Jamie Veal celebrates his WSS Round 2 win at Valvoline Raceway Saturday (VRPR)
(Story and Photo courtesy Valvoline Raceway P.R.)
Jamie Veal won tonight’s second round of the 30th anniversary World Series Sprintcars at Valvoline Raceway and in the process picked up Round Five of the USC NSW in what was a spectacular race on many levels.
Despite the constant threat of rain and several light trickles during the C-Main and beyond right up into the A-Main line-up the weather Gods played nice and allowed a good crowd on hand to see one of the races of the season so far in Sydney.
It was nail biting 30-lap event from start to finish and after a couple of yellow light stoppages initially the race settled down to a rhythm where Veal took the #35 SWI Engineering Maxim to the front.
Robbie Farr started on the front row in the ECP Cool alongside Brooke Tatnell’s TEH Cool with Veal and Shaun Dobson starting on the second row.
Dobson and Tatnell had both come from the Bronze Shootout to move through to the Gold Shootout and make their task significantly easier to run up the front in the main event.
James Thompson (always the quiet achiever) and James McFadden began their WSS/USC assaults from the third row of the grid whilst Alex Orr (who set quick time in his flight in qualifying) and Troy Little occupied row four and Brandon Rawlings and Max Johnston rounded out the top ten.
Veal led early but Farr ran him down and passed him, only for Veal to eventually move back into the top spot but not before some terrific lead swaps eventuated in lapped traffic.
Shaun Dobson looked ominous throughout the main in the Essendon Ford #21 and would eventually claim third place behind Veal and Farr in second place.
James McFadden’s set up came on gang busters with ten laps to go and the Milwaukee Maxim was on a major charge towards a possible win before he jumped the cushion in turn one late in the race and all but flipped.
In the end Veal won by several car lengths oblivious to the tumultuous battle going on behind him for the final step of the podium.
“Rookie mistakes,” was the furrowed brow response from Veal when asked why he’d given up the lead on a couple of occasions, “I had to settle down and get back to the bottom where the car was better. For a while there I simply struggled to get the cushion sorted and Robbie (Farr) got by me. When I eventually got back to the bottom I was able to get rolling.”
Veal was presented his WSS trophy by Sydney ambassador John Walsh who was honoured for his contribution to the sport over many years.
McFadden steamed back to fourth ahead of Brooke Tatnell in fifth, Troy Little sixth, James Thompson seventh, Alex Orr (solid all night) eighth, Grant Anderson ninth and Mick Saller a career best WSS result for tenth.
Max Johnston placed eleventh ahead of Toby Bellbowen twelfth, Matt Dumesny thirteenth, Max Dumesny fourteenth and Sam Walsh fifteenth.
The battle between the three Dumesny men Matt, Max and Mitchell (who eventually had to settle for 17th) was epic to say the least and certainly had Mum (and wife) Melinda reaching for someone’s arm to grip.
“They don’t go easy on each other,” she smiled later, “that wasn’t easy to watch that’s for sure. They’re all so competitive.”
Ian Loudoun won the B-Main and came home in eighteenth, Matt Smith spun and came back to nineteenth, Mitchell Gee came the B-Main to make his first WSS Sydney A-Main and finish nineteenth, Ben Atkinson had a rough night for an eventual twentieth, with Brandon Rawlings breaking a front end to curtail what had been his best result to date in Sydney.
Danny Reidy survived a scary incident when he rode Jamie Veal’s right rear early in the night to be registered as twenty second with Jay Waugh and Daniel Harding being the last two DNF registered cars.
The B-Main was a clinic for Ian Loudoun to lead home fellow A-Main transferees Matt Dumesny, Mitchell Gee, Matt Smith and Max Dumesny sixth.
Dumesny barely squeezed into the A-Main with a last lap, last corner gasp pass on Grant Tunks to snatch away the final transfer position from the hapless budget Sydney racer.
The C-Main was won by West Aussie Jason Pryde from Queensland teenager Callum Walker in second place, Matt Geering in third, Braydan Willmington fourth and Luke Stirton rounding out the top five.
Four of the top five were in their late teens, once again showing the depth of the USC ‘nursery’ in Sydney.
The Bronze Shootout transferees were Brooke Tatnell and Shaun Dobson.
The Silver Shootout transferees were Shaun Dobson and Brooke Tatnell.
The Ian Boettcher Race Parts pole position was then won by Robbie Farr over Brooke Tatnell, Shaun Dobson and Jamie Veal.
Heat winners were Brandon Rawlings (2) Mitchell Gee (2) Matt Dumesny, Andrew Wright (2) and Darryl Campbell.
Jamie Veal scored Quick Time in qualifying overall whilst Central Coast racer Alex Orr claimed the quick time mantle in Flight One.
A total of 55 cars took time.
Top Ten Qualifying results:
Jamie Veal 11.848
Alex Orr 11.861
Troy Little 11.902
Toby Bellbowen 11.940
James McFadden 11.946
Ben Atkinson 11.956
Robbie Farr 11.957
Shaun Robson 11.972
Grant Anderson 11.986
Brooke Tatnell 11.988
The night began with an emotional "Sydney goodbye to Shane Krikke" as the KMS #2 led WSS champions Robbie Farr, Jamie Veal, Max Dumesny and James McFadden during the national anthem laps with Ryan and Jodie Krikke standing trackside.
The Lightning Sprint main event was won for the second consecutive time by Sydney second-generation racer Matt Reed over Chris Davis in second place and Rodney Waters home in third for his second consecutive podium finish.
Dean Eden was fourth ahead of Ben Morgan in fifth, Scott Moir sixth, Jason Bisset seventh and Danny Stone eighth.
Raymond Terrace Street Stock veteran Shane Carlson took the bright green “Kermit” Carline Automotive Falcon to another main event win to narrowly lead home last week’s feature winner Andrew Espener and VR Track champion Kiona Sunerton in third.
Impressive newcomer Shaun Davoodi was fourth to lead Shane Saunders in fifth, Ray Tyler sixth, Blake Milton seventh, Blake Eveleigh eighth, Butch Dawes ninth and Shane McPhee rounding out the top ten.
The next event at Valvoline Raceway is this Saturday night,
November 26 for Ultimate Kids Night and Round Six of the Ultimate Sprintcar Championship.
A main results:
1. Jamie Veal V35
2. Robbie Farr Q7
3. Shaun Dobson ACT21
4. James McFadden W17
5.Brooke Tatnell W2
6. Troy Little N20
7. James Thompson N22
8. Alex Orr.N43
9. Grant Anderson V37
10. Michael Saller N56
11. Max Johnston N38
12. Toby Bellbowen N7
13. Matthew Dumesny N57
14. Max Dumesny V5
15. Sam Walsh N92
16. Mitchell Dumesny N77
17. Ian Loudoun V3
18. Matthew Smith. N11
19. Mitchell Gee Q36
20. Ben Atkinson ACT2
21. Brandon Rawlings NQ44
22. Danny Reidy NQ5
23. Jay Waugh ACT99
24. Daniel Harding W12