Hi-Tec Oils Super Series The Bend Day 2 Wrap
Every single race as part of the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series at the Shell V-Power Motorsport Park today was a thriller, all six categories delivered action on the 3.41km West layout.
TA2 Muscle Car Series
It was a day for the youngsters in the TA2 Muscle Car Series with Tyler Cheney and Tommy Smith sharing the race wins.
After taking pole position Tyler Cheney fought hard to try and keep the chasing pack at bay.
Smith threw everything at him late on but to no avail, he came up 0.8s shy of his maiden victory.
Jackson Rice on his return to the series full time in the Hi-Tec Oils sponsored Chevrolet Camaro finished third.
2025 front-runners Joel Heinrich, Alice Buckley and Josh Thomas rounded out the top six ahead of series newcomer Kody Garland.
Race 2 was equally eventful, this time Tommy Smith was able to get the lead early and despite his margin being slashed late on and an error on the final lap, he held on to take his first win in the series.
Aussie Racing Car and Touring Car Masters Series winner Heinrich finished second, with Race 1 winner Cheney rounding out the podium.
Buckley came home fourth edging out Rice by 0.6s.
Australian IRC Racing Series
The Innovation Race Cars Series today was dominated by one man, Lee Stibbs in his #9 IRC GT car.
The local South Aussie cruised to victory in both the 12-lap sprint race and 50-minute enduro.
He won the opening encounter by over 4s ahead of the 2025 IRC Series winner Geoff Emery, with category owner Danny Stutterd in third.
On debut in the series Lachlan Harburg finished fourth ahead of another South Aussie John Goodacre in fifth.
Harri Jones won the SD class by finishing sixth outright, Cameron Rees ended up just behind winning the GT category in his McLaren 650s GT3 car.
In the afternoon, Stibbs pulled a 10s margin early in the 50-minute race. From then on it was a case of bringing it home.
He won the race by over 7s from Danny Stutterd who held back a fast-charging Emery in the closing laps. Emery spun off on lap 1 and fell to the back of the field. Goodacre came home fourth, with Harburg fifth.
Jones handed the keys of his SD car over to Hunter Robb who won his class, as Jake Donaldson prevailed in the GT category.
Hankook Australian Drivers’ Championship
The racing in the Hankook Australian Drivers’ Championship today arguably the most entertaining in the history of the Hyper Racer X1s.
So many drivers were in the hunt for race wins and at the end of the day we ended up with a new round and race winner.
Race 2 this morning was hard fought between reigning champion Damon Sterling and Harry Strick.
However, Strik made an error running onto the grass on the run towards Turn 1 and lost multiple places.
Smith came home second ahead of Justin Yuen who scored his first ever top three finish, ahead of Stasi and Strik.
Sterling dominated the day’s second race winning by over 22s, Smith finished in second, with Yuen third once again.
Sterling looked set to start his title defence with a clean sweep, however in the closing laps a fire broke out in his engine.
This left three drivers who had never won an ADC race fighting up the front of the field.
Smith led Strick and Lewis, however Strik’s move around the outside for the lead did not pay off.
Lewis was a brief leader however he spun at Turn 6, all this left Smith off the hook and allowed him to take the win by 2.2s over Hamish Leighton and Yuen.
TFH Hire Legend Cars Australia
As always, the TFH Hire Legend Cars Australia delivered plenty of action, in the end Chase Tippett and Dylan Thomas claimed the wins, but there were new names competing up front throughout the day.
Tippett fought hard to win the opening race of the day in the TFH Hire Legend Cars Australia Series. After winning Race 1 and 2 yesterday, Ruben Dan looked set to finish second before his brakes failed just two corners from home. He ended up finishing in 26th after a big off-track moment through the gravel.
Riley Skinner inherited second as a result, third place went the way of the 2024 series winner Ryan Pring who stormed through from 13th on the grid, making up 10 places.
Dylan Thomas was just 0.2s back in fourth with Shane Tate in fifth.
It was a completely different finishing order in the final race of the day. Tippett could finish no better than fifth.
A late race collision eliminated Skinner from the race and Ryan Pring was on the wrong end of it also and fell to 11th.
Out front Dylan Thomas and Dean O’Brien fought for the win with the experienced Thomas prevailing by 0.2s. Tim Reed finished in third ahead of Joshua Benaud.
Formula RX8
South African Stiaan Kriel won both of the Formula RX8 races, while the first was a thriller, he dominated the inverted grid race.
Kriel may have started the morning race in second, but he was able to break away early as Cadel Ambrose squabbled with Justin Lewis and Matthew Boylett for second.
Ambrose prevailed and was able to pull away and lap after lap closed on Kriel. Ambrose attacked on the final lap of the race and briefly held the lead, but Kriel had the answers, responded, and scored his first win in Formula RX8.
Ambrose was second ahead of Boylett, Lewis, Thomas Derwent and Liam Hall.
Race 2 saw those top six positions inverted, however this made little difference to Kriel. By Turn 6 on the opening lap he was out in front once again.
Ambrose took three laps to come through to second and remained there until the end, Boylett kept him honest but finished in third, from Lewis and Hall.
All of the on-track racing will be livestreamed from 9.35am AEDT, with the Kayo and SBS coverage commencing at 1pm AEDT.