January Race re-cap for Nathan
Thursday January 28, 2010

Click here to view photos from the event

After a rather hectic race Schedule during the month of January, Nathan Macdonald made the most of his time away from work to hit the Speedway tracks.  A week after the Fraser Coast Series at Maryborough, Nathan decided to trek up the highway to Gympie for the January 9th meeting to try his hand at the rather unusual circuit in readiness for the 30/30 Modified Production event in February in which Nathan and his brother Shane will contest the event.  The unique event allowing each driver to race two heats each (using the same car), accumulating point towards the final.  The first driver will race 30 laps in the feature race and the second driver completing the next 30 laps starting in the position where the first driver finished.

Nathan had never raced at Gympie, so this was a big learning curve for Macdonald in a new car.  Nathan running his VZ Commodore, and after struggling with the car in the turns managed a 3rd, 4th and 5th in his heats and finishing 5th behind race winner Glen Pagel, Gavin Lorensen, Brett Baxter and Steven Zahl.

Onto a second night of racing in a row, Nathan appeared at his home track at Charlton Raceway on Sunday night the 10th January in support for the World Series Sprintcars.  The first heat for the night was rather greasy with patches of good drive still left in the track.  Nathan started from third spot on the grid behind Andrew Harper and Peter Gray.  Harper jumped into the lead with Macdonald moving into 2nd.  Harper pushed hard in the race and was extremely sideways and touched the wall a few times which allowed Nathan back up the inside who looked to have the lead but Andrew hang on to secure the lead.  Peter Gray moved back past Macdonald after he ran too high in turn three and four.  Harper crossed the line ahead of Peter Gray, Nathan Macdonald and Shane Macdonald finishing in 4th.

After a slow start to heat two, the 14-car field saw Macdonald start from the rear.  After coming home in 8th Nathan was rather disappointed with the run admitting he "drove like a girl".  "I got boxed in early on and just couldn't get any momentum up" said Macdonald.

Still not happy with car setup, Nathan decided to pull more weight out of the car after suffering the same issues as Gympie the night before, just not being able to turn the car in easily.  The next heat saw Nathan with an unlucky draw at the rear again.  The water truck came out soaking certain parts of the track, which would ultimately see Macdonald retire on lap 2 after coming in contact with David Jacobi.  Macdonald described "I was underneath Jacobi when I drove straight through a wet patch and couldn't correct it in time".  the contact although only slight, was enough to break the right front z-bar, bottom arm, bend the shockie and cut the tyre.  Incredibly this was Nathan's first DNF this season with a new car.  Nathan rather disappointed in himself and the track, and all but gave up to make the feature race with only a short period between races.

Thanks to many special people that were there and helped, Shane called for 2 minutes at the pit gate for his brother and the car was put together with a bent shockie and Nathan made it out with no time to spare.  Nathan wasn't included in the grid draw as they must have thought he wouldn't make it out.  So once again Nathan rounded out the field from the back of the grid. 

Nathan was able to put to the test the changes made earlier in the night.  Nathan got away to a cracking start passing four cars in the first turn.  Macdonald moved into 7th place mid-race, then continued on to pass Darren Baldwin as Peter Gray spun ahead.  Macdonald now in 5th behind Andrew Harper.  With only a few laps to go Macdonald couldn't pull any ground on Harper having to settle for 5th.  Meanwhile Shane Macdonald enjoyed a successful night, the QLD Champion qualifying on pole for the feature and racing home to win in front of his home crowd.  Rodney Pammenter come home in 2nd, with Royce Ernst 3rd and Andrew Harper 4th.

Nathan would like to add special thanks to those who helped get his car back on the track for the feature-
Dad, Shane, Cyrisse, Ashley Barron, Trappy and Leanne Oliver,

Macdonald Racing for the 2009/2010 season is supported by -

Toowoomba Steering and Suspension
Forbes Batteries
Linmac Automotive
RCP Machining
Repco
The Speed Shop