CAMS Offices (Sports House) Cnr. Caxton & Castlemaine Streets, Milton Q 4064. Meeting Start - 7.45pm approx. Pre Meeting Drinkies and Feed up at the Paddo Tavern as usual.
Gold Coast driver Matt Kingsley will head to Morgan Park Raceway for Round Seven of the Shannons Nationals on 8-9 August eyeing a fourth-straight Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge round victory, as he continues a sensational return to motorsport.
After sitting out the majority of 2008 due to injuries sustained in a race accident, Kingsley leads the GT3 Cup Challenge, one of seven categories heading to Warwick for Morgan Park’s inaugural national-level race meeting.
At Adelaide’s Clipsal 500 last February, Kingsley sustained extensive nerve damage and severe concussion in a multi-car V8 Ute crash.
Following several weeks in Royal Adelaide Hospital, Kingsley returned to the Gold Coast and begun an intensive rehabilitation program.
“It was a long process,” Kingsley, 24, recalled.
“I was getting severe headaches and spent a couple of months in a wheelchair while learning how to walk again.
“This time last year I was getting back on my feet, I’d just gotten rid of my walking stick and had started going back to work for a couple of half-days a week.
“Getting back into racing was always my goal; it really gave me something to work towards.”
Kingsley returned to motorsport this year in style.
At Bathurst’s GT3 Cup Challenge season opener, he qualified third in a 42-car field before a mechanical problem forced him out of Race One.
Undeterred, Kingsley charged back through the field, finishing 12th in Race Two and fifth in Race Three.
Victory in Round Two at Phillip Island saw him take the lead of the series, before tasting success again at Mallala and Eastern Creek.
“This year has been a dream come true,” Kingsley said.
“Coming back into racing from a serious injury, I wasn’t sure how it would go, our initial goal was to get up into the Top Five.
“Winning three rounds in a row and leading the series is better than I could have ever expected.”
Morgan Park was the scene of Kingsley’s return to a race car in November last year, testing his new Porsche for the first time.
Nine months later, he heads to the track looking to build on his 50-point series lead over Sven Burchartz with two rounds remaining.
“I’d done a lot of training and spent a lot of time on a racing simulator, but nothing could match the feeling of getting back in the car and going fast again,” he said.
“Morgan Park is our home round, so I’m really looking forward to racing there next weekend.
“Our car is good and we know the track, but there are a number of other strong combinations - it’s going to be a competitive weekend and qualifying will be really important.
“The championship is in the back of my mind, but we’re really just taking it race by race at the moment.”
Round Seven next weekend, 8-9 August, is the Shannons Nationals’ first visit to Queensland since 2007, with six categories joining the Porsches at Morgan Park.
The Boylan Traffic Solutions Australian Manufacturers Championship, Kumho Australian Saloon Car Series, CUE Production Sports Cars, Kerrick Queensland Sports Sedans, Rockpress Pacific Superkart Challenge and Holden Gemini Challenge will all feature.
On-track action starts at 8am on Saturday with racing from 1:20pm, ahead of a full program of races on Sunday from 8:30am.
Tickets are just $15 on Saturday and $30 on Sunday, or $35 for the weekend, while kids under 14 are free all weekend.
For more information about the 2009 Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships, visit www.thenationals.com.au.
