FARRELL FLYS INTO LEAD
RYAN Farrell leads the points after the first night of three in the 47th Australian Sprintcar Championship at the Perth Motorplex on Thursday night.
He had a near perfect night in the W95, setting quick time in qualifying and followed it up a win and a second in the heats to lead with 41 points.
Second overall is defending champion Garry Brazier who was second to Farrell in qualifying.
He boosted his points with a second and a win and has 39 points.
Third overall is Brooke Tatnell on 37.
Farrell’s best lap was 14.512 seconds which was just better than Brazier’s 14.518 and Ian Loudoun’s 14.537.
“Unfortunately the time trials not count for much this weekend but anyway the boys have done a good job on the car. We are off to a good start,” Farrell said on the podium after setting the first benchmark for the three-night showdown.
Prior to the qualifying he was pretty upbeat about his chances.
“Having an Australian title here is a big opportunity and I am going to make the most of it.
“We have five to six blokes from the east coast (when asked who can win) plus two to three local guys.”
Heat 1:
Farrell took full advantage of a front row start to win from a fast-finishing Kris Coyle and Ashley Cook but said after the win the track was different to was what normally featured at the Motorplex.
“It’s very narrow but we got the win and that’s all important…we are in good shape,” Farrell said.
Cook, who started from fourth, quickly settled into second and in the early parts of the race was producing the quickest laps.
Coyle, who started from third had plenty of pace in the last few laps, taking second from Cook.
Brooke Tatnell, who started from ninth, was also very strong, finishing fourth.
Heat 2:
Max Dumesny was the easy winner after starting from pole and was never challenged.
Local young gun Carl Dowling, who started out of four, finished second while a lot of the attention focused on defending champion Garry Brazier who was on a mission and started from 13th.
“The car feels great…it was good to start in front in the first heat,” Dumesny said, but then conceded he would be inverted in the next heat.
“It is great to chalk up a win early in the week.”
David Murcott, who was driving the Allan Nash W51, started ninth and did his points tally no harm with a strong fourth.
Trevor Green, who started 14th, also did well a seventh.
Heat 3:
Mitchell Dumensy would have had mixed emotions in the third heat, crossing the line first in the 10-lap showdown but was later disqualified after his car weighed in light on the scales.
This handed the win to Luch Monte over Robbie Farr and Scott Reilly.
Dumesny junior survived the gun first with Scott Reilly into the first corner.
There was plenty of action for the minor places early on, and in particular the duel between Monte and Farr.
The W17 had a few puffs of smoke mid race but it didn’t alter the car’s speed.
The first restart of the championship occurred when Ken Sartori pulled up in turn two with a broken driveline after three laps.
Steven Lines was penalised two spots for passing before the cone on the restart and ultimately credited with sixth.
Heat 4:
Ian Loudoun started from position one and that’s where he finished after a big win in the fourth heat from Jason Kendrick and Bryan Mann.
“The car was awesome obviously, we did what we had to do,” Loudoun said.
“We just have to move forward every race, we need every point we can get (in reference to how he was treating the championship.
Warrenne Ekins was looking strong early and challenging for third but unfortunately he lost a couple of spots after getting up too high.
David Priolo finished fourth from Darryl Clayden while Ekins was sixth and Mark Wells seventh.
Heat 5
Trevor Green had no idea who Jodi Waldron was but was but admitted he drove a clean race before he was able to round him up on the high line mid race for the win.
“We started on the bottom,” Green said of his early part in the heat.
When quizzed on how he was approaching the championship Green said’…. “Like you do every race..you just go for it.”
Ken Sartori, who missed out on points in the first race, was looking to make up ground this time around and put in some blistering moves to finish second while Jamie Maiolo also did well for his third.
Waldron ultimately held on for fourth, while James McFadden was fifth and Mitchell Dumesny sixth.
Heat 6
“We are here to race,” was the simple message from Garry Brazier when he spanked the field in this bout.
“Look out boys,” the elated winner said after crossing the line ahead of Cameron Gessner and Ben Ellement.
He had the A1 machine flying and paid credit to his father Steve for the way the car was set up.
Brazier was on the back of Max Dumesny in the dying stages in lapped traffic, which was interesting considering Dumesny won a heat race earlier in the night.
David Murcott’s consistency was shining through with another fourth after starting sixth.
Robbie Farr was fifth after moving up six spots from his original 11th.
Heat 7
Grant Anderson inherited the lead with a few laps remaining after early leader Mark Wells ran out of power and finished infield.
The Victorian held off a fast-finishing Ryan Farrell who was ready to pounce until he was baulked by the slower car of Jamie Moon in the last lap.
While Farrell didn’t get to put on a last lap move he gained some good points after charging through from the back of the pack.
“We got the win and we needed that and we will see where we end up”, Anderson said.
Wells was the early bolter but the caution lights came on when a few cars came together, seeing Ian Loudon and Jamie Moon facing the wrong way on the back straight.
Clayden, who was driving hard, finished third.
David Priolo was fourth and Jamie Veal rounded out the top five after having a moment near the concrete on the back straight.
Heat 8
The final heat of the night took some time to complete after there was an incident involving Bryan Mann, Allan Barlee, Jason Kendrick and Eddie Lumbar, forcing a full restart.
Tatnell won the race from Adrian Maher and Danny Reidy.
Tatnell was dominant in the first half of the race but had the field regroup after Jason Kendrick rode the wheel of Allan Barlee on the back straight and clouted the fence, putting him out of the race.
Maher put in a big challenge on the restart but Tatnell was ready for the challenge.
Kris Coyle was one of the big movers, racing from the back to finish sixth.
Championship News Snippets.
AFTER drivers completed wheel packing they were called to the podium and introduced on the kerb of the bike track and presented with medals for participating in the 47th running of the event
“This is something we have had our eyes on for a long time,” Mark Wells said when interviewed before the racing got underway.
“We will give it a good crack, that’s for sure,” Kris Coyle said. He was also looking to set up his weekend with a good result in qualifying.
“There is nothing greater than national pride,” Brooke Tatnell said.
When asked who he saw as the main threat…. “you are looking at them all….a lot can happen this weekend and you will probably see a WA driver in the top two in qualifying.
“Hopefully we can bring it home for WA for a win or at least on the podium,” Shaun Bradford said.
“We changed motors overnight and now we just need to try to get this car faster. There is a lot of really good competition this weekend so we had better be on our game. This is my main goal in sprint car racing is to win the Australian title,” six-time champion Garry Brazier said.
Two nominated drivers, Marshall McDiarmid and Troy Beckingham didn’t front for the first night of racing - seeing 56 cars run against the clock.
There were concerns early on with Shaun Bradford and Garry Brazier both running very slowly in hot laps. But the defending champion was very fast 15 minutes later when it counted. Bradford on the other hand, struggled in the first night and has a lot of work ahead of him.
47th Australian Sprintcar Championship Night 1, Thursday February 7, 2009.
Qualifying: Ryan Farrell 14.512, Garry Brazier 14.518, Robert Farr 14.537, Ian Loudoun 14.559, Brooke Tatnell 14.570, Ben Ellement 14.600, Cameron Gessner 14.614, Mark Wells 14.618, Ashley Cook 14.647, David Murcott 14.689, Steven Lines 14.695, Darryl Clayden 14.715, Greg Fisher 14.740, Max Dumesny 14.752, Greg Hall 14.786, Jamie Veal 14.790, Adrian Maher 14.820, Grant Bevan 14.832, Jamie Maiolo 14.834, Bryan Mann 14.839, Danny Reidy 14.869, Wayne Russell 14.877, Luch Monte 14.881, Steven Ford 14.888, Grant Anderson 14.896, James McFadden 14.908, Scott Reilly 14.915, David Priolo 14.917, David Hall 14.066, Trevor Green 15.067, Ken Sartori 15.068, Matt Brown 15.106, Jamie Moon 15.160, Carl Dowling 15.164, Mitchell Dumesny 15.172, Jason Kendrick 15.182, Eddie Lumbar 15.208, Kye Scroop 15.243, Mat Muir 15.262, Ricky Maiolo 15.284, Kris Coyle 15.337, Darren Mewett 15.376, Andrew Scheuerle 15.384, Warrenne Ekins 15.507, Kanne Manuel 15.706, Adyme Harvey 15.729, Garry Miller 15.752, Robert Watson junior 15.957, Shannon Peet 16.092, Rod Howe 16.125, Troy Lawson 16.354, Scott Milling 16.362, Shaun Bradford 16.440, Jodi Waldron 16.765, Allan Barlee 16.790.
Heat 1: 1st Ryan Farrell, 2nd Kris Coyle, 3rd Ashley Cook, 4th Brooke Tatnell, 5th David Hal, 6th Eddie Lumbar, 7th Adrian Maher, 8th Danny Reidy, 9th Grant Anderson, 10th Kanne Manuel, 11th Jamie Moon, 12th Scott Milling, 13th Greg Fisher.
Heat 2: 1st Max Dumesny, 2nd Carl Dowling, 3rd Garry Brazier, 4th David Murcott, 5th Grant Bevan, 6th Ben Ellement, 7th Trevor Green, 8th Wayne Russell, 9th James McFadden, 10th Shaun Bradford, 11th Adyme Harvey, 12th Darren Mewett, 13th Kye Scroop, 14th Shannon Peet.
Heat 3: 1st Luch Monte, 2nd Robbie Farr, 3rd Scott Reilly, 4th Jamie Maiolo, 5th Cameron Gessner, 6th Steven Lines, 7th Greg Hall, 8th Andrew Scheuerle, 9th Jodi Waldron, 10th Mat Muir, 11th Garry Miller, 12th Rod Howe. DNF: Ken Sartori, DQ Mitchell Dumesny.
Heat 4: 1st Ian Loudoun, 2nd Jason Kendrick, 3rd Bryan Mann, 4th David Priolo, 5th Darryl Clayden, 6th Warrenne Ekins, 7th Mark Wells, 8th Jamie Veal, 9th Matt Brown, 10th Steven Ford, 11th Mark Hales, 12th Allan Barlee, 13th Ricky Maiolo, 14th Troy Lawson.
Heat 5: 1st Trevor Green, 2nd Ken Sartori, 3rd Jamie Maiolo, 4th Jodi Waldron, 5th James McFarren, 6th Mitchell Dumesny, 7th Carl Dowling, 8th Shaun Bradford, 9th Shannon Peet, 10th Luch Monte, 11th Kye Scroop, 12th Greg Hall, 13th Adyme Harvey, 14th Rod Howe.
Heat 6: 1st Garry Brazier, 2nd Cameron Gessner, 3rd Ben Ellement, 4th David Murcott, 5th Robert Farr, 6th Steven Lines, 7th Andrew Scheuerle, 8th Max Dumesny, 9th Darren Mewett, 10tu Mat Muir, 11th Scott Reilly, 12th Wayne Russell, 13th Grant Bevan, 14th Garry Miller.
Heat 7: 1st Grant Anderson, 2nd Ryan Farrell, 3rd Darryl Clayden, 4th David Priolo, 5th Jamie Veal, 6th Steven Ford, 7th Kanne Manuel, 8th Ian Loudoun, 9th David Hall, 10th Scott Milling, 11th Mark Hales, 12th Ashley Cook, 13th Jamie Moon. DNF: Mark Wells.
Heat 8: 1st Brooke Tatnell, 2nd Adrian Mather, 3rd Danny Reidy, 4th Ricky Maiolo, 5th Matt Brown, 6th Kris Coyle, 7th Warrenne Ekins, 8th Allan Barlee, 9th Troy Lawson, 10th Eddie Lumbar, 11th Robert Watson junior, 12th Greg Fisher. DNF: Jason Kendrick, Bryan Mann.
Driver points after night one: Ryan Farrell 41, Garry Brazier 39, Brooke Tatnell 37, Cameron Gessner, Jamie Maiolo, Robbie Farr 32, Trevor Green 31, Darryl Clayden, David Murcott, David Priolo, Kris Coyle 30, Max Dumesny, Ian Loudoun, 29, Adrian Maher, Ben Ellement, Carl Dowling 28, Grant Anderson 27, Luch Monte 26, Danny Reidy 24, Steven Lines 22, Jodi Waldron, Jamie Veal, Warrenne Ek,ins, Scotty Reilly 20, Ken Sartori, Ashley Cook, Jason Kendrick 19, James McFadden, Matt Brown, David Hall 18, Bryan Mann 17, Ricky Maiolo, Andrew Scheuerle 16, Steven Ford, Eddie Lumbar 15, Grant Bevan 14, Kanne Manuel, Shaun Bradford, Greg Hall 11, Allan Barlee, Wayne Russell, Mark Wells 9, Mat Muir 8, Darren Mewett 7, Shannon Peet, Troy Lawson, Scott Milling, Mark Hales 6, Kye Scroop, Jamie Moon, Adyme Harvey, Garry Miller 4, Robert Watson junior, Greg Fisher, Rod Howe 3 each.
