McCarthy Wins His Third For The Season
By Phil Michell Motorsport Media
The latest round of the Ausloans Finance Wingless Sprint Track Championship at the Murray Machining and Sheds Murray Bridge Speedway saw Jack McCarthy claim his third Wingless feature of the season as he defeated Ryan Alexander, with an extremely determined Brent Fox rounding out the top three. In what was a rare double for the Wingless Sprint pace setter it was actually his second feature win of the night having earlier secured his inaugural Speedcar feature event win in round 4 of the Blackjack Speedcar Series.
After such a big break between events in South Australia the competitors were out in force with 43 drivers on hand, which included several interstate competitors.
Unfortunately, with over 30 races on the night and windy conditions the main event saw the track take rubber with the event proving to be a little one lane in the latter stages. Despite the track conditions the race proved to be entertaining with Brent Fox challenging for the lead on several occasions, actually passing McCarthy on one occasion, but a slight mistake by Fox saw him miss the bottom groove in turn 1 allowing McCarthy back by. Once McCarthy had the lead back all that was required was to defend the only racing groove for the remaining laps.
The top ten was rounded out by Rylan Furler, Joel Chadwick, Harley Alexander, Darryl Sloan, Mitch Rigney, State Champion Tyson Martin and Robert Heard.
Some of the more notable performances in the A-Main included Rylan Furler, who charged from position 11 to fourth, Darryl Sloan, who moved up 6 places after starting from position 13 and Mitch Rigney who finished 8th after transferring from B-Main 1.
With such a big field 8 heat races were conducted prior to a pair of B-Mains to decide the final line-up of 20 cars. The heat winners on the night included William Caruso, Brad Evans, Joel Chadwick, Matthew Tyler, Harley Alexander, Jack McCarthy, Jenna Kervers and Ryan Alexander.
Mitch Rigney, Tyson Newton and Darryl Knuckey booked their places in the main event via B-Main 1 while Robert Heard, Bronson Mauro and Tyson Martin, who had earlier dropped a heat, transferred after finishing as the top 3 in B-Main 2.
The next event on the Wingless Sprints SA season calendar will see the teams venture to the Borderline Speedway at Mount Gambier on Thursday night for the State of Origin Series as the main support of the 2023 Kings Sprintcar Challenge. It will be the first time the category has raced at the venue this season following the rain out of round 2 of the Ti-Bills State Series in early December.
Both South Australia and Victoria will be represented by Teams of 10 competitors with the home State being spearheaded by locals Mitch Broome and Kirby Hillyer, Jack McCarthy and dual Australian Champion Joel Chadwick.
The Victorian Team will be up for the challenge with the likes of former Australia #2 Luke Weel, Harry Ross, Geoff Cook, Christopher Halesworth and regular South Australian visitor Aaron Kennett heading across the border.
Wingless State of Origin SA vs VIC – Borderline Speedway, Mount Gambier, Thursday 26th January 2023: (20 cars)
South Australia:
S5 Joel Chadwick, S15 Hayden Vickers, S17 Rory Button, S20 Harley Alexander, S23 Jack McCarthy, S35 Mitchell Broome, S58 Nate Trewin, S77 Mick Barker, S81 Kahn Aston, S86 Kirby Hillyer.
Victoria:
VX14 Harry Ross, V25 Jake Dooley, V31 Mick Rigby, VX41 Aaron Kennett, VX46 Michael McDonald, VX50 Luke Weel, V60 Steven Hateley, V67 Christopher Halesworth, V76 Kelvin Johnson, V95 Geoff Cook.
Ends Release…