Late Models At Mildura 30/1/10
Paris Charles posted Wednesday February 3, 2010.
0 Show Number 1 in Mildura.
With ten teams venturing from New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia to the Mildura’s Edge Hotel Motel Timmis Speedway in Victoria there would be no home track advantage and if ever there was a level playing field this would certainly be it. With the stage set for a knock down drag‘em out battle this was one event waiting for a winner to be crowned as the thundering V8 powered Late Models put on a high horse-powered thrilling display on Saturday 30th of January.
Motorsport can often be a cruel affair and for South Australia’s John McKay the night would be over before it began as hi car would not fire up. New South Welshman Neil Wallace also suffered a simular fate and despite persistent efforts they were unable to fire up their machine.
With a total of 8 cars, the nights action began with a run against the clock with time trials and with $250 up for grab each of the drivers were keen to put their best wheels forward in the dash for cash. As the crowd watched on with anticipation and by the completion of the 8 runners South Aussie Mat Crimmins captured the quickest time, to stop the clock at 16.16 for the one lap screamer.
1st – Mat Crimmins 16.16
2nd – Brad Blake 16.36
3rd – Scott McPherson 17.18
4th – Luke Raymond 17.31
5th – Nathan Disney 18.01
6th – Kevin Stevens 18.58
7th – Rodney Shute 19.61
8th – John Hector 19.72
Heat 1
Scott McPherson opened up his account with a solid opening heat race win, McPherson got the jump on Crimmins who was hot on the tail of the N7 until the duo met lapped traffic where McPherson got a handy break and eventually ran away with the victory
Heat 2
Lone West Australian Brad Blake got a good start over the rest of the field, young South Aussie pilot Luke Raymond tried to stay with him but couldn’t. Blake’s experience led him to a fruitful win.
Heat 3
Kevin Stevens got the jump at the start with McPherson and Blake hot on his heels. Blake’s good driving set up an opportunity to move by McPherson to take 2nd on lap 4, then the lead on lap 6 with McPherson currently in 2nd. With clear track ahead of him Blake ran away to claim back to back victories.
Heat 4
Close start; Nathan Disney beat Luke Raymond in a drag race to turn one. The South Aussie duo of Raymond and Crimmins had it nailed but couldn’t catch Disney who was on a mission out in front. Unfortunately for Team Raymond with one lap to go in the motor of the SA5 machine cried enough; going u in flames and the whole bottom end was destroyed. Crimmins rung the neck out of his motor but could not catch Disney in the run to the line.
Feature
With Blake and Disney sharing the front row and McPherson and Crimmins one row back the feature shaped up to be a thrilling affair and once agin the crowd were on the edges of their seat to see how this event would unfold. At the drop of the green
Blake got the edge with Disney, McPherson and Crimmins close behind.
Blake, Disney and McPherson managed to pull away from the field only to have the first caution period of the event when Rodney Shute spun to a halt. After the restart Shute spun again and hit the wall, which stopped him in turn 3. Another restart with a tightly bunched the field allowed Disney the opportunity to try and get the jump on Blake, however a determined Blake knuckled down to the task at hand and was able to go on a claim a well deserved victory, chalking another feature race win for The 0 Show! Rounding out the final podium position was Scott McPherson
A big thank you must go to John Hector and the NSW 95 team for offering up his drive in the feature to Luke Raymond. ‘SALMA and Team Raymond would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank him for his kind gesture to allow Luke Raymond to run the main event.
SALMA would like to thank Timmis Speedway and all the race teams and officials for all their help to make the meeting possible. SALMA would also like to thank their own hard working officials and volunteers for all of their support in the 2009/10 season.
For further information on the South Australian Late Model Association please visit their website: www.salma.com
