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SPECTACULAR BATHURST MOTOR FESTIVAL ENDS IN STYLE
THE WORD IS IN – the 2014 Bathurst Motor Festival was one of the best.That’s the verdict at the conclusion of another record-breaking weekend of action at Mount Panorama, contested in stunning weather across the Easter long weekend.A three-day overall attendance of 10,814 was the largest the Event has yet recorded as were the 332 entries nominated prior.The records continued on track with the famous Mount Panorama circuit outright record falling twice in two days, Formula 3 ace Simon Hodge lowering the benchmark to a stunning 2m02.6701s – a full 1.2 second quicker than Saturday’s best.Hodge’s lap came on the final tour of a thrilling Formula 3 race that saw Chris Anthony score back-to-back victories by just 0.1 seconds, ahead of Ben Gersekowski and Hodge.Chelsea Angelo stood on the Bathurst podium for the first time thanks to her victory in the Formula 3 National Class, becoming the fastest female competitor to ever compete at the circuit in the process.”I’ve always watched the Bathurst 1000 and the 12-hour and imagined that I could be here, on the podium, one day,” Angelo said.”To do it in Australia’s fastest cars is pretty special!”To read a full report from today’s Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship action, Click here:A thrilling finish to the Production Sports Car Series one-hour saw Rod Salmon edge out Duvashen Padayachee by the narrowest of margins.A lengthy late-race safety car to remove two damaged cars from the Chase gravel trap set up a one-lap dash to the line, with one of any four cars in a position to win the race. Despite being considerably faster on the final lap, Padayachee – driving his current-specification Porsche Carrera Cup car – fell agonisingly short from beating Australian GT and Bathurst 12 Hour regular Salmon’s Audi R8 LMS Ultra.Neale Muston finished third with David Wall carving his way through the field in the closing stages to take the Porsche he was sharing with Paul Tressider to fourth, one place ahead of Stephen McLaughlin’s Audi R8 LMS.The late-race safety car was caused by a massive rollover in the chase when the Mazda RX-7 of Rick Shaw and the Porsche 968 RSCS came together through the flat-out kink.The contact spun Shaw into the gravel trap and rolled his Mazda several times, and though both cars were badly damaged they were able to escape unscathed from the incident.The Father-Son combination of David and Dylan Thomas combined to win today’s Production Touring Car one-hour enduro in style, taking a commanding 30-second win over HSV drivers Matthew Holt and Steve Hodges.The No. 68 CXC Global Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X started a lowly 17th position however a flying start from David Thomas saw the car make up eight positions on the first lap alone. The car was seventh when the pit window opened, an early Safety car helping Thomas sr. Remain with the leaders prior to the stop.Once all had completed their compulsory stops Dylan Thomas emerged in the outright lead, setting a series of blistering laps during the middle of the race to pull away to victory.Brett Heeley finished fourth in his HSV with brothers Ben and Michael Kavich combining to bring their Subaru Impreza WRX STi home in fifth.The PTC round also doubled as the series opener for the Australian Swift Racing Series, with Andrew Price scoring his maiden victory in the series. Two-time champion Allan Jarvis edged out Callan Sayers by just 0.3 seconds at the line after a thrilling race for second place.West Australian Darryl Hansen – the father of V8 Supercar Development series driver Matt – won the third and final Group N Historic Touring Cars race in his Ford Mustang after Dean Neville – the winner of the opening two races – was forced out of the race early.Vince Macri (Camaro) and Michael Anderson (Ford Falcon) completed the top three in today’s race.Anthony Verner (Holden VR Senator) topped both NSW Road Racing Club Group 2 regularity trials with Gerard Skelly (BMW E30) and Charlie Jobse (Holden Monaro) topped the pair of Group 1 trials today.Josh Fitt (Porsche Boxter) and Warwick Morris (Porsche 996 GT3) topped the pair of Porsche Club NSW trials.For more information about the 2014 Bathurst Motor Festival, head to www.bathurstmotorfestival.com.auENDS