Australia | V8 dirt modifieds, 410 sprint cars, midgets, speedcars, speedway


AUSTRALIA

Qld Speedway Spares Series Chase Continues

The chase for Qld Speedway Spares Series honours continues this Saturday night at Titan Garages Brisbane International Speedway (BIS), with the top three drivers edging away from their rivals with five Rounds of the Series left to run.

Pete Thorley and Peter Lack have waged a battle royale the past few Rounds, the two trading positions atop the point’s ladder while Richard Morgan has also placed himself in contention for a Series Title courtesy of two double points Rounds and two podium finishes. Thorley took full advantage of Lack's misfortune last time out and holds a seemingly healthy twenty-six point advantage heading into Round 8 this weekend but given the close wheel-to-wheel racing the Sprintcars provide, it's still way too early to predict a Series Champion.

Thorley leads the Series on 492 points; Morgan has 466 and Lack 444. Morgan has been the big mover of late, his career-first Sprintcar A-Main victory in Round 6 of the Series on January 23 catapulting him well and truly into the mix and the driver of the #54 Morgan Metalcorp XXX will be another serious contender come Feature race time on Saturday night.

The Qld Speedway Spares Series is a Championship within a Championship, run over twelve races throughout the season exclusively at BIS. The races count towards the Sprintcars Qld Club Championship as do events held at regional venues. Allan Woods sits fourth in QSSS points, one hundred and fourteen points behind Thorley (492-378) yet Thorley trails Woods by a mere two points in the Club Championship after missing a race early in the season. Woods will be keen to hold onto that Club Championship lead.

David Muir, like Morgan before him, broke through for his maiden Sprintcar win the last time the Sprintcars hit the Archerfield raceway and has now racked up a total of 364 points to be placed fifth in QSSS points. Defending Series Champion Andrew Scheuerle (350), Dan Murray (336), Todd Wanless (315), Kevin Titman (277) and Darrell Hodges (223) fill positions six through ten in the Series.

Saturday night's event will begin to test the mettle of those drivers who have a chance of winning the Title. They will be aiming to win the night's Feature event, as they always do, but as the Series gets closer to the final few Rounds their focus may begin to shift to the points. Either way, it will be interesting to see how it all plays out and a first-time Series Champion will most likely be crowned at the end-of-season Presentation Dinner.

Qld Speedway Spares Series - Round 8 Nominations: Adrian O'Connell, Alan Woods, Andrew Scheuerle, Brent Kratzmann, Brett Thomas, Brock Dean, Cameron Gessner, Craig Stevenson, Dan Murray, Darrell Hodges, David Muir, Jason Bottin, Kevin Titman, Luke Rowell, Mark Pholi, Matthew Butler, Melissa Boyes, Murray Gibson, Niall Chandler, Paul Rooks, Pete Thorley, Peter Lack, Richard Morgan, Scott Baker, Steven Johnson, Steven White, Tim Garrett, Todd Wanless, Tony Wynne, Troy Coomber

Event Information:

Date: Saturday March 6, 2010

Venue: Titan Garages Brisbane International Speedway (BIS)

Location: 63 Colebard Street West, Archerfield, Queensland

Adults: $23.00

Students & Pensioners (with Photo ID): $18.00

Teens: 13 - 15 yrs: $13.00, Children: 5 - 12 yrs: $6.00 Family Passes: $50.00 (2 adults + 2 children 12yrs or under)

Pit gates open 3:00pm; main gates 4:00pm.

Early racing from approx. 4:30pm, main program from 6:00pm.

Parking is available at the track for $3.00. Racing finishes by 10.30pm.

Main Event: Qld Speedway Spares Series (Round 8).

Additional programmed events include: Late Models, Club Sedans, Stock Cars, Ford v Holden Sedans, Brisbane Sedans, Micro Sprints.

Event general admission and pit gate tickets for the event are only available at the Speedway on race day. Race day information, including track weather updates, is available by calling the Speedway Infoline on (07) 3277 7745.

-end-

Robinson, Maroske Take Series Wins In Brisbane

Mark Robinson and Cody Maroske outran their fellow competitors and the looming rain showers to win Round 2 of the V8 Dirt Modifieds Roosters Cup and Round 7 of the Comfort Inn Robertson Gardens Series for ASCF Junior Sedans at Brisbane International Speedway on Saturday night February 27.

With Brisbane covered in grey skies and rain falling across the city most of the day and night, the Archerfield racing venue was somehow spared the worst of the weather and the BIS Promotional team were able to go ahead with the final summer meeting of the season despite a few light showers during the course of the night.

The V8 Dirt Modifieds didn't disappoint with plenty of action throughout all their races and it was former National Champion Mark Robinson who prevailed in the conditions, running down early race leader Mick Sauer to take the lead on lap thirteen of the thirty lap Feature event and from there he was never headed on his run to the chequers. Andrew Pezzutti finished second with Sauer completing the podium and David Clarke and Keith Muller completing the top five.

Australian Champion and pre-race favourite Peter Britten failed to finish the event after an incident on lap four that also claimed the cars of Gary Wathen and Sprintcar regular Peter Lack. In all, seven drivers failed to complete the distance; Kevin Britten who was out on the opening lap, Lack, Peter Britten and Wathen, Barry Ashen (lap 10), Ricka Groom (lap 16) and Matt Ferry who was out on lap twenty-four.

Driving the #95 Dirt Modified normally driven by Club Stalwart Ray Klarich, Lack had earlier set Fast Time during the hot lap sessions with a 13.847s lap ahead of Britten's 13.917s run and Kelvin Hamilton's mark of 13.967s.

Australian ASCF Junior Sedan Champion Cody Maroske was untroubled on his way to victory in the twelve lap Comfort Inn Robertson Gardens Series Feature race, leading every lap to take the win ahead of Dylan Menz, Jake Hawkins, Lee McKinnell and Brody Fraser-McGee. Maroske also set a new one lap track record of 18.834s on lap six of the race.

Racing continues at Titan Garages Brisbane International Speedway next Saturday night, March 6, with Round 8 of the 2009/10 Qld Speedway Spares Series the feature event on the program.

-end-

KENNEDY’S MAIDEN FEATURE WIN

The hype surrounding the Team Kennedy Racing pit bunker after rookie Matthew’s heat three win at Bunbury City Speedway last Saturday evening February 20 was so high that it was contagious to the point that every team pitted against him in the feature event was determined to show the youngster that it was a one off event.

But not to be outdone by his more experienced adversaries, he jumped straight to the front from his first row start position and never relinquished the lead going on to chalk up his maiden feature race victory in V8 Dirt Modifieds.

The rising twenty year old has improved so much in his driving and competitor awareness standards since his National Title experience in Brisbane back in early January, that he is now being thrown in as a realistic chance of capturing the Western Australian State Title to be conducted later in the season.

That would be a dramatic rise for the rookie second generation racer out of the Norm Kennedy TKR Stable.

Earlier on in the evening of the conducting of the third round of the Western Australian South West Cup Series there were late nominations for Peter Cox in the Nigel Smith machine, Smith having work commitments and Bryn Lake in his second borrowed drive in two weeks saddling up in the Des Smith car after he had contracted a virus earlier in the week and was unable to take part in the nights action.

Racing was tight all night long with not a lot of action to be reported but some good clean tight passing manoeuvres being performed encompassed by the fast racing surface. Generally there were only a matter of several car lengths separating the placegetters in all heats and the feature.

Results went the way of:

Heat One: Peter MacPherson 1st, Vin Smith 2nd, Greg McKay 3rd.

Heat Two: Vin Smith 1st, Peter MacPherson 2nd, Greg McKay 3rd.

Heat Three: Matt Kennedy 1st, Peter MacPherson 2nd, Greg McKay 3rd.

Feature Race: Matt Kennedy 1st, Peter MacPherson 2nd, Vin Smith 3rd, Greg McKay 4th, Bryn Lake 5th. DNS: Peter Cox.

South-West Cup Series Round 3 points: Peter MacPherson 36, Vin Smith 28, Matt Kennedy 23, Greg McKay 17, Bryn Lake 13, Peter Cox 10.

South-West Cup Series points after 3 of 6 Rounds: Vin Smith 92, Peter MacPherson 89, Greg McKay 65.5, Matt Kennedy 61.5, Nigel Smith 30, Bryn Lake 13, Des Smith 10, Peter Cox 10.

Next Round of the V8 Dirt Modified South-West Cup Series will be conducted at Manjimup Speedway on Saturday 6th March 2010.

-end-

National Champions In Action At BIS

Reigning National Champions Peter Britten and Cody Maroske will be in action at Titan Garages Brisbane International Speedway (BIS) this Saturday night, the two Qld drivers chasing the win in Round 2 of the V8 Dirt Modifieds Roosters Cup and Round 7 of the ASCF Junior Sedans Comfort Inn Robertson Gardens Series respectively.

Britten and Maroske, who won their National crowns in January and are both reigning Qld Champions as well, head impressive fields of nominations for tomorrow night's event at Archerfield. Britten has dominated Title and Club events around Australia again this season to earn the ranking of the number one V8 Dirt Modified driver in the country while Maroske is one of the most promising Junior drivers in the sport and has a big future ahead of him.

The second Round of the Roosters Cup also signals the end of Britten's racing commitments in Australia for this season, with Britten reportedly inking a deal which will see him return to the United States soon for a number of events on the US East Coast during the next few months.

Maroske will be aiming for two in a row at BIS, having won the Feature from Jayden and Natalie Peacock back on January 23. That event marked the first occasion Maroske raced with Australia 1 on the door since winning the National Title in Tasmania, the youngster also being given the fitting honour of carrying the Australian flag during the National Anthem ceremonies at the start of the program that night.

Multiple-time Australian Compact Speedcar Champion Darren Vine and standout driver Richard Mules also go head to head tomorrow night, the two being seeded to start from the rear of the grid in the Compact Speedcar Feature race. Saturday night's program includes Wingless Sprints, Sigmas, Dwarf Cars, Outlaw Sedans and Open Sedans, early racing from 4:30pm.

Roosters Cup - Round 2 Nominations: Nev Robertson, Mick Sauer, Mark Robinson, Barry Ashen, Garry Wathen, Brian Scott, Kevin Britten, Tony Sneddon, Paul Booker, Jai Stevenson, Darren Latimer, Jim Mee, Ricka Groom, David Clark, Keith Muller, Ray Eggins, Melissa Latimer, Kelvin Hamilton, Phil MacNamara, Matt Ferry, Peter Britten, Ray Klarich, Murray Flay, Maurice Yardley, Andrew Pezzutti.

Comfort Inn Robertson Gardens Series - Round 7 Nominations: Cody Maroske, Aleesha Woods, Joel Berkley, Jake Hawkins, Carter Armstrong, Travis Woods, Bianca Smith, Brodie Fraser-McGee, Daniel Helmore, Maddie McGee, Dylan Menz, Simone Brehmer, Will Muir, Luke Mitchell, Lee McKinnell.

Compact Speedcar Nominations: Chris Poalini, Trent Martin, Scott Stirling, Trent Usher, Rob Stewart, Wayne Corbett, Mark Maczek, Gary Hudson, Richard Mules, Darren Vine, David Collins.

Event Information:

Date: Saturday February 27, 2010