The
Australian Title for East Coast A Grade was held at
Kingaroy Speedway on Saturday the 29th of April, with a
good field of 11 cars turning up for the prestigious
event. Darran Lester was the story of the night,
debuting his brand new BA Ford Falcon, qualifying on
pole and winning the title. Darran is awaiting on his
V8 engine to put in, so just to make up numbers he put a
6 cylinder in the car.
The
starting order for heat 1 was - Peter Rogers on pole,
followed by Peter Campbell, Nathan Macdonald, Troy
Richards, Martin Cross, Pat Dennis, Darran Lester, Shane
Hollyman, Chris Duffel, Peter Gray and Rob Bennet. As
the race got underway, Peter Rogers ran wide letting
Nathan Macdonald into the lead and Martin Cross into
2nd. Shane Hollyman charged through from 8th spot in
3rd with Rogers back in 4th. The yellow lights come on
after Chris Duffel made contact with the wall, forcing
him out. The race got underway, as Macdonald lead the
field away. Martin Cross spun onto the infield while
running 2nd, lucky not to get cleaned up by the freight
train of cars behind.
Shane
Hollyman started chasing down Nathan Macdonald for the
lead, as he come up on the back of Macdonald, he run out
of tear offs, reducing his visibility and ended up
spinning onto the infield. This let Darran Lester into
2nd place, while Nathan Macdonald won heat1, with Peter
Rogers finishing in 3rd place, Peter Gray 4th, followed
by Martin Cross, Pat Dennis, Shane Hollyman, Troy
Richards and Peter Campbell.
Heat 2
was a reverse grid from the first heat, as Peter Gray
and Chris Duffel started off the front row, with Shane
Hollyman in 3, Darran Lester 4, Pat Dennis 5, Martin
Cross 6, Troy Richards 7, Nathan Macdonald 8, Rob Bennet
9, Peter Campbell 10 and Peter Rogers at the rear.
The first
corner saw carnage central as Shane Hollyman and Chris
Duffel come together, Duffel ended up stopping on the
track as Hollyman kept going. The entire field swerved
to avoid the chaos but Peter Campbell just side-swiped
duffel, which resulted in both cars suffering suspension
damage with Duffel being forced out for the night, and
Campbell retiring in heat 2. Darran Lester moved up to
the front row beside Peter Gray. As the racing action
started again, Peter Gray kept the inside run into the
lead, with Lester sliding into 2nd. Peter Gray lead the
race from start to finish, but was under fire from
Darran Lester. Lester finishing in 2nd with Shane
Hollyman in 3rd. Nathan Macdonald ended up 4th with
Troy Richards 5th, followed by Pete Rogers Martin Cross
and Rob Bennet. Pat Dennis pulled out after his right
front tyre was flat.
Darran
Lester hit the track in form after a lengthy absence,
qualifying the DMV Electrical sponsored Falcon on pole,
with arch rival Nathan Macdonald on the outside. Peter
Gray was to start from 3rd, followed by Pete Rogers,
Shane Hollyman, Martin Cross, Peter Campbell, Pat Dennis
and Rob Bennet.
The start
was going to be an important factor, as the field got
the green light Nathan Macdonald tried to keep on the
outside of Lester into the first corner, but had to slip
back into 2nd as Lester took the lead. Peter Gray was
running 3rd until he retired on the infield. Martin
Cross was in 3rd place, with Pat Dennis up to 4th, Shane
Hollyman 5th, Peter Campbell 6th, Peter Rogers 7th and
Rob Bennet 8th.
Macdonald
took chase to Lester, trying to reel him in. But both
cars were evenly matched, keeping one or two car lengths
between themselves. As Lester come upon some lapped
traffic, Macdonald knew this would be his only chance to
make a move, but the yellows were brought on as Peter
Rogers front wheel had departed from the car. Lester
continued his lead, as only a few more laps were done
until Shane Hollyman's exhaust had fallen on the track,
as the officials stopped the race to remove it.
As the
cars rolled around, Macdonald felt water spraying over
his helmet. Lester's car had a radiator hose come off,
losing all the coolant. The race had only a few laps to
go. This didn't seem to affect Darran as he steamed
away to win the Australian Title for 2006. Nathan
Macdonald come in for 2nd, with Martin Cross 3rd, Pat
Dennis 4th, Shane Hollyman 5th, Peter Campbell 6th and
Rob Bennet 6th.
By the
time Lester got back to the pits, the car was not
sounding good at all, another lap and the car may not
have made it. Darran Lester exstatic with the win, "I
honestly didn't expect to win tonight, I just wanted to
try and finish each race and get the car set up" Lester
said.
Nathan
will be heading up to Rockhampton on the 20th of May to
try and get a feel for the granite track before the Qld
Title for Super Stockers there in June.