IN A crushing performance, Harri Jones has swept all before him to claim the opening round of the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia Championship in a weekend clean-sweep.

Meanwhile, 227-race veteran Rodney Jane claimed the Pro-Am class victory overall in Sydney to stand on the top step of the podium in his class for the first time since October, 2008.

Jones’ domination of the Equity-One Professional class ranks came via a crushing victory in the Enduro Cup race and then despite a five-second penalty in race three for rolling at the start; the reigning champion was able to extend his margin beyond that anyway.

Jones’ seventh round win has him in front of the championship heading into Round two, while Bayley Hall was second overall in his first event for EMA Motorsport.

Dylan O’Keeffe made it three different teams in the top three in Pro as he had a consistent start to his championship.

Oscar Targett was the top Michelin Junior of the event and finished an outstanding fourth outright in his debut weekend since claiming the Michelin Sprint Challenge title last year.

Jane’s Pro-Am win was the 11th of his career and came via a consistent three-race performance aboard his Bob Jane T-Marts / Monster Wheels Sonic Motor Racing entry.

He led home Matt Slavin, who claimed his first ever Pro-Am race victory in race three as he fended off Adrian Flack in the final race of the event.

Brett Boulton finished third overall in Pro-Am on his Carrera Cup debut – and the debut of his immensely popular Lightning McQueen livery.

The pair of races on Sunday were both action-packed, despite Jones’ domination out front.

The Queenslander claimed the Enduro Cup opener in style as he dominated the field in the 45-minute affair on Sunday morning.

Starting from pole, Jones’ made a better start than his race one effort and led the field into turn one – and was never headed from there.

He claimed the win by 17 seconds in as dominant a performance the reigning champion has ever strung together in his career.

It was a 1-2 result for current Porsche champions with Oscar Targett second aboard his Street Machine Garage / EBM machine – the young Queenslander taking advantage of a Bayley Hall lockup to grab the second spot on the podium mid race.

He then spent the remainder of the race fending off Dylan O’Keeffe’s Dexion / GWR car to claim his best Carrera Cup result yet.

With O’Keeffe third and Hall fourth, a mid-race pass on teammate Dale Wood saw Marco Giltrap claim a well-earned fifth position aboard the Team Porsche NZ entry.

Behind that pair was a remarkable 7-car fight for the minors that saw Sonic’s Angelo Mouzouris attacked from all sides for much of the race; the Bob Jane car ultimately holding off David Russell, Caleb Sumich, Max Vidau and a host of others.

The battle for Pro-Am was just as intense as Sam Shahin escaped to an early lead over Adrian Flack.

With both looking to score following their race one non-finish, the pair spent the first 30 minutes virtually inseparable as they battled for the lead; Flack slipping past with a great display of clean racing between the pair via a nice move at turn four.

With that pair out in front, Rodney Jane led home a battling pack to secure third position, Brett Boulton fourth and Matt Slavin next, though that pair – plus Matt Belford and Jacque Jarjo – were all in the mix.

Race three was a short sprint with everyone battling for tyre life on the hard-wearing Sydney surface.

Hall made the best start from the outside of the front row and led Jones for the first five corners, before he was passed at turn six.

With Jones then notified of his five-second time penalty, the #1 car set about a series of qualifying laps out front and was able to extend his margin beyond the required gap well before the end of the race.

Hall fended off O’Keeffe to finish second, with Oscar Targett spending most of his race with a large queue behind him; Marco Giltrap claiming fifth and Dale Wood sixth.

Caleb Sumich’s seventh was his personal best race result; David Russell eighth, Marcos Flack ninth and Glen Wood completed the top 10.

The Pro-Am race was an undulating affair with Slavin fending off a charging Adrian Flack to claim his first race win in the class, with Brett Boulton and Rodney Jane next – the latter doing enough to hold on and claim the round victory.

A highly competitive opening round of the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia Championship sets the tone for Round 2 of the series, set to take place at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne next month.