costello finished runner-up on 76 points, just one ahead of third-placed Malatesta.
The Junior SA Championship honours for the weekend went to Henry with a total of 83 points, well clear of Seth Dellow with 72 and Archie Schmidt with 67.
Henry claimed just the one win for the round, but remained consistent, while the likes of Cameron Rende started off with two victories but failed to finish the round.
The Limited SA Championship was a white wash for Anthony Stephens, who claimed each of the four legs on his Husqvarna to claim the full 100 points and easily account for Pezzetta on a Yamaha with 80 points and Malatesta on a Ducati with 69.
the Naked Bikes went to Spendlove, after he claimed three second-place finishes behind Stephen Millar, who failed to finish the round.
Spendlove notched up 85 points for the round win, Millar finished second with 75, and David Ellis could only finish one race for third place.
The Pre-Modern 00 went to Malatesta from Mark Boag and Peter McDonough.
Dwayne Tosen made a clean sweep of the Pre-Modern 07 category, ahead of Jayden Plowman with 78 points and Ron Crane with 74.
In the Superbike category, Sissis controlled the weekend, with four leg wins for the full 100 points.
Collins was second in each race for his overall runner-up position, while Ben Liebig claimed four third positions to round out the podium.
In the Sidecars, after a steady start for third position in leg one, Howarth and Deslands claimed three wins to claim the round honours.
Smith and D’Aniello finished second, while Shanks and Boggiano rounded out the podium.
Unfortunately for the team of David Jones and Tim Leighton, the latter slipped out of the sidecar on their way around the final turn heading to the start/finish straight and they could not finish the final leg of the round.
It was a clean sweep for one, two and three in the Production 300 category, with Pezzetta top of the podium.
Rowntree came home in second place, while Relph finished third.
In the Supersport category Skeer showed his class, with four wins for the round honours.
He also reclaimed his lap record with a time of 1:09.688 in the opening leg on Saturday.
Declan Carberry claimed all four second places, while Plowman, Paul Van Der Heiden and Dwayne Tosen finished in that order, all on 68 points.
All positions were provisional at the time of going to press.
