TRY AS THEY MIGHT, STRUTS COULDN’T KNOCK JOHNSON OUT

TRY AS THEY MIGHT, STRUTS COULDN’T KNOCK JOHNSON OUT

Former Western Australian Modified Sedan champion Broome's Mick Johnson has had an up a down 

season so far in what is fast becoming the premier division to be in around the national & much of 

the variation in his performance comes down to recent changes the team made in order to try and 

advance themselves up the rung to mix it with the nation’s best in big events over in the east of 

Australia.

A change to a 3.6L Alloy Tec motor has not gone particularly smooth so far with a loss of power & 

torque that the driver was used to from the other engine. The first Western Australian series round 

with the new engine at Collie a week before Christmas proved tough as Johnson's machine broke 

two struts & struggled with less power as Johnson came away with seventh from fifteen starters & 

work to do.

After re-panelling the car, making a differential change and re-making strut mountings for the title, 

Johnson & the team hit the track for practice however still had difficulty with the engine, a removal 

of weight from the car helped free it up, however the strut issue returned on an otherwise smooth 

track, bending two front struts the team had just fitted during practice.

It became a busy night after practice to be ready for the next day’s racing as the team went back to 

their struts that broke at Collie that had just been repaired & returned to the team prior to the title. 

To fit them it meant re-scaling the car at the track, not something drivers like to do especially when 

it was the first of three times they did that over the weekend!

Racing finally got underway with a fourth place start in heat one being converted to a third whilst 

the driver after the race told the crew he needed more revs, a change of tyres and a shock 

adjustment done before heat two.

A third position start in heat two quickly became a lead in the first two laps with Johnson stretching 

to a four car buffer before the right hand front strut leg broke in half and the wheel collapsed on 

what was otherwise a smooth track. Johnson received fifth place points with as he dropped out of 

the front running with a very bent adjustable strut insert. 

Before the third heat the car had to be re-scaled with the team needing to run a strut that hadn’t 

been set up with the car changes, the crew worked fast & the interval giving them some extra time 

to put the car back in running order with a less than ideal front strut that would change the car 

handling.

Johnson then started in pole position for the third heat & just couldn’t get the same turn in with the 

car as he had early in heat two hurting the entry & exit speed of the car & leaving the car & driver 

dropping back to third. 

Next up was a new plan in the pits to formulate the remaining good strut from the left hand front to 

be adjusted to a right hand front & stronger housing was organised to be made the following day. 

Trev from the crew then took off on Sunday to ex Modified Sedan driver and current WA # 2 Street 

Stock driver Paul Briggs Collie workshop to re make a stronger strut leg whilst the team checked all 

the front end alignments and angles, fitted a spare strut to the left hand corner to allow the left 

hand strut that was there to be fitted in to the right hand corner. Then it was time to scale the car up 

for the third time!

A great result in the fourth & final heat race when Johnson from seventh worked through to third 

with the car handling good again, the heat include a couple battles with defending champ Aiden 

Trewern and then Ray Clifton to finish a close 3rd.

After a calculation of points Johnson qualified ninth for the title race with some quick cars ahead. 

Preparing for the feature Johnson found the right rear shock had lost its rebound adjustment and 

was jammed, this was quickly changed out for the spare and re set to where it should be, crew also 

prepped the feature tyres with a little advice from fellow Broome racer and current WA 1 and OZ 1 

Late Model Sedan champ Kodee Brown. 

Johnson’s race started well. Two passing lines developed & Johnson was able to capitalise on this to 

pass Miranda Ball on the first lap, then wait for some grip to work into the tyres, passing Adam 

Houston on lap eight, before having a great battle with Neville Mansted and Blake Watson passing 

Watson and Allan Mortimer on lap fifteen and Mansted on lap twenty then Mick Hamon on twenty 

one moving Johnson into third place as Aiden Trewern withdrew with power steer failure. 

A restart with 10 to go put Johnson on the back of  Sean Theyer and Matt Noakes, as Johnson made 

a ripping re start and picked off Theyer after two laps and set out after Noakes who had opened up a 

gap. Johnson got onto the bumper of Noakes setting the quick time of the feature on lap twenty 

nine with a 20.023 with two to go and pushed a little high giving Noakes a slight buffer, on the white 

flag lap before chasing Noakes to the finish in second.

Johnson was delighted with the podium finish. "I'm very happy to finish on the podium, it’s been a 

very frustrating month so it was great to reward the crew Team Banjup Trev, Di & Gav and the 

sponsors with a strong finish. I can't thank everybody enough for all their work tonight & last night 

with all the changes we need to go through. Thank you to Brigga for letting us get some work done 

at his place & well done to Collie Speedway  for a great weekend & Noakesy for the win , a special 

thanks to my missus  BJ, who allows me so much time to do what I love as she takes care of the kids 

when I go away." shared Johnson.

Mick Johnson would like to thank the following supporters:

Advanced Electrical Equipment

Stickemon Signs

Alpha Plant Maintenance

Mendes Race Engines - Nuno

Podium Engines - Steve

Motorsport Electronics - Tyrone

Shock Doctor - Wayne

Written by

Dean Thompson

DMT Sports Media

For West to East Motorsport

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