Chadwick Fights Hard For 60 Lap Victory
By Phil Michell Motorsport Media
For the second week in a row Joel Chadwick has driven his race car onto the winner’s podium at the Murray Machining and Sheds Murray Bridge Speedway after surviving the longest race of the South Australian Wingless Sprint season. After starting from position 12 in the 20-car line up, due to an incident in his second heat, Chadwick took over the lead on lap 48 and then paced the field for the remaining 12 laps to claim the 2nd Annual 60 Lapper.
“I can’t believe that we won for a second week in a row. Both weeks have been really tough. For a while there I was riding around, and I could see Mark (Blyton) and Mitch (Broome), and I was thinking that Alex (Ross) must have been up there somewhere, but I couldn’t see him. Luckily, I missed the crash in turn 1 and then I saw Alex pull off, I really feel for those guys, but you have got to be there at the end” added the recently crowned South Australian Champion.
“I knew the track was going to take rubber but I had a pretty soft tyre on so I had to run the top for as long as I could to save the tyre but when the lapped cars starting to race me on the bottom, I knew the rubber was there, so I went to the bottom and finished the job”.
Second place went to Victorian Luke Weel with Dubbo’s Mark Blyton fighting back to third after being involved in an incident with a lapped car, that also involved Mitch Broome, just past the opening third of the race. At the time Blyton and Broome were battling for a podium position. Blyton’s impressive run to the podium was highlighted with a barnstorming run on the bottom of the racetrack as the #N5 really hooked up nicely on the black groove.
Mount Gambier’s Kirby Hillyer had a nice run as he just missed the podium in fourth while Jason Bates bounced back from an oil pump issue last Saturday night to complete the top five. After transferring from the B-Main Jack McCarthy finished sixth while Anthony Tapley, Hayden Vickers, Ash Cook and Coby Elliott rounded out the top 10. Jake Ashworth, Geoff Cook, Tyson Martin, Troy Carey and Mitch Broome also completed all 60 laps while Bronson Mauro, William Caruso and Sharni Pitcher finished 1 lap down.
The major story of the night was Victorian Alex Ross, who dominated the race for the opening 48 laps before a fuel leak doused him with fuel in the cock pit forcing him to retire. Up until that point he looked the likely winner after producing a stunning drive in the lapped traffic, and in the process, he opened a lead of over four seconds on Chadwick.
Earlier the heat winners were Jack McCarthy, Geoff Cook, Brett Ireland, Coby Elliott, William Caruso, Alex Ross, Mark Blyton and Luke Weel.
The B-Main proved to be one of the races of the night with Jack McCarthy winning ahead of Geoff Cook, Tyson Martin and Jake Ashworth. The later just sneaking into the 60-lap final after passing rookie Melissa Crouch on the final corner and then winning the drag race to the line by less than a wheel length.
Ends Release…
Release By Phil Michell Motorsport Media
For Wingless Sprints SA