The Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships is getting down to the business end of the season, with a full card of seven categories taking to Eastern Creek Raceway on September 10-12. After a two-and-a-half month break, there has been plenty of behind the scenes development work done by the leading contenders in the Commodore Cup National Series, setting up an enthralling penultimate round on the fast and flowing western Sydney circuit.

The Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships hit the newly extended Morgan Park Raceway this weekend, with a big crowd enjoying two action-packed days of racing under a clear Queensland sky. James Sera dominated proceedings in the Kerrick Sports Sedans Series in his Chevrolet powered Saab, closing in on points leader Darren Hossack, who failed to score any points after qualifying on pole, suffering a blown engine in race one.

Team Mitsubishi Ralliart Australia has set themselves up as the team to beat at this weekend’s Dial Before You Dig Australian Six Hour, to be held at Eastern Creek Raceway. During the last two rounds of the Australian Manufacturers Championship, the Melbourne based squad have proven to be unbeatable, and for this weekend’s event the team have expanded to field a total of three cars. Championship front runner Stuart Kostera will team up with Jim Beam Racing V8 Supercar endurance driver Warren Luff, while Inky Tulloch will race with tarmac rally star Steve Jones, and Glyn Crimp will pair with Improved Production front runner Matthew Cherry.

Brothers Lee and Brett Holdsworth bounced back from a controversial opening encounter to claim an emotional Ashley Cooper Memorial Trophy, as the Commodore Cup National Series headlined the fifth round of the 2010 Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships at Winton Motor Raceway. Overall, the round was taken out by Adam Beechey and Dean Crosswell, who also won the opening 45 minute long race, which was marred by a controversial mid-race safety car period. After setting the pace throughout the opening race, the Holdsworth brothers had to settle for seventh at the conclusion of racing, but they bounced back strongly, cruising to the feature race win.

The HQ Holden racing at this weekend’s round of the Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships at Winton Motor Raceway will be a tribute to category stalwart Dallas Crane, who succumbed to cancer on June 15. He was 56 years old. Crane was instrumental in the growth and development of HQ Holden racing, which he was involved with since the category’s humble beginnings in his native Tasmania in 1988. Over the years, Crane campaigned nation wide in the class, including at the Calder Park Thunderdome, with his last event being a Victorian state round held at Sandown Raceway in late May.

Darren Hossack has finally put his name on the Clem Smith Cup with a last to first drive, as the Kerrick Sports Sedans featured at Mallala Motor Sport Park at the fourth round of the Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships. After damaging his new set of tyres for the weekend during qualifying, Hossack was forced to start his Audi-Chevrolet from the rear of grid with four new tyres for the feature race. Undeterred, the former champion scythed through the field, taking advantage of a quick spin by rookie sensation James Sera (Saab-Chevrolet) to take the eventual race win.

The Shannons V8 Touring Car National Series makes its mainland debut for 2010 at the fourth round of the Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships at South Australia’s Mallala Motorsports Park on May 29-30, with local drivers set to star. The basis of V8 Touring Cars is to provide a home for older model V8 Supercars, with all of the cars competing in the series having pedigrees gained at the highest level of the sport in Australia.

The Kerrick Sports Sedan Series hits top gear next weekend at Mallala Motor Sport Park at the fourth round of the Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships, with the running of the jewel in the crown for the their racing season, the Clem Smith Cup. Mallala circuit owner Clem Smith has been a long time supporter of the Sports Sedan category, with the 15 lap race in the middle of the action packed program featuring a prize pool of $5000 for Australia’s fastest circuit racing sedans.

Sydney rising star David Wall will lead a pack of sportscars valued at almost $10 million to Eastern Creek Raceway this weekend, for Round Six of the Shannons Nationals. Wall sits atop the Australian GT Championship, the country’s premier sportscar class and one of seven national categories taking part in a massive weekend of racing in Sydney. The 20-plus car field features dream machines from Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Mosler, Lotus, Dodge, Maserati and Corvette. Driving for Sydney-based team PR Technology, Wall leads the championship by 51.5 points at the halfway mark in a Porsche GT3 Cup S, one of only two in the country.

Sydney’s Eastern Creek Raceway will join Lords Cricket Ground as the host of a sporting contest between Australia and England this weekend, in Round Six of the Shannons Nationals. Englishman Joey Foster and Australian Tim Macrow are fighting for the Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship, which features young aces in Australia’s fastest race cars. One of seven categories racing at Eastern Creek this weekend, Formula 3 is a class contested around the world, with Mark Webber among 17 of the 20 current Formula 1 drivers to have cut their teeth in the class internationally. With four of the eight rounds in the 2009 Australian Championship completed, Foster, from Cornwall, leads the way in his maiden season down under.

Geelong brothers Jason and Craig Domaschenz took out the Commodore Cup Endurance Challenge while the Formula 3 success was shared, in Round Five of the Shannons Nationals at Winton Motor Raceway. Six categories raced in the Shannons Nationals’ first ever visit to the Victorian circuit, which kicked off the second half of the 2009 season. The Domaschenz brothers won the Menzel Glass Commodore Cup Endurance Challenge and the Ashley Cooper Memorial Trophy.

Tony Ricciardello won the Clem Smith Cup for Sports Sedans in Round Four of the Shannons Nationals at Mallala Motor Sport Park, where South Australian drivers starred. South Aussies won three of the six classes in a big weekend of racing at the Adelaide circuit, with late rain challenging drivers each day. Ricciardello took his Alfa Romeo to victory in the marquee race of the Kerrick Sports Sedan Series, the Clem Smith Cup. In a dominant Race Two performance, Ricciardello claimed his second Clem Smith Cup, after winning the inaugural Cup in 2007.

Dual national champion Darren Hossack will be the busiest driver in this weekend’s fourth round of the Shannons Nationals at Adelaide’s Mallala Motor Sport Park, doing double duty in a Sports Sedan and a Superkart. In 2008, Hossack joined an elite group of drivers to win two Australian titles in the same year with his Kerrick Sports Sedan Series and Australian Superkart Championship success, with both classes featuring on Mallala’s six-category program this weekend.

With everything from a pair of 1958 classics to the latest racing machines, over 70 Porsches will hit Victoria’s Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit this weekend, in Round Three of the Shannons Nationals. From Australian motorsport legend Jim Richards to Melbourne young gun Kane Rose, the German machines will be raced by a diverse group of drivers in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge, Australian GT Championship and a Porsche Club Regularity.

Australia’s fastest racers, Formula 3 will be one of six classes in action at the fast and flowing Victorian circuit in Round Three of the Shannons Nationals. In May 2007, Tander created international motor racing history at Phillip Island, becoming the first female to win a Formula 3 race, going on to finish second in the Australian Championship. Tander finished second in the title race again in 2008 and has moved from driver to TanderSport team manager this year, but will compete in the V8 Supercar endurance races with Wilson Security Racing. In a one-off Formula 3 return, Tander will be re-united with the 2004-model Dallara she drove in 2007 and, while running in the National Class for older model cars, will be a dark horse.