NATIONAL AUSTRALIAN SPORTS SEDAN ASSOCIATION

Mark Nelson's Saab during qualifying

Round 2 Mallala

"The War continues, but Wall takes the round win"

Well, the second round of 2009 at Mallala picked up where it left off at Wakefield, with nothing separating Hossack and Ricciardello.

It has progressed from a prize fight to a full on stoush between the two, with both of them coming together on a couple of occasions over the weekend. While all this was happening, Des Wall was quietly working away taking the points to win the weekend.

The field also included Jeff Barnes and Bob McLoughlin who had both made the long trip down from QLD. Bruce Banks had made a long trip from Tassie in the bus and a fleet of Victorians including Mark Nelson in the Alvee Products Saab, Michael Robinson's beautiful Monaro, Neil Bryson in the Calibra, Damien Johnson's Torana and Graeme Gilliland's Mazda RX7.

Plus we can't forget the late entry of the weekend - the Simon Pfitzner owned Falcon, with his mate Ian Wilson at the wheel, and unfortunately Kerry Baily had to withdraw at the last minute with an injury to his back, which meant he couldn't make the trip down from QLD.

It was all set up to be a great weekends racing with all eyes on the front!
 

Michael Robinson comes to grips with Mallala

Qualifying

1st qualifying was bright and early on Sat morning and it was nice and cold! Both Ricciardello 1:06.65 and Hossack 1:06.47 slipped on fresh rubber, and as expected, recorded times with a tenth or two of each other. Des Wall was struggling again with his Michelins, but managed a respectable 1:09.12 after circulating for most of the session. Barnes trying to get rid of the cob webs was next 1:10.19, followed by Nelson 1:11.34.They were followed by McLoughlin 1:11.67, Robinson 1:12.31 and Bruce Banks 1:12.77.

2nd qualifying was held in dry, but still cool conditions and would prove to be extremely exciting with Hossack 1:06.65 unable to match his Q1 time, and Ricciardello 1:06.48 setting a faster time than his earlier effort, but was still not good enough to take pole. So first blood to Hossack! The race for the next three positions on the grid was only separated by a few tenths of a second with Wall 1:09.95 not as good as Q1, but good enough to slot in behind Hossack on the grid in P3. Jeff Barnes 1:09.35 turned up the heat, followed by Nelson.