Stephen Bell, series leader Jamie Cobby, and ring in Darren Mollenoyux stood tall atop the Rolling Thunder Raceway (RTR) podium at the conclusion of a rain affected round three of the Sprintcar Thunder Series last night (January 20).

Bell in the Jacobson’s transport Maxim was in scintillating form throughout the evening and after wrestling the lead away from opening round victor Cobby, simply scorched away to avenge the opening round defeat.

“It was good to win, because getting passed (by Cobby) in the last one with a couple of laps to go hurt. It hurt a lot. I obviously learnt from it because I didn’t persevere trying to run the top down in turn three and four.” Stated Bell in victory lane. “It was good to see Jamie get second because they’ve travelled a long way and put the effort in. The car was a credit to Lester (Appleton – crew chief) and Peter and Jody (Jacobson). And full credit to all the blokes here, it’s the only spot in the state it’s not raining at the moment.”

Cobby, after driving all day through the rain was rewarded with a solid second place and maintains the championship lead.

“We had the wipers on the whole way over, and we were constantly on the phone to Ray Solomon (promoter) to make sure it was still on.” Explained Cobby. “It was a good race, Steve (Bell) and I ran close early on because we know we run close and clean together. Congratulations to Steve we just didn’t have an answer for him tonight.”

Former National champion in the Formula 500’s Mollenoyux was a surprise late replacement in the Aus Crane trucks #8 and rewarded the team with the final podium position as he came to terms with the new package.

“We got it sorted out in the end, we worked pretty hard, we had a few handling issues and we’re slowly getting on top of it.” Explained Mollenoyux about his first drive in the Leon Hennessey owned JEI and his first race at RTR. “It’s just going take time to settle in and find our groove. The JEI chassis and the 360 engine with its steel block, it all makes a bit of a difference and it’s just a matter of getting a handle on it. We chipped away and we definitely had a better car at the end of the night.”

“Molley” had a tough race firstly being passed by veteran Ian Lewis, who if not for failing to go to scale after his second heat win, would have started from the front row.

Lewis was fast all night and had moved up to 2^nd place but then spun and stalled when debutant Jason Forbes had a moment in turn three in front of him.

The drive of the night though has to go to sixteen year old Chris Solomon in the RTR/Racer Magazine Eagle. After starting the main in 13^th position, the youngster, in only his 9^th Sprintcar race, blasted up to fourth place having passed both Lewis and Garry Chippindall, and was right on Mollenoyux’s tail dicing for third when his front wing flicked back onto the bonnet. Solomon was still able to bring the car home in a fine fourth place.

“The car was a rocket, it was on rails.” Solomon stated excitedly. “If someone who knew what they were doing drove that car tonight, they would have won the race.”

Heat wins were shared by Bell and Lewis with two wins apiece.

A not surprisingly small crowd was on hand to witness some first class racing, and after a light rain shower delayed proceedings just as the Sprintcars were about the hot lap, Promoter Solomon made a magnanimous gesture to the paying public offering them free entry at a subsequent RTR meeting. The majority of the crowd stayed and as a result saw some brilliant and close racing in the Southern Rod Challenge and Thunderstruck Cup events.

For the first time the mighty Super Rods were unleashed at the Bacchus big track in a combined event with the SDAV Hot Rods to contest the Hoveys Fuel Stop Inverleigh Southern Rod Challenge. 2nd generation SDAV rod racer Andrew Howard took an exciting half car length win from his half brother Shaun Walsh with Phil Jenkins making it a clean sweep of the podium for the SDAV class.

Heat wins had been taken by Victorian Super Rod Champion Leigh Podger (2), SDAV counterpart Walsh (1) and Adrian Rieck (Super Rod - 1).

In the final, an inversion of the top seven qualifiers saw Howard start from pole with the two Vic champs back in 6^th & 7^th. Following a couple of false starts, including a rollover by Tony Green, Walsh quickly worked his way onto the tail of his ‘bro’ but once there couldn’t execute a successful pass and so raced lap after lap nose to tail and side by side all the way to the chequered flag.

The Marsh Modifieds were contesting their second annual Braybrook Wreckers Thunderstruck Cup, and a top field saw a turn up for the books when the previously all dominant Vic Champ Damian Dannatt didn’t win here at RTR. Dannatt was leading but was passed by both Leigh Howard and Nash Harris, Dannatt was able to pass Harris for second however on the last lap as the lead trio ran nose to tail toward the chequered flag.

“That’s what happens when you race against the bloke that builds your engines.” Joked Dannatt when questioned about his surprise defeat. “No seriously, Leigh just drove a great race and I was struggling with the track which was a bit different at the end than it was earlier in the night.”

Dannatt (2) and Howard (1) had taken the preliminary heat wins.

The next round of the Sprintcar Thunder Series (round 4) will be an away match at the historic Redline Raceway Ballarat on Saturday February 17^th followed by Round 5 at Rolling Thunder on Saturday February 24^th.with the AMCA Nationals as support.