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There was no harder working team in the Morgan Park Raceway paddock on April 25-26 than the DCR Fabrications and Motorsport Gemini crew, who worked long and hard to ensure another solid points haul in the Queensland Sports Sedan Championship.
For team leader and driver Damien Croston, a frustrating lead up to the second round of the championship was put behind him with three strong race results against the strongest field of Sports Sedans seen in Queensland for many years, including a pair of fourth place finishes.
A week before the meeting, the Gemini’s under two litre engine broke a camshaft, and with replacement parts not arriving until 8pm on the Wednesday before the meeting, some long nights were in order to see the car make the grid for the weekend.
A niggling problem slowed the car in Friday practice, when the injector driver in the ECU broke, requiring the system to be hot wired in time for Saturday practice.
“A massive thank you must go to John Stocks and Paul Young for their efforts in getting the car to the track, without them we wouldn’t have been out there,” said Croston.
“The weekend itself was very competitive for the Sports Sedans, it was excellent to see so many quality cars out there, and to come home with good results is a credit to the work done by the team.”
Croston qualified the number 85 machine on grid position eight, alongside the National level Trans Am Mustang of Phil Crompton, and moved up through the field to finish fourth in the first race, dodging the carnage around him.
A sixth and another fourth in the two remaining races ensured more valuable points in the State Championship.
“All weekend we were chipping away at the set up of the car, to begin with it had too much turn in understeer and oversteer on the exits of corners, and it wasn’t helped by a very greasy track.
“But overall we are very happy, the car doesn’t have a scratch on it, and we now have a good basis to set the car up for next time out.”
The next race meeting for the team will be the Shannons Nationals round at Morgan Park on August 8-9, but before then the team will take in the Mount Cootha Classic Hillclimb on May 30-31.
While Damien will campaign the Gemini Sports Sedan, his father Richard will also take on the challenging inner Brisbane hillclimb in his Nota historic sports car, at a course that holds special memories for the Croston family.
“My great grandfather ran at Mount Cootha in the 1920s, winning his class, so that is how we have managed to be invited to this event,” said Damien.
“In fact, the prize for winning the class back then was a set of arm chairs, which Dad still has at his place today!”
More information on the Mount Cootha Classic can be found at www.coothaclassic.com.au, while DCR Fabrications and Motorsport’s website is www.dcr.net.au.
DCR Fabrications and Motorsport would like to thank the ongoing support of their sponsors, especially PowerPlus Fuels, Pine Rivers Bearings, Leda Suspension, Chip Torque, Damien Emery Engineering, Trump Card Race Products, Northside Engine Balancing and HPC Queensland.
For more information and hi-resolution images of the Gemini Sports Sedan in action, please contact Mark Walker on 0407 138745 or email info@contactingpr.com.
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