Morris Finance Victorian Open - Alexandra Speedway, VIC - Night 1

With around 25 nominations for this event, numbers were down a little on what was expected, but the quality field contained no less than 4 previous Australian Title holders.  The competition sure was stiff and was going to test the best drivers.

During the practice run the night before on the big Alexandra circuit, both Shane and Nathan decided to change their diffs, as the ratio's they had wasn't quite good enough for the size of the circuit.

Shane and Nathan had a reasonable night for night 1 of the Morris Finance Victorian Open. Shane ended up with a 5th, 6th and 2nd which put him 12th on points. Nathan come 5th, 3rd and 1st which placed him in 6th place with 2 more heats remaining and a 40 lap final.
Here are the points so far.

Points after night 1 - Doyle, Worling, Mills, Raymont, Bent, N Macdonald, Drew, Carlin, Galley, Pammenter, Pottage, S Macdonald, Forrest, Alberni, Ramsdale, hart, Jensen, Atkins, Hill, Verhoeven, Hayden, Dhu, Hetherington, Ty Galley.

Morris Finance Victorian Open - Alexandra Speedway, VIC - Night 2

For the first heat on night two, Nathan started in pole position with Shane back in 6th.  As the race got underway Nathan slipped into 2nd place after they had watered the track leaving no grip on the pole line.  Mark Carlin moved through to the lead as Nathan found a way past Darren Pottage to finish 2nd, while Shane come through to finish 3rd.

The last heat of the night saw Nathan start in 5th place, but struggled with conditions as his tyres he had run all weekend didn't have much grip left on them.  Nathan was able to just beat Nick Hill across the line for 4th.

For the feature, Nathan had consistent points in his heats to qualify in 5th, while Shane started back in 13th position.  On the start, before they even crossed the start line, Nathan was tagged by Wayne Ramsdale, almost spinning him.  With the race track extremely difficult to see due to dust, Nathan ran wide and slipped back to 12th place.  After some incidents up ahead, several cars retired due to damage.  Nathan found a way back past Shane.  Nathan and Shane pressed on and moved up to 5th and 6th respectively behind Rodney Pammenter. 

The track was extremely difficult to see, as Nathan had to judge the corners by where the car ahead of him was and likewise for Shane.  The pair were happy to finish in what was a very challenging race.  Chris Jensen from QLD continued his winning streak to win the event, followed by Trevor Mills (VIC), Justin Drew (VIC), Rodney Pammenter, Nathan Macdonald and Shane Macdonald.

Special Thanks must go to Dennis at Toowoomba Steering and Suspension, Mum and Dad for their help in getting Macdonald Racing to Victoria.  Their continued support has helped us both stay competitive and to race against the best drivers in the country.

Shane will be racing at Charlton Raceway this weekend, while Nathan will miss out due to personal commitments.