Macdonald clinches Queensland Title from his brother!
Posted: 21/03/04

Saturday night's racing at Brisbane International Speedway, saw the Queensland Title for the East Coast A Grade up for grabs, with Linmac Automotive sponsoring the event.  The defending champion, Shane Macdonald, tried his best to retain the title, but after rebuilding the engine through the week, a slow oil leak was discovered on the Saturday afternoon, which plagued his chances of retaining the title.  With a field of about 14 cars, with 6 from Toowoomba, Saturday night was sure to see some good racing.  In the first heat, Paul Zoubakin and Darren Lester were off the front row, with Shane Macdonald out of position 4, and Nathan Macdonald in position 12. 

For the first start, Paul Zoubakin jumped the start, and was forced to go to the rear.  On the second start, all cars got around the first corner cleanly, but Tony Blacker hit Rodney Pammenter in the next corner, and spun out. Nathan Macdonald had nowhere to go and hit Blacker slightly in the door.  Tanya Blacker then come through and hit both Macdonald and Blacker, which forced her to retire for the night with steering damage.  After the race was underway again, Darren Lester cut loose to stretch out a good lead, while Peter Rogers' car was going well, managing to take 2nd place from Shane Hollyman. 

Shane Macdonald was swapping places with Shane Hollyman, when Macdonald's oil leak created too much smoke and was told to pull on the infield. Macdonald went back to the pits to try patch up the leak for the second race.  Dennis Bullpitt was running a solid 4th, when he made a mistake and got swamped by 3 Toowoomba cars and dropped back to finish 9th position.Rocket Rodney Pammenter was leading a freight train of Toowoomba cars in 4th place, with Shane Langton behind him, followed by Nathan Macdonald.    Nathan was running 6th, when he made a mistake and Allowed Australia #1 Tony Blacker to get passed on the last lap.  The race finished as - 1st Darren Lester    2nd Peter Rogers    3rd Shane Hollyman. 

Heat 2 found Pammenter beside Nathan in car #32 on the front row.  Pammenter got the better run, and raced to the lead around the first corner. Macdonald slotted back into 2nd, while his brother Shane went around the outside of a few cars to jump into 4th spot behind Shane Langton, until the red lights come on as Shane Macdonald pulled onto the infield with a fire underneath his car from the leaking oil.  Shane then retired, and on the restart Nathan looked for passing opportunities, but Pammenter was too quick and pulled away to a comfortable lead.  Shane Langton was chasing down Macdonald in the #32 car, but was forced to settle for 3rd position.  Peter Rodgers charged though the field to finish 5th.  Dennis Bullpitt retired for the night after the first race, as his flywheel had come loose, along with Shane Hollyman who had oil pressure problems.  1st Rodney Pammenter    2nd Nathan Macdonald    3rd Shane Langton. 

Pammenter had now racked up enough points to be the highest point scorer, and opted to start on the outside on the front row.  This put Peter Rodgers on pole, with Shane Langton in position 3, followed by Nathan Macdonald, Terry Medcalf, Darren Lester, Paul Zoubakin, Shane Macdonald and Steve Conway.  When the green lights come on for the Queensland Title, Pammenter went around the outside of Peter Rodgers, with Nathan following Rocket to take 2nd position.  Darren Lester was attempting to take 4th spot from Shane Langton when his tail shaft come off his car.  The yellow lights come on after Darren Lester's tail shaft had to be removed from the track, which on the restart, gave Nathan Macdonald a chance to catch up to Pammenter.  Macdonald was able to get up the inside of Pammenter on the restart up the back straight, but couldn't take the #1 spot.  Pammenter then drove away from Macdonald, Macdonald having no answer for him. 

Shane Langton was running 4th behind Peter Rodgers, when Rodgers drove into the fence up the front straight and rolling on his side which made the red lights come on.  Rogers later discovering that an upper ball joint had broken, which steered him straight into the fence.  While the red lights were still on, bits of metal were being picked up from the track, which came from Pammenters car.  Pammenter's disc rotor on the left rear wheel, had shattered, which also made his tyre go flat.  The race leader who looked to have the race won, was forced to retire with 4 laps to go. 

While Macdonald must have had luck on his side tonight, he was moved into 1st position, with Shane Langton in 2nd and Shane Macdonald in 3rd.  With 4 laps to go, Nathan broke free to a 10 car length lead, to comfortably take his first ever Queensland Title win!  With Toowoomba cars taking the top 3 positions, Shane Langton held onto 2nd position and with Shane Macdonald's oil leak fixed, he was able to come in for 3rd and Steve Conway in 4th.  After a depleted field, only four cars had finished.  1st Nathan Macdonald    2nd Shane Langton    3rd Shane Macdonald.