The Queensland Wingless Sprint Title was run on the weekend of 16th May with 27 Drivers making the trip to Ausdeck Patios Archerfield Speedway. 7 drivers came from Northern Rivers, 5 from NSW and 15 from QLD. The first heat was run and won by Q33 Mitch Gowland who lead from pole position and wasn’t challenged followed by Q28 Paul Robinson who was under pressure from Q32 Trent Humphreys but held out his attack to take 2nd place and Trent came in 3rd. The second heat saw NR71 Dave Eggins take the jump from position 2 on the grid and lead the whole race to finish 1st, Q17 Adam Butler fought his way into 2nd with Q41 Neil Howard coming from 6th on the grid to make it to 3rd as the flag dropped. The third heat had Pole man Q54 Brant Chandler jump to the front and lead from start to finish to claim 1st , Q74 slipped past NR2 Rob Mazzer who was having some engine problems to get into 2nd place and being chased hard by Q39 Shane Heathcote who ended up taking out 3rd for the heat. Heat four had the front row of N48 Blake Darcy and N5 Mark Blyton who led the field with N5 Mark Blyton 1st getting the edge over N48 Blake 2nd in a spirited race with Q41 Neil Howard taking out 3rd. Heat 5 saw pole sitter Q74 Rob Hamilton missing his race by accidently starting in heat 4 and being disqualified gaining no points making his charge for the title that much harder. N55 Marshall Blyton moved up from 3rd on the grid into pole and lead away from the green flag to take out 1st place, with some carnage going on behind him when Q39 made a move on Q74 sliding up and making contact with the front end and sending Q74 into the fence and putting him out for the heat. Q39 was also disqualified from the heat making both Q39 and Q74 dropping the heat and having to come from the B main to try and make the A Main. NR2 Rob Mazzer had a brain fade and went out in the wrong heat so he was going to be disqualified from the heat but as things went he had come together with Q92 Michael Budgen and ripped his front Panard Bar mount out of the frame, ending his night. The heat was finally completed with N55 Marshal in 1st, 2nd went to Q18 Brody Thompson and 3rd to Q28 Paul Robinson. Heat 6 had a few DNF’s with NR11 Keven Willis pulling infield on lap 5, and a coming together of Q69 Jason King who got a little sideways which lead to N45 Troy Carey riding the right rear and rolling landing on his top causing a small oil fire which the fire crew put out without any dramas, once they rolled him back over he exited to the applause of the crowd with no injuries, but plenty of damage to the car. Once the race restarted N41 Jason Bates took the checked flag for 1st with NR83 Matt Wright taking 2nd and 3rd to NR14 Adam Bailey.
The B main had 8 starters with the top 4 transferring to the A main, Q99 Glenn Wright lead the pack away with Q39 and Q74 chasing hard and eventually both passing him to battle for the honour of taking 1st place, they had a fierce battle with Q74 trying the outside line on Q39 and ran wheel to wheel for several laps without any wheel rubbing and a great race to watch, whilst behind them there was another battle going on between Q99, Q74 and NR31 Jamie Usher fighting for the last 2 spots in the A main. When the chequered flag fell it was Q39 1st, 2nd Q74, 3rd Q99, 4th Q76 making the trip to the A main.
The A main had top points scorer off pole N55 outside of him was N41, as the field got into their grid line up N 48 Blake Darcy stopped in turn 2 but he got going again but was forced to start from the rear losing his 8th starting position ( he informed me later that his steering wheel came off and had to stop to put it back on ) so the 2 New South Welshmen leading the pack away on the green flag N41 Bates taking the lead followed by N55, N5 , NR71, Q28 in the first 5 places, the lead changed on lap 7 when N55 made a pass and made it stick the race went about 10 laps before there was a spin bringing on the yellows. Once they formed up again, N55 lead away and wasn’t really challenged as he had his car dialled in and was able to move about on the track without much restriction, lap 12 saw Q28 having contact with another car breaking his front end and putting him out of the race, behind N55 there was a real battle going on with N41, N5, NR71 and Q54 going at it hard lap after lap with places switching between the four. It was exciting to watch wheel to wheel racing no-one giving an inch. About half way saw Q41 chime in and now it was a 5 way battle for the last 2 podium places. Hard charger was without doubt N48 Blake as he moved from last to 8th in the first 6 laps – oh what could have been if he had just checked that his steering wheel was on. Anyway back to the race, as N55 Blyton was out in front the battle still raged on with the next 5 swapping back and forth it was very entertaining to watch, as the laps ticked down Blyton was about to get the last lap flag when there was a spin in the mid pack bringing on the yellows, you could only feel for Blyton, a restart 2 flying laps to take home the Title, and NR71 Eggins who was holding on to 2nd as the restart took place NR71 tore a block of tread off his tyre instantly sending his right rear flat and out of the running for the title, how unlucky! N55 jumped away to get the white flag. 1 lap to go but again another spin bringing on the yellows, which was also bad for Q54 who had got the jump on N5 to move into 2nd but now had to go back a place. With yet another restart, the tension was high 2 laps no holds, flat out and away we go. N55 leaving a dust trail followed by N5 and Q54, Q54 Chandler makes a dive on N5 and moves to 2nd , N41 is now pressuring N5 for 3rd , last corner N55 Marshall Blyton takes the QLD Title, Q54 Brant Chandler following to take 2nd , N5 in 3rd Blyton spins coming onto the straight and ending up on the infield only metres from the finish line – oh feel the pain, and with that opens the door for N41 Jason Bates to move into 3rd. in the last few metres before the finish, 4th place was decided when Q33 Mitch Gowland passes Q41 Neil Howard who ended up 5th. After the presentation I spoke to Marshall and he told me he wasn’t going to make the 10 hour trip but was talked into it, he was quite happy and honoured to have won the title and to have made the trip now, and with BIS in its last few seasons he can lay claim to be a major winner at a track that has served the South East of QLD for a very long time.
