Smithfield Crash Repairs Challenge Series 09/10 Round 2

“A Storm Hits the Bridge”

The Moore Engineering Murray Bridge Speedway venue played host to Round 2 of the Smithfield Crash Repairs Lightning Sprint SA Challenge Series.  The event was held over 4 x 10 lap heats, a dash, and a 20 lap feature. A field of 17 cars showed up for the second round of the series including Victorian Ryan McKenna in the v12 RAZOR Chassis (Ex Richard Clavell car) and Danny Milton in his v21 4AGE powered car, taking on locals Nick ‘Hurricane’ Hall, Ben ‘Cyclone’ Hall, Graham ‘Bones’ Knuckey and Brendan ‘Lightning Mc’ Quinn just to name e few.

Heat 1

Local young gun Chris James 12s broke away from the pack in the early stages, Danny Milton 21v got swallowed up by the charging pack. Sam Putland 17s would manage to hold on for a 5^th place finish while Graham Knuckey 78s chased hard to the line and had to settle for 4^th. Chris James 12s raced the wheels off his Stealth chassis to finish 3^rd with SA1 Nick Hall 2^nd. Brendan Quinn started off the back of the pack went on to take out heat 1.

Heat 2

There was plenty of action right from the drop of the flag with Kate Wiese 9s  and ‘Leethal’ Lee Payne 28s with a lap or two of great side by side racing, Kate in the Mean Green Machine would come out the victor in this battle. John McKenzie 16s would bring on the caution light with a spectacular barrel roll, then with racing back under way Darryl Knuckey 18s would spin and leave Ben Hall 5s no where to go thereby impacting him at great speed that left Knuckey’s car with a lot of damage. The race would be declared with Wayne Goodwin 36s in 5^th Michael Buxallen 69s in 4^th , Lee Payne held on to 3^rd while Ryan McKenna 12v was showing good car speed finished 2^nd behind Kate Wiese 9s heat winner.

Heat 3

Ben Hall 5s would jump away to a handy lead while Sam Chapman 3s and Sam Putland 17s were locked in a battle “PUTTY” would get the upper hand. With track conditions rapidly deteriorating most drivers were looking for a smoother part of the racing surface. Chris James 12s crossed the line in 5^th place right behind Lee Payne 28s in 4^th. Sam Chapman 3s in his first meeting back showing good form finishing in 3^rd place, Sam Putland 17s moved into the front position with a couple of laps to go. Ben Hall 5s taking 2^nd. Sam Putland drove a hard race to win the heat.

Heat 4

With the track now quit obviously rough, the drivers in heat 4 had there hands full. Graham Knuckey 78s was having a hard time and not showing his usual form, struggled in this race to hold on for the finish. Mark Johnson 88s would have a good start and drove hard to hold on to 5^th while Nick Hall SA1 had things not going all his way greeted the chequer in 4^th behind Kate Wiese 9s for 3^rd place. Brendan Quinn 14s pushed hard to finish 2^nd behind a very quick Ryan McKenna 12v in first.

Dash

Ryan McKenna 12v off the front row was always going to be hard to beat and that proved to be so finishing in 1^st place with SA1 Nick Hall tried to match the car speed of McKenna only to finish a close 2^nd .Sam Putland 17s 3^rd and Chris James 12s having a good run in 4^th place.

A Main

When the green flag fell it was Ryan McKenna 12v who bolted and built a sizable lead on SA1 Nick Hall, Sam Putland would be first casualty with a flat right front tire. After the restart Chris James 12s was loosing places also with an ill handling car, Nick Hall started to close the gap on Ryan McKenna who was having power steering problems. McKenna would eventually fade outside of a podium finish, but boy did he show how much potential the car has, watch out boys when he sorts out the power steering. Ben Hall 5s moved into 2^nd while Brendan Quinn 14s was proving to be the fastest car on the track as he started to carve his way to the front. Quinn with a good run out of turn 2 saw him make the pass on Ben Hall for 2^nd position, then Quinn made a challenge for the lead making the pass on Nick Hall only to have Nick Hall pass him right back.  Lee Payne 28s would bring out the caution lights when he spun in turn 3-4. With the race back underway Nick Hall resumed the lead only to have the caution light on with Lee Payne having another spin ( must have been a warm spot ). Graham Knuckey 78s making up for his heat results finished the night in 5^th with Kate Wiese 9s was closing the gap on Ben Hall, but run out of laps and finished in 4^th. Ben Hall was working the high line in an effort to pass Quinn for 2^nd. The action was intense as the top 3 battled it out for the remaining lap. SA1 Nick Hall won the thrilling feature race ahead of 14s Brendan Quinn in 2nd and 5s Ben Hall 3^rd in what has been the race of the season so far. Looking forward to upcoming events.

Grizzle

Was good to see all the nominations for the Murray Bridge round although there was a lack of courtesy shown to organizers for those that did not rock up to the event and also failed to let organizers know of there intentions, very poor.

 Also poor track conditions caused more problems for cars and teams with failing equipment and parts working loose due to the rough track served up by a high profile complex such as Murray Bridge.

It was poor to see a lack of support for the Broken Hill round and I’m sure people have there reasons. What I though was in poor taste was the flack written on website forums that also display a lack of character with some drivers and or people. Maybe we should all trade places and see how life is on the other side. Your choice not mine.

Gossip

Rod Long is not far off completing his fuel injected trial engine, with any hope we could see the car ready in the new year sometime. Michael Buxallen will be taking over driver duties for Rod in the 69s U-PULL IT entry, “Buxie” will also pilot the trial engine.

The gossip on Bart Pascoe is that he and Rod Long have gone there separate ways, Bart has purchased the ex Ben Hall black 71s car so you can bet in weeks to come we could well see a weapon unleashed, coz  this car is quick.

There has been some talk around the tracks that Graham Knuckey is looking to take the next step in his speedway career; Bones drove a well prepared speedcar to test the water. One thing is for sure, he really impressed. He adapted well to the power and handling characteristics of the mighty midget so don’t be surprised to see Bones take the next step.

It’s also time to wish all a Merry Christmas and have a safe break

Well that’s a wrap for this Trak Yak