A cracker at Calder
The third round of the Victorian Motor Racing Championship (VMRC) saw racing take place at the historic Calder Park Raceway, just north of the Melbourne CBD.
Photo: Noah Thorley
Round 1 was held at the technical Winton Motor Raceway, with the second held at The Bend in South Australia, while Calder always poses a different challenge and produces different winners.
There were half a dozen categories across the two days of racing action, the national Australian Drivers’ Championship, state-based Sports Compact, Super TT, Vic V8s, Excel Trophy and Masters.
Hankook Australian Drivers’ Championship
Photo: Noah Thorley
Photo: Noah Thorley
Reigning champion Damon Sterling and his nearest championship challenger Hayden Crossland fought hammer and tongs all weekend long, both taking two wins apiece.
Sterling and Crossland have had some good battles over the last couple of seasons, but the racing they produced over the weekend was arguably the best.
Crossland withstood the pressure in the weekend opener, Sterling was right there all race long, but the New South Welshman held on by just 0.3s.
2025 season rookie Gurton came home in third ahead of Bradley Smith, while Luke Klaver bagged a top five finish in his first race of the year.
Race 2 was a race that will be remembered for years to come, Sterling and Crossland switching places nearly every lap, the moves made were out of this world.
Sterling was in the lead on the final lap, however with arguably the overtake of the season, Crossland out broke him and went around the outside of the 90-degree right hander at Turn 6 to take the lead and the win.
Smith got the better of Gurton to finish third, with Klaver fifth once more.
Sunday saw Sterling turn the tables, however it was Kyle Gurton who made the best start and briefly led the race. Sterling got by on the restart, and Crossland through a couple of laps later.
Sterling won the race by 5s, Crossland was second, from Gurton, Smith and Klaver.
The final race saw heartbreak for Crossland, he was sitting second behind Sterling however spun out at the final corner on the final lap.
Sterling was going to take the race win anyway, however due to the Crossland Spin he also comfortably took the round honours.
Gurton finished second ahead of Smith, while Niko French and Hamish Leighton rounded out the top five, recovering from early round retirements.
Victorian Super TT
Photo: Mark Walker
Super TT ran a unique format at Calder, rather than the regular four sprint races, they ran two sprints and a ‘mini enduro’ on Sunday.
The format certainly shook up the order, Nathan Lebrocque was victorious in the sprints but could not hold on in the longer distance race.
The long drag strips at Calder Park certainly suit high horse-powered machines, as a result this was a weekend dominated by Commodores.
Lebrocque in his Holden VE Commodore dominated the opener by over 30s, Glen Postlethwaite was second in a VY Commodore, Rohit Saini was third and Mitchell West fourth, you guessed it, both in Commodores also.
Although the quartet locked out the top four spots again in the second encounter, the order was shuffled. Lebrocque won, but by 6s over Saini, Postlethwaite was only 1s further back in third, West was a distant fourth.
The final race - the mini enduro - was over double the length of the first two.
At the start both Postlethwaite and Saini got passed Lebrocque, it took several laps but the Saturday winner was able to get by Saini, however, he could not catch Postlethwaite who won by nearly 10s.
Lebrocque finished second ahead of West, Saini retired mid-way though the affair.
The Under 2L class went the way of Tim Maynard, he won the final two races of the weekend, while fellow Nissan Pulsar driver Declan Kirkham took the opener.
Sports Compact
Photo: Mark Walker
Sports Compact delivered the goods with four thrilling contests, the first went the way of reigning champion Steve Howard, with the rest going to Richard Gay.
All the usual suspects were competing and made for an incredible show.
The top four in the opener were separated by just 1.2s at the line, in the end it was Howard in his old Toyota Corolla KE30 that won by 0.3s.
Nissan Bluebird driver James Harris was second ahead of Lynda Devlin and Eddie Metz. Notably Toyota 86 driver Gay was 2.5s back in fifth.
Race 2 might have look simple on paper, Gay winning by over 2s but he had to fight for the victory, eventually taking the lead on lap 8 of 10. Harris came home second ahead of Race 1 winner Howard.
Gay won the third race by just 0.8s, again Harris was his nearest challenger. Devlin in her JCW Mini found pace overnight and finished just 1s back in third.
The final encounter was the most controlled of the weekend, Gay winning by over 5s from Harris and Howard.
Vic V8s
Photo: Mark Walker
Greg Lynch clean swept proceedings by taking all four wins in Vic V8s, as always, the Aussie built muscle cars turned on the action.
Driving a HSV GTS 300 VT, featuring a HRT tribute livery from the era, Lynch dominated the first affair. He beat Mark Kakouri in his VH Commodore to the finish line by a margin of 15s, Gary Finemore flew the Ford flag finishing third in his XB Coupe.
Race 2 was a very similar story up front, Lynch winning by 19.5s, this time from Steven Bonner, with Kakouri third.
In Race 3, behind Lynch it was Kakouri who was again best of the rest with Brett Lehmann in third.
The final saw Kakouri get the closest to Lynch, he set the fastest lap of the race but still ended up 6s in arrears. Bonner came home a distant third.
Excel Trophy
Photo: Mark Walker
It is rare to see a runaway winner in Excel Trophy, but at Calder that is what happened, the closest margin of victory was 1.2s.
Ryan Phillips was the dominant force, he won Race 1 by over 5s from Ethan Grigg-Gault who himself was 5s ahead of Daniel Webster in third.
Phillips and Grigg-Gault cleared off into the distance in Race 2, Grigg-Gault set the fastest lap time, but had to settle for second. Webster was again third.
Race 3 was tighter, Phillips, Grigg-Gault and Webster separated by just 4s at the line.
The final saw no change in the top three, again it was Phillips, Grigg-Gault and Webster.
Excel Masters
Photo: Mark Walker
David Musgrave was the man to beat in Excel Masters, just one lap cost him a clean sweep.
The racing as always in Masters was close and competitive, Race 1 saw Musgrave get the better of Karl Neilson by a smidge over 2s, Donovan Mrnjavac was third.
Race 2 was a disaster for Musgrave, he completed lap 1 buried down the field in 10th position and had to steadily make his way back to the front.
The win went the way of Neilson, Mrnjavac was second, 1.9s ahead of Musgrave in third.
It was normal service in Race 3, Musgrave from Neilson and Mrnjavac, the latter two within 1s at the end.
Musgrave dominated the final while Neilson and Mrnjavac scrapped it out for second, Neilson coming out on top.
All races were streamed on Blend Line TV Premium and can be viewed on their website www.blendline.tv/watch-motorsport
Round 4 of VMRC takes place at Winton Motor Raceway from July 26-27.