Phil Marches To World Series Sprintcars Win
"It's been a while since I won one of these," grinned a very happy Phil March after he claimed an enthralling 30 lap main event that was the fourth round of the Proton World Series Sprintcars Championship at Speedway City South Australia, "I can't remember the last time we picked up a World Series win but I'm really glad we got one tonight." It was pretty well the perfect night for the driver of the Mildura Crane Hire Cool Chassis, beginning with the fastest go around in K&N Air Filters qualifying with a 12.079s lap.
He won the A-Dash after GMC High Points man Brooke Tatnell inverted the field with a #3 marble and started the South Aussie on the front row of the A-Main alongside Dumesny.
After a nail-biting high speed swap for the priority position March claimed the win narrowly from Robbie Farr in second, Max Dumesny third, Brooke Tatnell fourth and Jason Johnson rounding out the top five.
It was the second round from four that remarkably went all the way from the green flag to the chequers without a stoppage, "It was a really good race," admitted Robbie Farr, "I only really got one chance to have a crack at Max so I bumped her in there in turn three late in the race and we picked up second. It was pretty busy there in traffic for sure." Third placed Dumesny concurred, "When we got by Phil earlier in the race I thought we might be able to get a break, but to his credit he came back and got us in traffic. 1 didn't want to let Robbie through obviously but we'll take third I guess and put more points into the Championship bank." Fourth placed Brooke Tatnell was a lucky man, finishing the feature with a stretched throttle linkage that wound the motor up big time with 13 laps remaining. "Thank God the yellows didn't come an," smiled the point's leader, "because I can tell you now we weren't going to be able to slow down. I've never been so happy to see a feature race go all the way without a stoppage, That throttle was pretty well stuck
open." Though he finished in fifth Jason Johnson was the winner in the fan department.
An enormous crowd waited patiently at the rear of the Supaloc / Armor All transporter to meet the American who had befriended the partisan Adelaide crowd throughout the night with his approachable nature combined and the hard working efforts of the Disbury Racing
Team and their sponsors, "I've never seen a crowd at the back of the truck like it," grinned car owner Darren Disbury, "they all wanted to meet him, it was great." Disbury was in class of his own in the promotional stakes, coordinating sponsor Supaloc in handing out free racing caps to every fan in the Speedway City venue and then surprising everyone with an airplane fly past complete with "Supaloc Steel Building Systems trailing behind just before diver introductions. Sixth home with a career best result was Craig Van Der Stelt in the #21 Zenith creations / Craft Construction Maxim, rounding out a solid night in general for the hard charging South Aussie. "It's good ta get a decent result in a World Series event finally," he smiled, "I hope we can continue to run like that next time."
Seventh position was the reward for another capable drive for Cameron Gessner in the Lusty Low Loaders / RI-CO Engineering Maxim. "Cam's getting better with each lap," smiled car owner Bill Mann, "we're a better chance each round." Rounding out the top ten was Danny Reidy, Mark Reuter and American Brian Brown in the Tamars Cars #21.
FAST FACTS
Ben Atkinson broke the 10 lap track record in his first heat with a sizzling drive and no brakes in the Century 21 Maxim, The Darwin youngster ran out of brakes half way through the event but still looked smooth in the immaculate #21 car.
Luke Dillon had his bonnet rear up on the #81 Truckworks Eagle and that took him out of the A-Main whilst handily placed as he couldn't see two feet in front of him.
Younger brother Lee Dillon had a nasty roll over on the main straight in the X75 Eagle when he pulled a gigantic wheel stand at the start of his second heat and unfortunately got over the front of Ken Veal's Cheetah. Lee emerged disappointed but unhurt. Danny Reidy's consistency remains a talking point with the Alice Springs "Rock Star'' placing 8th after starting sixth in the Danny Orr Earthmoving Eagle chassis.
Victorian Matthew Reed rode out a wild bicycle moment in the #92 Westside Honda Maxim in an earlier heat when the car suddenly reared up into wheelie mode midway through turns three and four, Reed gathered it back before all but clouting the concrete wall in a masterly piece of driving but driveline failure late in the A-Main prevented a
better result.
Mike Van Bremen had a better finish coming in the #6 Action Blast Cleaning Foster chassis until the right rear tyre deflated and took his chances of a points gathering exercise out with him with only a handful of laps remaining.
Several of the new faces in Australian Sprintcar Racing in SA made their WSS debuts, including Ricky Maiolo, Simon McKean, Jamie Hendry and Justin Sloan's nominations were all greatly appreciated. Trevor Green drove the Darryl Downing #97 Regency Shower Screens Eagle and recorded a strong heat win on the way to a front row start in the B-Main but unfortunately he suffered an arm injury when his torsion bar whacked his right arm through the side panel late in the heat.
Comp Cams Heat 1: Mark Reuter
Telstra Country Wide Heat 2: Jason Johnson
Performance Wholesale Heat 3: Ben Atkinson
Hoosier Heat 4: Mark Reuter
Rocket Industries Heat 5: Craig Van Der Stelt
Titan Garages Heat 6: Trevor Green
GMC High Points: Brooke Tatnell
Hoosier Hero: Luke Dillon
VMAC 1Dth: Brian Brown
JE Pistons: Ben Atkinson
Telstra Country Wide A-Dash:
Phil March, Robbie Farr, Jason Johnson, Brooke Tatneil, Luke Dillon, Brian Brown
Gulf Western Oils B-Dash:
Max Dumesny, Craig Van Der Stelt, Ben Atkinson, Danny Reidy, Cameron Gessner, Mike
Van Bremen,
1-11 Tool Storage Systems B-Main:
Ben Atkinson, Dylan Jenkin, Matthew Reed, Leith Ahlfors, Ken Veal, Jamie Hendry
Australian Motors A-Main
Phil March, Robbie Farr, Max Durnesny, 01-ooke ~atnell,J ason Johnson, Craig Van Der Stelt, Cameron Gessner, Danny Reidy, Mark Reuter, Brian Brown, Ben Atkinson, Dylan Jenkin, Leith Ahlfors, Mike Van Bremen, Ken Veal, Jamie Hendry, Luke Dillon (DNF), Matthew Reed (DNF)
Points for contracted WSS Teams:
Name Sponsor / Chassis Points
Brooke Tatnell Toyota Genuine Parts Cool 4053
Max Dumesny Valvoline / GKR Transport Maxim 3690
Robbie Farr Titan Garages Maxim 3614
Jason Johnson Supaloc / Armor All Eagle 3024
Danny Reidy Danny Orr Earthmoving Eagle 2332
Cameron Gessner Lusty Low Loaders / Rl-CO Maxim 2122
Luke Dillon Truckworks J&J 1907
Mike Van Bremen Action Blast Cleaning Foster I739
Matt Reed Westside Honda Maxim 1642
Ben Atkinson Century 21 Real Estate Maxim 1525
Ken Veal PRC Cheetah 1463
source
http://www.worldseriessprintcars.com