1981 Australian Sports Sedan Championship

The 1981 Australian Sports Sedan Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title for drivers of Sports Sedans complying with CAMS Group B regulations.^[1]

The Sports Sedan championship was discontinued from 1982 with the introduction of the Australian GT Championship, though sports sedans were still able to race with the GT cars, while some cars such as the Chevrolet Monza, Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV and BMW 318i turbo were converted to GT specifications (the GT championship itself lasted only until 1985 before also being disbanded due to GT cars being outnumbered by sports sedans). Although there were minor sports sedan series run in various Australian states, the Australian Sports Sedan Championship would not return to the Australian calendar until 1991.

The 1981 championship was the last time legendary Australian driver / businessman Bob Jane raced. Driving his Pat Purcell built DeKon Chevy Monza to equal ninth in the series Jane, who had won the Bathurst 500 on four occasions in the 1960s, and had also won four Australian Touring Car Championships, retired from driving at the end of 1981 due to an ongoing back injury.

Tony Edmonson, the reigning ASSC, won his second title in a row in the Don Elliot owned Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV, this time fitted with an ex-Formula 5000 5.0L Chevrolet V8 engine instead of the Repco Holden V8 used in 1980. His closest competition came from the Monza of Adelaide's John Briggs who finished second in the championship with Sydney's Phil Ward finishing third in his Penthouse sponsored Holden Monaro HQ. Interestingly, both the Alfa Romeo and the Monza were built by the Adelaide-based K&A Engineering.

Calendar

Dick Ward placed 14th in the championship driving a Fiat Abarth. Car and driver are depicted in 2013

The championship was contested over an eleven round series.

Round 1, Lakeside, Queensland, 29 March
Round 2, Winton Motor Raceway, Victoria, 3 May
Round 3, Amaroo Park, New South Wales, 24 may
Round 4, Oran Park Raceway, New South Wales, 21 June
Round 5, Sandown Raceway, Victoria, 5 July
Round 6, Calder Park Raceway, Victoria, 2 August
Round 7, Barbagallo Raceway, Western Australia, 16 August
Round 8, Surfers Paradise Raceway, Queensland, 30 August
Round 9, Symmons Plains Raceway, Tasmania, 20 September
Round 10, Baskerville Raceway, Tasmania, 11 October
Round 11, The Advertiser Sports Sedan Challenge, Adelaide International Raceway, South Australia, 25 October

Rounds 5 & 9 were contested as single races and all other rounds were staged over two heats.^[2]

Points

Championship points were awarded on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis to the top six placegetters in each round. Only the best nine round performances were counted towards each driver's championship total. For rounds run over two heats, round points were awarded on a 20-16-13-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis to the top 14 placegetters in each heat. The six drivers attaining the highest aggregate from the two heats were then awarded the championship points for that round. If more than one driver attained the same total, the relevant round placing was awarded to the driver who achieved the higher placing in the second heat.^[3]

Results

Position ^[2]	Driver	No.	Car	Entrant	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7	Rd 8	Rd 9	Rd 10	Rd 11	Total
1	Tony Edmondson	1	Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV Chevrolet	Donald Elliott	4	9	9	9	-	9	9	-	-	9	9	67
2	John Briggs	9	Chevrolet Monza	John Roberts	9	-	1	-	-	6	-	6	9	6	6	43
3	Phil Ward	2	Holden Monaro HQ	Australian Penthouse Racing	6	6	6	4	-	4	-	1	4	4	-	35
4	Garry Rogers	34	Holden Torana LX	Garry Rogers	-	-	-	6	9	2	-	-	6	3	-	26
5	Allan Grice	11	BMW 318i	JPS Team BMW	-	-	4	-	3	-	6	9	-	-	-	22
6	Tony Parkinson	28 & 12	Holden Commodore VB	QH-ABS	3	-	-	3	4	-	-	-	3	2	3	18
7	Clem Smith	16	Chrysler Valiant Charger VH	Clem Smith	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	4	8
8	Peter Finch	16	Holden Monaro HQ	Peter Finch	-	-	-	-	6	1	-	-	-	-	-	7
9	Bob Jane	10 & 7	Chevrolet Monza	Bob Jane T-Marts	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	2	5
	John English		Ford Escort Mk 1 Mazda	Bryan Byrt Ford	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	5
	John Tesoriero	32	Volvo 242	John Tesoriero	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	5
12	Geoff Boyd		Holden Torana	Carling Constructions	-	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4
	Gordon Mitchell	57	Alfa Romeo GTV	Cechelle Motors	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	-	-	4
14	Ken James		Mazda RX-3		-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3
	Dick Ward	27	Fiat Abarth	Go Gear-rotomotion	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	3
16	Jeff Groves		Ford Escort	Jeff Groves	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
	Bob Stevens		Holden Monaro HQ	Bob Stevens	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
	Paul Jones	64	Chevrolet Monza	Paul Jones	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
	Rusty French		Ford Falcon XD	Rusty French Racing	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
	Craig Marsland		Chrysler Valiant Charger	Pizza Hut	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	2
	Rob Davies	44	Ford Escort Mk 1		-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	2
22	Kent Youlden	55	Ford Cortina TE	Dowsett Engineering	-	1	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
23	John White		Chevrolet Monza	John White	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
	Larry Perkins	69	Holden Commodore VC	Launceston Hotel	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
	Gordon Stephenson		Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT	Gordon Stephenson	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	1
	Kerry Baily		Holden Torana GTR XU-1		-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	1
	Richard Purtell		Holden Torana GTR XU-1		-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1
	Luigi DeLuca	22	Ford Anglia	DWU Australia Pty Ltd	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1

Note: The above results are based on the table published in Australian Motor Racing Year, 1981, Page 164 however additional positions below the top six have been calculated from race results listed in the same publication.

References

↑ CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, 1981, Page 94
↑ 2.0 2.1 Australian Motor Racing Year, 1981/82, Pages 164-187
↑ CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, 1981, Page 91-92

External links

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