Minis were Maxi
48th Historic Winton
24-25 May 2025
Report by Chris Ralph & Darren Knight. Pics by Phil Wisewould
Saturday (Chris Ralph)
The much-hyped all-Mini Challenge, ‘The Ted Brewster Trophy’ was always going to be a big deal, much as the all-Cortina race had done the previous year. Guns from SA, Tas and NSW plus a strong Vic base formed a 23-car grid facing the drop of the Australian flag for six torrid laps.
Previous Winton winners Jason Armstrong (SA) on 1.08.2, Jeremy Bennett (TAS) and Adam Bressington (NSW) were the top qualifiers with Mazda Maestro Jason Humble in Graham Russell’s car completing the 1.08 competitors, just .0068 faster than race organiser Richard Hill (VIC) on 1.09.0. In a seemingly identical green/white Mini and numbered 12 to Hill’s 13, Tasmanian Mini flier Jack Perry was next, ahead of Tom Tweedie (NSW) with home track heroine/hero Linda Devlin and Henry Draper completing the ten.
While the top order didn’t change at the front there was frantic drafting and passing through the field. Bennett finished second on the road behind Armstrong but with a 5-second penalty dropped behind Bressington, while Humble and Hill, who had passed Perry mid race finished nose to tail. Tom Tweedie, rueing not having fitted a lower diff ratio nonetheless came home ahead of Perry, with Draper, Meier (NSW) and Devlin another 13 battling bricks.
The man himself, Ted Brewster, couldn’t stop grinning watching the proceedings. His great day was celebrated at special dinner for him and wife Margaret that evening.
Group 1 – Race 1
Just over an hour later they were at it again for the first of the weekend’s four races. The fastest half of the grid were mostly Minis but three Cortinas crashed their party. Vic’s fastest examples and drivers Nick Cascone and Les Walmsley were joined by NSW Jag man John Shuttle.
Jason Armstrong’s pace showed no signs of slowing, taking the win by 2.5 seconds from Bressington with Humble, Bennett and Hill locked together ahead of Perry and Tweedie. Long time dance partners Mr Cascone and Ms Devlin resumed their usual Winton waltz with the cunning old fox Henry Draper rounding the ten. Another Vic Mini hero, Lindsay Siebler, won a tight battle with Walmsley who was chased by Paul Battersby from the rear of the grid.
Group 2 – Race 1
The battles were big throughout the field with long time NSW Cortina campaigner and honorary Vic racer Jerry Lenstra taking a fine win from pole and demonstrating a welcome bout of reliability. For the first half of the race he was chased by the amazing ‘FJ Supercar’ of Phillip Barrow who was being hounded by the Datsun 1600 of Dean McLaughlan – the oldest car in the race fighting off the newest.
But new-fangled things like disc brakes, independent rear suspension and more gears finally were too much for Humpy Hero car and driver and the Datto slipped past, set the fastest time of the race and closed within a second of the winner. John Doherty’s Mini was next with the two Mk11 Cortinas of Gordon Cox and NSW’s Brad Forgeard chasing his tail. Richard Fairlam’s EH Holden was next ahead of NSW’s John Battersby (Mini), Kim Shearn (Lotus) and the balletic Austin A40 Farina of ‘Mr Entertainment’ Steve Russell-Clarke in tenth.
Over post-race beers they still had another three races the nest day…
Sunday (Darren Knight)
Group One – Race 2
Brilliant sunshine greeted everyone on Sunday morning but sadly Linda Devlin’s race went no further than the dummy grid after a distributor module failure. Armstrong picked up where he left off and grabbed an early lead from Bressington as a huge battle for third erupted between Humble and Bennett. A similarly close contest also developed between Cascone and Perry with the latter’s Mini all over the rear of last year’s Cortina Challenge winner, which was in fact the Ford’s last outing. Paul Battersby harassed Siebler as Armstrong won the short and sharp six lapper from Bresso and Humble who just edged out Bennett for third with Richard Hill closing right up on that pair to finish fifth.
Race 3
Cascone had an uncharacteristic shocker of a start, the Corty going nowhere when the flag dropped and falling to the rear. Hill harassed Humble for third in the early stages before Bennett then Tom Tweedie snuck past during an intense race long battle. Devlin was climbing up from the back as was Cascone who clearly had the red mist in attendance after that start, firing past Draper on the last lap to grab ninth and the car’s PB. Bressington pushed hard in second place to keep eventual winner Armstrong honest as Humble just edged out Bennett for third by the slimmest of margins. Tweedie was fifth from Hill and Perry.
Race 4
An eight lapper would close proceedings for the “faster” group and this time Bressington latched onto leader Armstrong’s tail all race, trading fastest laps with the dominant South Australian. Hill got past Tweedie as Cascone showed great speed in front of Draper. Bennett seemed determined not to return to Tassie without silverware and finally got onto the podium on the last lap after sneaking under Humble. Armstrong made it an absolute clean sweep for the weekend by holding out a spirited Bressington in a great finish.
Group Two – Race 2
McLaughlin made a great start to grab the early lead but Lenstra was soon in ultra attack mode, climbing the ripple strip through the esses before snatching the lead at turn one. Behind the third placed Barrow a big stoush broke out between Fairlam, Doherty and Racer Industries trackside van man Cox. Jeff Vaux held out the returning Rod Evans whose Cortina was not yet on song after a long layoff. Lenstra won from McLaughlin and Barrow with Fairlam next in front of Cox and Doherty.
Race 3
Lenstra made a better job of the start for race three to lead early as Fairlam battled Barrow and Cox in a huge scrap that was joined by Geoff Pike (Mini). Russell-Clarke was back circulating after breaking one of the A40’s twig-like axles in the previous outing as Cox and Doherty swapped places. McLaughlin set fastest lap but Lenstra had enough in reserve to take the win with Fairlam just greeting the chequer in third in front of Barrow but a post-race five second penalty for a starting infringement dropped the EH to ninth.
Race 4
McLaughlin had a lot easier time of it in the eight-lap final with Lenstra a non-starter and Fairlam an early retirement, the Datsun cruising to a relatively easy win. Pike nabbed his best result for the weekend in second in front of the incredibly consistent Humpy of Barrow and NSW’s Brad Forgeard who finally beat home fellow Mk.II Cortina punter Cox.