FOR the last few years Motorvation has been in a bit of a transitional stage with a change in management at the Motorplex combined with a difficult job of finding the right balance between entrant numbers and car quality. This year was definitely a lot quieter than previous years with around 300 cars entered, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you’re an entrant. In years gone by with 800 or more entrants, the cruises would turn into traffic jams and tempers as well as temperatures would rise accordingly.

Although it was a one-day event for spectators, entrants got to enjoy Friday night to themselves, with some eighth-mile racing, cruising and a movie to finish off the evening. The elite tent was an intimate affair with 15 or so cars on display, and as with Summernats 32, the Grand Champ award went to a hot rod. Gary Sheehan’s ’33 Plymouth coupe won every award in his class while the street machine class was topped by Brad Green’s HK Monaro.

The burnout field was a lot smaller this year as well, but the quality – especially in the Blown class – was top notch. The big winner was Matt James in COMPACT who put on an extra aggressive display after lunching the gearbox in UNWANTED as soon as he hit the loud pedal. As Magilla Gorilla always said: “It’s always good to have a spare spare.”

He faced some stiff competition from Chris Orchard in BALLISTIC and Chad Douglas in 2MENTAL, both cars sounding and performing the best I’d ever seen, but BALLISTIC rolled a tyre off the rim in the first 20 seconds and then tagged the wall while 2MENTAL’s fire-spitting show was looking like a winning performance but for a slight tap on the wall.

Sam Lord in BAD HABIT and Matthew Duthie in PHATPREM kept it clean to take out second and third respectively, while Claude Fernandes in DONE TIME and Daniel Shoesmith in LS WON rounded out the Top 5.

BURNOUT OPEN CLASS

Christian Barber VYOLENSS
Dean Parker L3G IT
Chad Greenmount OH YEAH
Jason Detata BALLERBT1
Tony Ward NOBODY

BURNOUT SPORTSMAN CLASS

Jack Alfirevich AUGASM
Daniel West LIMIT3R
Lauren Youngs CASTR8R
Mathew Kennedy SHATT3RD
Michael Ross HAVOC