Lightning Sprints SA

The V6 Sprint Challenge Series Tour headed to Mildura for Round 5 at the ‘Timmis’ Speedway. Of the Eleven cars that competed, eight V6 Sprints made the trek across the border and it was S1 Nick Hall, newly crowned State Champ stole the show with another smooth drive, but the night didn’t go all his way with trouble in heat 2. The local posse of V20 Scott Bobstchinski, V6 Paul Crouch driving his 4AGE TOYOTA and V72 Mark Sheen in his MAZDA powered Litre Sprint, were confident of a good result with local track knowledge on their side.

Heat 1

This heat was a cracker; Colin James S24 grabbed the early lead with Paul Crouch V6 hot on his tail tank. With the first lap down James looked comfortable out front and driving well, newly crowned State Champ the Hurricane Nick Hall S1 blasting his way through the field in the opening lap went round the outside of turn 1 & 2 to take over the lead. Paul Crouch would move into 2nd with a pass on James, The battle back further was hotting up with S18 Daryl the PROFESSOR Knuckey charging past Lethal Lee Payne S28 who then had his hands full with S78 Graham BONES Knuckey. Heat winner, S1 Nick Hall followed by S18 Daryl Knuckey who charged from the back for 2nd place and a good drive from local V6 Paul Crouch driving his 4AGE TOYOTA powered rocket home in 3rd in front of S28 Leethal Lee Payne 4th place.

DNFs were S12 Chris James, V72 Mark Sheen both fuel problems and S14 Brendan Quinn a non starter.

Heat 2

The Second Heat saw plenty of action for the crowd with the first start not completing a lap when S1 Nick Hall rolled his car which put him out of Heat 2. On the next restart S14 - Brendan Quinn broke a Jacobs’s ladder heading into the first corner, which saw V20 driven by Scott Bobstchinski (behind Quinn) needing to move to the outside to avoid trouble. In the meantime S28 'Leethal' Lee Payne charging down the outside was unaware of the situation in front of him ended up launching off the front right wheel of Bobstchinski sending him hard into the turn 1 fence. Suffering massive damage from this incident put S28 – Leethal out of action. After many attempts to restart the race, the eventual winner was S78 Graham BONES Knuckey with his uncle S18 the PROFESSOR Daryl Knuckey in 2nd, followed by local hard charger V20 Scott Bobstchinski in 3rd place and S24 Colin James in 4th.

The casualties of the race kept growing, first with S1 Hall flipping his car, followed by S28 ‘Leethal’ Lee Payne taking out the all time ‘CRASH MASTER AWARD’ with a high flying fence climb and V6 Paul Crouch broke a hub & lost a wheel, Chris James and V72 Mark Sheen with fuel problems still and S14 Brendan Quinn broken rear end.

A DASH

Nick Hall and crew worked feverishly to fix the car in time to start the Dash from pole with V6 Paul Crouch on the outside, then S78 Graham Knuckey and V20 Scott Bobstchinski filling row two. It was the HURRICANE s1 Nick Hall who bolted to the lead leaving behind Paul Crouch. Crouch would make a mistake going wide to allow S78 Graham Knuckey and V20 Scott Bobstchinski to move past. Crouch tried hard to fight back, the race win went to s1 Nick Hall and 2nd was s78 Graham Knuckey and hard charging local V20 Scott RICKY BOBBY Bobstchinski placed 3rd and V6 Paul Crouch 4th.

A MAIN

Nick Hall started on pole with Graham Knuckey alongside. Row 2 was comprised of the Mildura posse of V20 Bobstchinski and V6 Paul Crouch. Row 3 line up was Colin James in S24 and the ‘PROFESSOR’ Daryl Knuckey of S18. The race got under way with Nick Hall leading the field followed by S78 Graham Knuckey holding onto 2nd with V20 Scott Bobstchinski chasing close behind. The caution lights came on when S18 Daryl Knuckey rolled onto his side. The ‘Track Marshals’ pushed the car back onto its wheels and Knuckey was sent rear of field. The race resumed with the positions staying the same; S1 Nick Hall followed by Graham Knuckey and the two hard chargers from Mildura V20 Scott Bobstchinski and V6 Paul Crouch. S12 Chris James made contact with Chad Allman S44 who got all out of shape coming out of turn two. Chris James suffered damage from the contact and retired infield. The race resumed for a short moment but S18 Daryl Knuckey spun to bring on the ambers again. The race would restart and finish uninterrupted with S1 Nick Hall taking 1st place, s78 Graham Knuckey holding onto 2nd in front of Mildura hard charger V20 Scott ‘RICKY BOBBY’ Bobstchinski finishing 3rd with his first podium for the series and V6 Paul Crouch driving his 4AGE TOYOTA powered rocket into 4th place.

GOSSIP

DAMAGES:

S28 of ‘Leethal’ Lee Payne sustained major damage to his Agars Special with 4 broken shocks, front and rear axles and terminal chassis damage. There has been an offer for him to finish the Series in a borrowed car. Details are a bit sketchy to date and it is not confirmed, so stay tuned for this one to unfold.
Chris James S12 suffered a bent rear axle after making contact with a spinning S44 Chad Allman, while Brendan Quinn has pulled the pin on the rest of the series to prepare his R14 car for the River Ramble Easter weekend
Mark Sheen continued to have more problems with his Razor chassis MAZDA powered Litre Sprint. Mark is having one of those years he’d rather forget with mechanical problems plaguing his season

NO SHOWS:

Mark Brown S25 and Sam Putty S17 were unable to make it to Mildura for round 5 although they were nominated.
Neil Toye S10 had transport problems – when his tow vehicle went into meltdown on the way to Mildura, Ah well the race car is running ok…

NEWS:

Well wishes to the injured. We hear that Tim Crouch former V6 State Champion had a nasty accident at Murray Bridge during the National Speedcar Title. Hope he is doing well?
Kate Wiese nursing her broken knuckle will miss the remainder of the season.
Mark Harrington seems to be making a speedy recovery and doing well.
Congratulations must go to former V6 competitor John McKay finishing a creditable 9th place in the Speedcar Title; he was in good company with a top line up headed by USA Kevin Swindell.

Well this is another wrap for Trak Yak

CAM GRIND

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