Storer’s Dominate Murray Bridge Marathon
BY Phil Michell Motorsport Media
After the disappointment of the Australian Championship rainout the week prior the Wingless Sprints returned to the Murray Machining and Sheds Murray Bridge Speedway last Saturday Night for the 60 Lapper with 39 cars fronting for the longest race of the season. Unfortunately, a majority of the interstate drivers decided not to stick around but Portland based brothers Daniel and Luke Storer were two drivers who were glad they returned as they ran 1-2 in the marathon event with Mount Gambier’s Mitch Broome completing the podium.
For the Storer boys it was the second time that they had locked out the top two positions on the podium at the venue, having completed the feat during the 2019 South Australian Championship.
“To be honest we weren’t coming back but during the week we changed our mind as there was nothing back home and now, we are pretty happy that we did. It will make the trip home a whole lot easier this time. We usually run pretty good here, but we didn’t expect to finish first and second. I didn’t know that Luke had finished second until we pulled up to get the cars weighed” added Daniel on the podium.
For Luke it was a tremendous result after starting the A-main from position 9.
“I just sat back and late in the race the car came on real strong and I couldn’t believe I got up to second. It’s the second time we have finished 1-2 here but next time I just need to reverse the order” added Luke with a laugh.
For the second week in a row Mitch Broome proved to be the leading South Australian after finishing third which was a great result coming off the back of qualifying third for the Australian Championship final.
After leading for almost three quarters of the race pole sitter Joel Heinrich, who was also running his Sprintcar, so he completed plenty of laps on the night, faded back to fourth after a misfire developed robbing the car of outright speed. Rylan Furler was once again a standout as he ran fifth, ahead of front row starter Rhys Heinrich, Kirby Hillyer, Ryan Alexander, who came from the C-Main, Nate Trewin and New South Welshman Jason Bates.
A couple of the notable retirees from the A-Main included defending race champion Joel Chadwick, who slammed the turn four wall and Jack McCarthy, who was involved in an incident in turn four ending his race while he was in contention for a podium result.
Earlier in the night eight heat races, a C and a B Main were conducted with all events being run without too many dramas.
Rylan Furler, Daniel Storer, Rhys Heinrich, Tyson Martin, Joel Heinrich, Jack McCarthy, Jason Bates and Mitchell Broome all claimed a heat win with both Heinrich’s securing a second placing in their other heat to lock down a front row starting spot. McCarthy, Furler, Broome, Daniel Storer, Martin, Bates, Luke Storer and Joel Chadwick completed the top ten qualifiers.
Ryan Alexander and Mildura’s Jason Bolitho transferred out of the C-Main into the B while Kirby Hillyer, Brett Ireland, Sharni Pitcher and Ryan Alexander made the 60 Lap final via the B. Alexander only made it into the top four with a late pass on New South Wales visitor Andrew Seery.
SA Wingless next event is the annual Easter Cup at Riverland Speedway, Renmark.
End Release.