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Moffat Survives the Mayhem and Delivers Perfect Start to Title Defence
James Moffat has capped off an unbeatable start to his title defence, winning race three of the weekend at Sandown Raceway, as the Trico Trans Am Series field imploded on the opening lap.
The pot brewed all day as the Trans Am field waited for their only race on Sunday, and it all boiled over at turn four on lap one where nine cars were involved in a crash that sent the field scattering.
James Golding triggered the melee when he made contact with the left rear of Todd Hazelwood’s car, which in turn pitched him into Jordan Boys with the trio spinning in front of the field – having been fighting for second place at the time. Golding was penalised 15 seconds for the incident.
Nash Morris and Elliot Barbour were the two worst affected, picking up significant damage as Morris clattered into the back of Golding and Barbour sent into the tyre wall on corner exit. Following the Safety Car, the field was sent back racing on lap five with Moffat leading now from Elliot Cleary, Jackson Rice and Tom Davies.
Hazelwood, Ben Grice and Tim Slade made quick work of cutting back through the field as Hazelwood led the trio back into the podium fight as he climbed to third by lap 10. The recovery was short lived however, with a stuck throttle on the #111 depositing the TFH Hire car into the turn nine gravel and triggering a second Safety Car intervention.
The Safety Car made way just in time for a single lap dash to the chequered flag. Moffat seemed untroubled as he maintained his lead ahead of Cleary and Rice who rounded out the podium. Slade snatched fourth away from Grice at the line, the duo rounding out the top five.
Boys got across the line in seventh, doing enough to secure third for the round behind Cleary and Moffat.
Cleary also picked up the Hoosier Young Gun honours for the round, with Joshua Webster taking out the Pro-Am class ahead of Chris Pappas and John Holinger.
Full results can be found at – http://racing.natsoft.com.au/results/