Cameron cruises to victory, crucial error costs Allen dearly
Dunlop Series
3h
Aaron Cameron heads home Zach Bates to close points gap
Trip through the grass for Kai Allen sees reigning champion lose costly ground
Cameron McLeod completes podium with audacious last lap pass
Aaron Cameron has won his second consecutive Dunlop Series race in dominant fashion at the VAILO Adelaide 500, whilst Zach Bates did everything he had to to preserve his championship lead.
However, the third of the title contenders in Kai Allen might well have thrown his chances of claiming back-to-back titles away on lap 20 of 22 with a crucial unforced error.
Running third behind Bates, Allen lost the rear off the Turn 13 kerb and ran off at the Turn 14 hairpin, dropping from third to eighth, though he would get by Eggleston Motorsport teammate Jordyn Sinni for seventh at the finish.
Cameron's victory has seen the 24-year-old Victorian gain 12 points on Bates in the championship, with the margin now 27 points between Cameron and the 20-year-old Canberran.
Meanwhile, Allen has now slipped to 84 points off the pace with 150 on offer in the final race of the season tomorrow afternoon, and will need luck to fall his way in his final Super2 Series start.
Cameron took control of the race from the start, where he converted his second place start as Bates flared into wheelspin from pole, and by the end of the first lap the Kelly Racing Mustang had led Bates by eight tenths of a second.
The three title contenders were all pushing the limits on the opening lap, with Bates going right up to the Turn 8 wall, and Cameron and Allen both getting loose in the braking area for Turn 14.
The race was neutralised on lap 2 after a multi-car collision at Turn 6 triggered by Mason Kelly making a half-hearted dive on Matt Chahda.
Chahda was left stranded on the racing line, with Max Vidau nosing into the tyre wall in avoidance, and Thomas Maxwell collecting the #18 Commodore head on.
Vidau was able to reverse out of the tyre wall and continue on, only to then collect the Turn 8 wall on lap 6 after the Safety Car restart, neutralising the field once again after Cameron had got a strong restart.
Bates very nearly went in at Turn 8 before Vidau, rubbing the left hand mirror on the wall, whilst Allen was under enormous pressure from Jarrod Hughes as his Eggleston Commodore struggled on low tyre pressures.
Allen's late race mistake promoted Hughes to third, before the battle for the podium ignited on the last lap with Cameron McLeod drawing alongside on the pit straight.
McLeod was the last of the late breakers into the Senna Chicane, with both drivers taking a wild ride across the kerbs, and Rylan Gray ranging into the fight with Jobe Stewart not far behind.
McLeod would go on to claim his second podium finish of the season, ahead of Hughes, Gray, and Stewart, with the top 10 completed by Allen, Sinni, Campbell Logan, and Lochie Dalton, who jumped into the 10 after teammate Brad Vaughan spun at the final corner of the race.
Cameron will start from pole in the final race of the 2024 Dunlop Series tomorrow afternoon, which is scheduled to begin at 1:50pm local time/2:20pm AEDT.
