Sutherland Shire entrepreneur Steve Shelley's Racing Team has won the inaugural Pheasant Wood 7 Hour Motorsport Enduro race taking home the ANZAC Memorial Trophy.
The new Pheasant Wood Circuit at Marulan is a motorsport facility named after WWI veteran and Newtown footballer Herbert 'Nutsy' Bolt the much-loved grandfather of Josie Shelley and who was killed in hand to hand combat at the Battle of Fromelles on 19 July 1916.
Last weekend the new owner of the Marulan Circuit Steve Shelly hosted the 7 Hour Enduro and put up the prize money for the competing teams.
The Enduro race was a new event for a new circuit and run with similar regulations to that of a Bathurst Enduro race where four or more teams have a chance to win cash prizes.
The concept for the new Pheasant Wood Circuit was the brainchild of Track Manager Scott Hill and required race cars to be two litres and under with 13 driver changes governed by minimum driver periods.
The event also required drivers to change every 30 minutes and cars to be refuelled a minimum of four times with each stop a minimum of five minutes.
Although Covid19 cancellations reduced the field there was still a good mix of race car entries with Toyota 86s, MX5s, BMWs, Pulsars, Corollas and various other 2 litre cars competing.
The Saturday Qualifying was conducted in fine conditions with the teams testing out their cars and strategies for the Sunday event with the Michael Hall Carbotech Racing team taking pole position.
Race day Sunday plans went out the window as teams had to change strategies due to thick fog and then heavy rain.
The weather tested the drivers as they battled the difficult driving conditions on an ever-changing wet track, but they were still able to put in good times under the demanding conditions.
Shelley's Pheasant Wood Racing Team Toyota 86 team brought together a wealth of experienced drivers with the master tactician Garry Lougher and mechanic Wayne Frkovic and by halfway the team had control of the race and had a 3.7 lap lead over their rivals.
During the final stages, the BMW Carbotech Brakes team closed the gap to just 56 seconds, but after driver penalties were applied Phil Alexanders RaceAway Tracktime Mazda Mx5 overtook them for second place.
Steve Shelley drove the last segment to bring his team of Jake Lougher, Jake Shelley, Glenn Gorick and Chad Cotton home.
In the lower classes, the stand out was the Nathan Senior BMW which took out first in class over the Toyota Celica Team (No Penalties) and Capital Racing (Nissan Pulsar) and finishing second outright.