Tony Quinn and Shawn Jamieson were among the winners in the opening round of the 2009 Shannons Nationals, held at Bathurst’s famed Mount Panorama last weekend, 20-22 February.

Running in conjunction with the WPS Bathurst 12 Hour, over 260 competitors tackled ‘The Mountain’ in action-packed Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge, Saloon Car, Formula Vee, HQ Holden and Improved Production races on Friday and Saturday.

On debut in the growing all-Porsche series, the versatile Quinn won all three races of the GT3 Cup Challenge season opener to take the round win ahead of Bill Pye and 2008 champion Sven Burchartz.

Quinn battled with 997 Trophy Class competitor Nathan Caratti at the head of the field all weekend, with Caratti taking a dominant class win and beating Quinn to the chequered flag in Race Two.

“It was good to have Nathan to race against,“ Quinn said.

 “A couple of the other drivers had problems and I think guys like Max Twigg probably didn’t have the kind of weekend they are capable of. But the series is really great and growing - and I hope it continues to do so.“

Series debutant Matt Kingsley’s first race back from injury after a heavy crash at the 2008 Clipsal 500 was brief, retiring from the Race One after he was left stranded on the grid by a clutch failure and collected by Max Twigg.

The pair returned to contest the remaining two races on Saturday, charging from the rear of the 40-plus car field into the Top 12 in Race Two, before Twigg took third and Kingsley fifth in the final race.

South Australian driver Shawn Jamieson took his Holden to top spot on provisional results in Round One of the Saloon Car National Series.

After claiming pole position, Jamieson secured his maiden round win with victory in each of Saturday’s two races.

Second place went to 2008 champion Steve Kwiatkowski, who fought back from a practice incident and gearbox problems in qualifying, ahead of fellow Ford Falcon driver Clint Harvey.

Picking up where he left off in 2008, defending champ Ben Porter won the opening round of the Formula Vee National Series.

The Sydneysider won all three races ahead of Stephen Butcher, while Victorian Michael Kinsella was third for the weekend.

Reigning national champion Gary Bonwick was too good in the HQ races, taking top spot in all three races while John Wise, John Wood and Greg King split the podium positions.

Tony Wallis (Mazda 808) emerged victorious from a capacity Improved Production field with variety akin to a Bathurst grid of yesteryear, with Lee Forrest (Toyota Celica) and David Skillender (Holden Commodore) completing the Top Three.

source: Shannons Nationals Press Release