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Released:
21st October 2007
Ian Lewis, Troy Little and Tony Moule
gave the fans at Rolling Thunder
Raceway total value for their money
with one of the best Sprintcar feature
races ever seen in round one of the
Sprintcar Thunder Series last night
(October 20).
It was one of those very rare races
where there was challenge for the lead
on almost every corner of every lap
and although it’s a cliché, it was a
real shame there was only one winner
as all three drivers deserved to take
home the trophy.
Sydney’s Troy Little was
understandably dejected leading the
majority of the event only to have
defending series champion Ian Lewis
take the victory in his Coates Hire
Maxim just ahead of Littles' Kimbo
Transport Eagle after the pair had
traded the lead on almost every
corner, both on the way in and out, of
each lap over the final six laps
following a lap 19 restart. The
official margin of victory was just
0.564 of a second.
Chris Solomon in the Racer
Magazine/United National Security
Eagle ran another solid and steady
race to complete the podium just ahead
of the Beeps Auto Parts Maxim mounted
Darren Hickman with Phil Lock taking a
solid fifth in his comeback drive
after injury.
After starting from pole in his first
heat Lewis was flying out front with
Little chasing hard until his Lewis’
left rear tyre deflated as he went up
the back straight on the final lap.
Little swept to the lead from Gavin
Taylor (GT Hydraulics Cheetah) and
Lock with Lewis hanging on for 5th.
Chris Solomon shared the front row of
heat two with Lauren Densley (Morvale
#55) and went on to win from a
charging Moule (MCF Trailers) and
Densley.
Heat three saw Moule sweep around the
outside to be in the lead at the end
of lap one. Taylor continued his
impressive run in 2nd ahead
of Paul Solomon.
Hickman was leading heat four from
Little who took the lead just as Chris
Solomon and Rookie Sean Kuypers made
contact. Little repeated the dose
after the restart and Lewis and Ashley
Burke (Poustie #23) also snuck past in
he closing laps.
Little and Moule would lined on the
front row for the 25 lap feature with
Taylor and Lock next ahead of Chris
and Paul Solomon, Lewis, Densley,
Burke, Hickman, Mark Charge (Westside
Honda Avenger), Kuypers (Tyre Plus
Maxim), Garry Heathcote and Mark Smith
(Kears speed shop Gambler).
Little and Moule launched away from
the pack at the drop of the green with
Little just ahead as Moule was
searching for a better line. Nose to
tail and side by side they raced until
they encountered lapped traffic which
really brought the race alive as each
driver would be held up by lapped
traffic. Moule would pass Little and
then Little would retake the lead.
Just as this pair were about to lap
Paul Solomon he broke a king pin and
had a “tank slapper” and rolled as
Little and Moule managed to pass by on
either side.
On the restart Lewis was now third but
had to ease off the gas at the cone
when Moules' start wasn’t as good as
the Fly’s. Little took advantage to
open a small gap and then three laps
later Moule pulled out with an
ailment. On lap 15 Taylor and Burke
came together with Taylor rolling and
both retired.
Following the restart Lewis used a
good line into turn three to snatch
the lead and hence the blow trading
started. On lap 20 Densley hit the
turn two hole and spun setting up a
six lap sprit to the flag that saw
Lewis and Little trading slide jobs
and lead passes turn by turn. Little
would go low into one then slide up
track as Lewis would dive low in two
and take the led as they exited the
corner. The same style of thing would
be repeated at the other end of the
track and then on and on until the
final lap when Lewis made contact with
Little as they went down the back
straight and approached turn three.
This was enough as Little was forced
to adjust his line and Lewis went on
to take the win by half a second
Lewis, was naturally pleased to get
his title defence off to the best
possible start further removing any
thoughts of retirement.
“At the off season presentation night
I retired and the next night I was
re-hired.” Lewis explained. “I have to
thank Paul Jordan for supplying the
car and all the boys for working so
hard on it. This is a great start to
our title defence and our season.”
AMCA Nationals.
In the AMCA National division a solid
25 car field raced hard all night but
couldn’t stop the ever improving Trent
Susol from taking his maiden feature
win.
Susol, in his ESM Racing #69 has been
a great supporter of the class at
Rolling Thunder Raceway and it was
extremely pleasing to see him break
through for that elusive first victory
ahead of veteran Frank Thierry and the
impressive Daniel Scott. Last weeks
feature winner Chris Best had an up
and down night and was vying for a
podium finish until becoming part of a
three car tangle on the last lap.
Michael “Action” Jackson, Adam King,
Susol and Dual National champion Adam
Wallis in Gavin Harrison’s car took
the heat wins.
Marsh Modifieds.
A smaller than usual field fronted for
their first race of the season but it
was not unusual to see Damien Dannatt
take the win ahead of Dale and Garry
Kakoschke.
If you missed this brilliant start to
the Sprintcar Thunder Series don’t
miss round two in a fortnights time at
Rolling Thunder Raceway on November 3.
Support classes include Speedcars, NOS
Open Sportsmans and AMCA Nationals.
Sprintcar Thunder Serries – Round 1.
Finishing positions
1 Ian Lewis
2 Troy Little
3 Chris Solomon
4 Darren Hickman
5 Phil Lock
6 Mark Charge
7 Lauren Densley
8 Garry Heathcote
9 Mark Smith
10 Tony Moule
11 Ashley Burke
12 Gavin Taylor
13 Paul Solomon
14 Sean Kuypers
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