Burgesses Go Back to Back in Wakefield 300

The father-and-son team of Craig and Adam Burgess has taken back-to-back victories in the Deputy.com Wakefield 300, prevailing in a thrilling 10th edition of the iconic endurance race at the nation’s spectator track yesterday.

The Burgess’ Ginetta G50 started on pole position after a blistering lap from Adam in Saturday afternoon’s Top 10 Shootout and the two drivers were able to control the race from the front, leading 103 of 137 laps and winning Advan Performance Division A in addition to their outright victory.

“It’s genuinely satisfying to win the Wakefield 300 for the second year in a row,” an elated Adam Burgess said.

“When we started doing these events in 2011, we had a lot of tough times and mechanical problems so it’s very enjoyable to have a package that goes the distance.”

“I love this event – we get plenty of drive time and the driving standards were very high – it’s a great race meeting which is why we keep coming back,” Craig Burgess added.

Classified second and third in the final results were the Daniel Kapetanovic/Daniel Sugden BMW 328i and Zac Raddatz/Shane Otten Mazda MX5 – the cars crossed the finish line in the opposite order but had their positions reversed by the officials due to a late-race collision.

Kapetanovic and Sugden were greatly aided by being able to take their refuelling pit stop under Safety Car conditions, while Raddatz and Otten stayed on the lead lap throughout the race, 15-year-old Raddatz scoring a fine podium finish in his Wakefield 300 debut.

The Kapetanovic/Sugden entry was also the winner of Mercure Goulburn Division B.

The fight for Property Investment Store Division C came right down to the final laps, with former V8 Supercars Development Series driver Daniel Jilesen and co-driver Lisa Montgomerie prevailing in a close fight with the Iain McDougall/Barney Hogan Mini.

With victory in Carbotech Brakes Division D, the husband-and-wife combination of Robin and Peter Lacey won their division for the fourth year in a row, while young gun Jack Winter and veteran Phil Alexander teamed up to win Toast AV Division E in their Nissan Pulsar.

As always, the Wakefield 300 produced plenty of hard luck stories including the Steve/Jake Shelley Lotus which retired early with an alternator failure. The other Lotus of Glenn Townsend/Anthony Soole also chalked up a DNF due to a broken shock absorber, while 10-time Wakefield 300 started Daniel Flanagan and team-mate Damian Lomax were forced out of a top-five finish just 11 laps from home with a heartbreaking engine failure.

In the support categories, Matt Stockwell took a clean-sweep in Series X3 NSW for Hyundai Excel race cars, also setting a new lap record for the series to take overall honours ahead of impressive debutant Ben Bargwanna – son of Bathurst winner Jason – and Emily Duggan.

Kyle Angel won all four Legend Car races ahead of Brendon Hourigan and Rick Christy, and Super TT honours went to Endree Saade in the first three races before a front suspension failure in the final allowed Glenn Townsend to take the win ahead of Jimmy Tran and Merrick Malouf.