Calder Park Raceway was the venue for the second round of the AMRC over the Anzac weekend, which saw the debut of Michael Gibson’s Saker Sprint in the ProtoSports class. The first practice session on Friday showed plenty of promise, although it soon became obvious that the car’s gearing was too low for the long Calder straights. The Saker Sprint was hitting the rev limiter in top gear around the start finish line, and without more suitable ratios, Gibson had to drive around the problem for the whole weekend. Nevertheless, Gibson was on the pace sitting mid field in qualifying and getting into the low 61s. With the correct gear ratios, times are expected to be well under a minute.

Race 1 saw some great racing with Gibson placing 4th and the car not missing a beat. Race 2 was a somewhat different story with two competitors coming into contact and spinning in front of Gibson on the first lap. While attempting to avoid the incident, the Saker received some minor contact from one of the cars and ended up well behind the field by the time he got going again. After chasing the field for 8 laps, Gibson pulled off the main straight with an apparent engine failure which then escalated into a minor fire. Quick action by Gibson and the marshalls got the fire extinguished before any major damage occurred.

It was a tough way for the Gibson team to end their debut weekend, but plans are already underway for a newer, stronger engine, and a solid performance at the next round of the AMRC at their home circuit, Winton Raceway.