Langton strikes again!
Posted: 14/03/04

Another weekend of racing at the Clive Berghofer Charlton Raceway, saw Shane Langton take out another Feature race win.  For the first heat, Shane Hollyman was on pole with Shane Langton beside him on the outside, followed by Dennis Bullpitt, Rodney Pammenter, Nathan Macdonald and Shane Macdonald.  From the word go, positions were changing all through the field, with Rodney Pammenter going to the lead in the first corner, only to drop back to 5th in the next corner, where as Shane Langton dropped back to 5th, only to claw his way back up 2nd. 

Nathan managed to get past his brother, Shane Macdonald, after he got caught up with Pammenter.  Then a few laps later, Nathan stole 3rd place from Pammenter in car #8.  Shane Hollyman was fighting his way within pack, when he spun out, which left him in last position, only to hit the wall later on.  Pammenter held off a challenge from Shane Macdonald, to retain 4th spot.  While up ahead, the battle of the 6 cylinders, Shane Langton closed the gap between himself and Dennis Bullpitt, and was able to take the #1 spot on the last lap to take the heat 1 win.  1st Shane Langton    2nd Dennis Bullpitt    3rd Nathan Macdonald. 

A reverse grid from the first race saw Shane and Nathan Macdonald starting on the front row.  Up the front straight, Shane got a little offline, which allowed his brother Nathan to take the lead around the outside into the first corner.  In an incident free race, Nathan streaked away to an early race lead, and took out the heat 2 win.  1st Nathan Macdonald    2nd Shane Macdonald    3rd Rodney Pammenter    4th Shane Langton    5th Dennis Bullpitt    6th Shane Hollyman. 

For the feature race, Nathan qualified on pole, with Shane Langton out of position 2, followed by Shane Macdonald, Rodney Pammenter, Dennis Bullpitt and Shane Hollyman.  Heading into the first corner, Macdonald was able to get the better start from Langton.  With Langton going back to 3rd spot.  While an early charge from Rodney the Rocket Pammenter, saw the #8 car up the inside of Nathan, but Pammenter popped a tyre, which then saw him make contact with Macdonald.  Rocket being forced to retire.  While leading the race for a few laps, Nathan made a mistake, which allowed Shane Langton and Shane Macdonald to close in.  Langton got up the inside of Nathan in car #32, and positioned himself well by taking the lead.  This also allowed Shane Macdonald up the inside of his brother, but Shane in car #27 was forced to retire, after the "oil light" come on in his car.  Later discovering that a broken oil pump drive shaft was to blame. 

Nathan now focused on getting back his 1st position.  Macdonald was able to close the gap to Langton.  On the last lap on the last corner, Macdonald gave Langton a tap from behind, but Macdonald bounced across a few ruts and drifted up into the fence.  Falling 10 meters short of the finish line.  The car was un driveable, suffering suspension damage.  Macdonald now wishing he had backed off, but he'll add that to his collection of wall scrapes, and hopefully learn from it.  Mr consistency, Dennis Bullpitt, (due to the misfortune of Macdonald), come in for 2nd place, with Shane Hollyman in 3rd.  Shane Langton now took out the feature win at Charlton for the second time in a row.  1st Shane Langton    2nd Dennis Bullpitt    3rd Shane Hollyman.