By Phil Michell Motorsport Media
After a race long scrap with Brock Hallett defending Australian Champion Lockie McHugh emerged victorious to claim Round 1 of the Brandt Sprintcar Speedweek at the Murray Machining and Sheds Murray Bridge Speedway. In what was the final tune up before the Australian Championship both McHugh and Hallett continued their recent dominant form at the venue as they defeated local resident Ryan Jones in the 35-lap decider.
“Once again, we had a consistent car here. I was probably a bit free there at the end, but Brock gave me a bit of scare there late but I was able to get a couple of lapped cars between us and that was the race winning move. It’s a good start to the week now we move onto Bordertown which will be a whole new deal for all of us and we can’t wait to get there” added Lockie after the race.
For Hallett it was yet another impressive run at Murray Bridge and considering it was a late call to even run Speedweek he is now well in the hunt for the overall crown.
Following a win in his heat and later the dash, Ryan Jones put together a strong night to round out the podium ahead of Luke Dillon and Chad Ely. For Ely fifth place was an outstanding result considering he and his team had burnt the midnight oil all week to put a car together after recently losing his ride in the Perrett owned #98, which was ironically the car that finished 1 spot ahead of him in the hands of Dillon.
Strathalbyn racer Daniel Pestka was next ahead of Rusty Hickman, who recovered well after rolling in his heat, Tate Frost, Texan Chase Randall, and Queensland’s Rusty Morgan.
Just outside the top 10 were Garet Williamson, Will Carroll, Jy Corbet, Dylan Jenkin, and Glen Sutherland.
Among the non-finishers were Steven Caruso, who hit the infield guard rail on lap 2 in a multi car pile-up and Mount Gambier teenager Parker Scott, who rolled in turn four.
Earlier Luke Dillon (11.874) topped the flight 1 qualifying group while Bordertown’s Dylan Jenkin was fastest in flight 2 (11.653). Heat winners were Brock Hallett, Lockie McHugh, Glen Sutherland and Ryan Jones, while Jones also won the dash ahead of Hallett and Dillon.
Rusty Hickman, Marcus Dumesny, Dylan Jenkin, and Keke Falland transferred into the 24 car A-main via the last chance qualifier. The LCQ saw a major accident in turn three as Tasmanian Chad Gardner and Barossa Valley resident Corey Sandow rode out a wild series of flips in turn three.
Photo: Local Sprintcar Photography
Comments are closed