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Boylan motorsport round-up
Clockwise from top: Peter Boylan leads the field at the Clipsal 500; Matthew Brabham celebrates his win at Sebring; and James Moffatt in action at the Australian Grand Prix. Peter Boylan experienced mixed fortunes at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide earlier this month. In race one of the Australian GT Championship, Peter was travelling well until a hitch at turn 11. "I slid off the track to avoid hitting the car in front of me that had braked early," Peter said. "I had to wait until I had a clear track before re-entering the race, so I lost a few places," he said. "I was able to regain some ground but ultimately finished 4th in class and 10th outright - which wasn't good enough in my view." In the next race, Peter started on the 5th row of the grid. "That was great, but I knew I would be swamped by the champ cars that finished behind me in race one," he says.
"That happened over the first couple of laps, but I was still in great shape." However, an evasive move to avoid a collision with Malaysian driver Kiang-Kuan Wong cost him crucial time. "Wong moved over to avoid hitting the Ferrari he was passing," Peter said. "I had already stepped on the gas but, in avoiding Wong, I had a half spin, which cost me a place," he said. Peter's final placing in the last race was 4th in class and 12th outright. Boylan Team Safety youth ambassador Matthew Brabham dominated the opening rounds of The Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda held at the Sebring International Raceway recently. His 1st and 2nd places ensured he left Sebring with a 8-point Championship lead. Having qualified 2nd, Matthew leaped away from the start in race 1, and despite several pace car periods, was never seriously challenged as he scored a comfortable win in his debut USF2000 Championship race. Race 2 saw much the same, only more so as Brabs quickly gapped the field, when the pace car came out after 5 laps he had built up an amazing 3.5 second lead. Unfortunately, the restart did not go to plan and Matthew's Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing teammate Spensor Pigot managed to slip by in turn 1. Another accident - this time involving four cars halfway around the lap - brought out the yellow flags again. Officials decided to end the race after several laps behind the pace car, robbing Matthew of any chance of regaining the lead. "Overall, I feel absolutely fantastic about how the whole weekend went. To be leading the championship going into the next race is exactly what I wanted," Matthew said. Boylan-sponsored driver James Moffat had a checquered weekend aboard the Team Norton/DJR Falcon at the Australian Grand Prix meeting in Melbourne recently. A general lack of pace was consistent throughout the event, not helped by being punted out of Friday's second race when well placed. But the weekend finished with James' best result, an encouraging end to the non-championship weekend on the Albert Park street circuit. "I'm disappointed, of course, because I want to run at the sharp end of the field, not the opposite end," James said. " And, it's frustrating because the car is actually quite good to drive - it's just not fast," he said. "All four [team] cars are the same, so there's more work to be done." V8 SUPERCAR CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER EVENT 1 OF 15 1. Will Davison, Trading Post FPR, 288 2. Jamie Whincup, TeamVodafone, 270 3. Garth Tander, Holden Racing Team, 258 4. Mark Winterbottom, Orrcon Steel FPR, 222 5. Craig Lowndes, TeamVodafone, 206 23. James Moffat, Team Norton DJR, 60 | 
