Allen doubles up at Bathurst, disaster for Murray

A TALE of two halves for Eggleston Motorsport’s star Super2 duo continued at Bathurst, as Kai Allen completed a perfect start to his title defence.

That’s in stark contrast to his highly rated teammate Cooper Murray, who was largely expected to be Allen’s biggest rival in 2024.

With Allen winning again and Murray recording another DNF, there’s now a full 300 points between the pair after Round 1 of 6.

Allen set up his Sunday result with a confident Lap 1 pass on Jobe Stewart at the Chase, making amends for losing the race to the first corner to the Erebus Academy young gun.

While there was far more green flag running than in Saturday’s race, chaos still prevailed with two Safety Car periods in the 40-minute encounter.

The first was triggered by Matt Chahda clouting the concrete at Forrest’s Elbow, leaving his #18 ZB Commodore battered.

The second lap after racing resumed (i.e. Lap 9) proved disastrous for half of the Eggleston fleet, Cameron Crick dropping down the order after a clash with Rylan Gray at Hell Corner, before Zach Bates launched an ill-fated dive down the inside of Murray at the Cutting.

The result was terminal damage for Murray’s #88, while Bates was slapped with a 30-second penalty.

There was one last restart for Allen to navigate and he was able to once more keep Stewart at bay in the last-lap dash.

Bates’ penalty demoted him from third to 22nd, with Brad Vaughan promoted in his place.

Overall, Allen leads the standings from Aaron Cameron and Vaughan.

Wanneroo Raceway will host Round 2 in May.

RESULTS: Super2 Race 2, Bathurst Round 1