Nathan claims victory at Charlton
Sunday November 18, 2007

Nathan Macdonald drove a remarkable race to claim victory at Charlton Raceway on Saturday night (19th November) driving his brothers Modified Production Commodore in what was his second ever race in the car, and the first feature race he has finished in Modified Production. 

After a few events were run, passing showers put a delay to the night, Modified Production were put out after the rain had stopped and the track had been packed down again.  The track was real greasy and a few hot laps were given to see if the track would be raceable.  As slippery as it was the cars lined up for a race.  Nathan started out of position four as the green light come on, Troy Barnes spun in the first corner in front of Macdonald. The race continued with Macdonald in third behind Robert Trapp and Gavin Fletcher out in front.  Fletcher stormed ahead to win comfortably, with a fair distance back to Trapp and Macdonald in third.  Nathan was happy to finish with no damage in the tricky conditions.

After some more racing, the track was looking real good, but another passing shower put the show on hold for about 20 minutes.  In this time the track was being graded as the shower moved on.  Luckily the track come up superb after a quick grade and the racing was underway again.

Heat two saw a fantastic race surface.  Thanks to the rain it was shaping up to be a fast race track.  Macdonald started out of pole position beside Mark Ferguson.  Ferguson had the better run around turn one, with Macdonald slotting into 2nd.  Nathan was right on the tail of Ferguson, looking for a passing opportunity.  Dennis Bullpitt got in on the action as he snuck up the inside of Macdonald and Ferguson, as Macdonald got sandwiched between the two falcons, three-wide coming out of turn four.  Nathan got a run on Ferguson and moved into the lead up the front straight.  Macdonald went on to win heat two with Gavin Fletcher in 2nd and Mark Ferguson 3rd.

Heat three saw Macdonald start from position four beside Robert Trapp.  Trapp made his way into 2nd as Macdonald followed suit into 3rd.  Mark Ferguson was in the lead as a three-way battle developed between Ferguson, Trapp and Macdonald.  With two laps to go Ferguson ran wide in turn two which saw Trapp and Macdonald pounce, moving into 1st and 2nd respectively.  Trappy went on to win with Macdonald right behind in 2nd and Ferguson 3rd.

Macdonald had the most points after three heats, qualifying himself in pole position, with Gavin Fletcher out of two, Robert Trapp from position three and Dennis Bullpitt position four.  The race got underway but was restarted after Fletcher jumped the start.  A restart saw Fletcher take the lead around turn one with Macdonald in 2nd.  Macdonald was on Fletchers tail trying to find a way past.  Fletcher started to develop a misfire, Macdonald dived up the inside into turn one, but hit a slight rut and ran wide, allowing Fletcher and Trapp past, until Macdonald charged up the back straight around Fletcher and Trapp to take the lead.  Macdonald had clear track ahead and stormed on home to claim his first ever feature win in Modified Production, with Robert Trapp claiming 2nd place and Shane Dennis 3rd.

Macdonald was stoked with the win and couldn't believe it.  Macdonald was full of praise for the team, "A lot of the credit must go to Dad and Shane, the car is setup perfectly and just went where I wanted it to go, I couldn't ask for anything better to drive!"

Quick Results-
Heat 1
Start 4th      Finish 3rd

Heat 2
Start 1st      Finish 1st

Heat 3
Start 4th      Finish 2nd

Final
Start 1st      Finish 1st