Mount Gambier ace Steven Lines lived up to the pre race hype when he delivered a calculating drive to secure the win tonight at Geelong’s Avalon Raceway in round 4 of the Eureka Sprintcar Series. By virtue of his win over five time series champion John Vogels and current state titleholder Tim Rankin, Lines also leads the Essendon Ford Sprintcar track championship where a brand new Ford Fiesta is the major prize come season’s end.
Lines delivered a perfect lap in the top 6 pole shootout to secure pole position from South Australian speedster Daniel Pestka while Ryan Davis, John Vogels, Mike Van Bremen and Tim Rankin followed on the grid. Fine and sunny weather still couldn’t slow what was a lightning fast Avalon Raceway as the track remained fast right through to the main event.
In the beginning of the 30 lap A-main, Pestka made a perfect start and jumped to the lead over Lines with Davis and Van Bremen in hot pursuit however Pestka brushed the wall on the main straight destroying the beadlock on the right rear wheel ending his brilliant night. Despite only leading for a handful of laps, Pestka showed enormous speed and will be a bright future star of the sport.
Despite a number of restarts that were to follow, Lines was simply too good as he powered the Camden Neon Signs J&J into victory lane over Vogels with Rankin filling a close third ahead of a fast finishing and tenth starting James McFadden. Defending track champion Stephen Bell climbed into fifth from his ninth starting spot while second year racer Jack Lee excelled finishing in sixth position.
Starting in position sixteen, Darren Mollenoyux recovered to finish seventh ahead of B-main winner Grant Anderson with Jamie Veal and Nick Lacey rounding out the top 10. Mike Van Bremen, Rick Barrand, Jeremy Cross and Darren Hickman were the other finishers.
Joining the unlucky Pestka on the sidelines were Domain Ramsay who pulled infield late in the feature while Ryan Davis and Brett Milburn were also unlucky not to finish. Davis in particular was running in third place while Van Bremen was challenging for the position only for the pair to come together bringing on the caution lights and also the end for Davis with a flat left rear.
Anderson won the B-main to advance to the A-main while Barrand, Cross, Mollenoyux, Veal and Milburn all transferred. Tasmanian Kurt Luttrell finished seventh and failed to advance despite running strongly inside a transfer position for much of the race before a late race moment that cost him two positions.
A bruising C-main eliminated 8 cars before a single lap had been completed when front row occupants Rod Mathews and Michael Phillips clashed causing a pile up behind that ended the night for half the field. Eddie Lumbar went on to win the C-main ahead of Chris Best, Adam King and Brenton Farrer who all transferred to the B-main.
With 46 cars present heat race wins were at a premium with Glen Sutherland, John Vogels, Steven Lines and Darren Mollenoyux in the first round before Brett Milburn, Domain Ramsay, Ryan Davis and Jamie Veal scored wins in the second round heats.
The Modified Production Sedans provided ample support and in the end it was local ace Justin Drew scoring a comfortable win over the speedy Ross Madden while Fiona Verhoeven improved to be third at the conclusion of their final.
Avalon Raceway management were thankful to complete the first entire night of Sprintcar racing at the venue since last January’s President’s Cup. Almost 10 months has passed since a Sprintcar A-main has been completed and it was worth the wait.
The next event at Avalon Raceway is on Saturday night, November 26th with AMCA Nationals, GP Midgets and Formula 500’s all on the program.
Website; www.avalonraceway.com
For more info contact Jeff Drew 0418 160 985 / Gavin White email gwxp@speedway.net.au
Website; www.avalonraceway.com
For more info contact Jeff Drew 0418 160 985 / Gavin White email gwxp@speedway.net.au