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Beikoff Racing commits, expands to two in ‘22
BORDER CLOSURES may keep them away from the final two rounds of the 2021 Dunlop Super3 Series, but Queensland-based Beikoff Racing remain fired up for a massive 2022 season.
The team, one of the most longstanding supporters still racing in the series, will field two cars in the third tier of Supercars racing for the first time next year.
As well as their existing and hugely popular ex-Craig Harris AU Falcon, one of the oldest cars currently racing in any of the three tiers of Supercar racing, the team will add a Triple Eight-built FG Falcon for the 2022 campaign.
The team had entered both cars in both the upcoming Sydney and Bathurst Super3 rounds, however the Queensland border restrictions place have forced the team to remain home.
“We are all ready to go – two cars, two drivers, a transporter and a very excited team ready to take on Sydney Motorsport Park and Bathurst,” Shane Beikoff – a prior race winner in both Super2 and Super3 – said.
“However, once the Queensland Government announced that any re-entry to Queensland prior to December 17 would require home quarantine, unfortunately that made it unviable for us.
“As we all have day jobs outside of Motorsport, we simply can’t do any type of quarantining. While we love our Motorsport and run a professional outfit with some of the best crew in the paddock, some super-sharp mechanics who ‘could make a gearstick knob out of a coke can’, we just couldn’t afford to have crew away from day jobs and families for five weeks.”
Despite the disappointment, the father-son team of Shane and son Jono Beikoff remain fired up for an expanded 2022 season.
The addition of the FG, already a race winner in Super3 / V8 Touring Cars when in the hands of Jon McCorkindale, has spurred the team on to commit early to the 2022 season.
“Sydney & Bathurst were scheduled to be our debut with the ex-888 FG Falcon as well as our trusty 2002-spec AU Falcon in the Historic class of Super3,” Beikoff explained.
“We have now turned our attention to 2022 and putting our best foot forward to run both cars as much as possible around the country.
“We had a very successful test day in August with the FG Falcon and were very excited to learn the car and how to get the most speed from it, particularly at Bathurst. We’re big fans of the sport and to run a car with such pedigree is very exciting for us.”
With an excited rookie driver in the FG Falcon, Jono Beikoff – set to return to the track behind the wheel of the team’s AU Falcon – said he was frustrated that the border issues had put paid to their plans to return to the track this year, especially given their history at Mount Panorama.
“I was very excited to run at Bathurst again – Dad has finished the 1000km twice (1998 and 2000) and I’ve had a couple rounds in Super2 in 2006 & 2007,” he said.
“It’s the best track in Australia to race a Supercar and the legacy of the track and The Great Race is firmly entrenched in myself and all our team, so it’s a real shame.”
The junior of the two Beikoff racers said the team was particularly keen to return their AU Falcon to the circuit, a car that appears popular with fans wherever it goes.
The AU Falcon is the sister car to the very same AU used by Shane to win a Super 2 race at Wakefield Park in 2005, and also claim the last ever V8 Touring Car race and round held at Oran Park in 2009.
“We would’ve had the oldest V8Supercar racing that weekend, the feedback we get whenever we run the AU Falcon is one of ‘the good old days’ and even though that model of Falcon wasn’t the most successful in the V8Supercar record books, it certainly evokes a lot of memories amongst race fans,” he said.
“I love the simplicity of it – we’ve kept the car pretty much now it debuted in 2002 with Craig Harris – H-pattern gearbox, flames out the exhaust, and not a lot of aero so the car moves around a lot compared to more modern Supercars. Getting the most out of it is a lot of fun.”