speed illustrated - late model style

DAVID ROBERTSON WARREN OLDFIELD BRAD BLAKE BEN LUDLOW BEN NICASTRI

JAMIE OLDFIELD MICHAEL HOLMES DEVIN MORAN NATHAN SMEE

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Monthly Dirt Late Model and New Product Magazine FEBRUARY 2012

LATE MODEL STYLE

Australia 2 Australia 3 Australia 4 Australia 5

Australia 6 Australia 7 Australia 8 Australia 9 Australia 10

Editorial TeamBrett “Pirate” [email protected]

Andy [email protected]

Brian Van Der [email protected]

PhotographersChris Dvorak - QldGary Reid - NSW

Jody Shanhun - WABrett Swanson - VIC

Desıgn / LayoutAndy Ticehurst

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Web: www.speedillustrated.com.au

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Speed Illustrated – Late Model Style

Welcome to the first issue of Speed Illustrated – Late Model Style, a free, online magazine dedicated, as the name implies, to Late Model Sedans.

Our intention is to make this magazine primarily a pre-mium, visually pleasing, magazine about Late Models and nothing else. Our main focus will be the Aussie scene which is growing constantly however, during the quieter winter months obviously we’ll have to include a bit of American content to cover the big events and tours - like the Hell tour - from the land of stars & stripes, and more specifically the Aussies that head over to tackle the world’s best Late Model Racers.

With a lot of help from the dedicated Late Model com-petitors, fans and media we aim to bring you a publication you will hopefully enjoy and look forward to each issue.

On that note we are looking for people willing to help with photo’s, race reports, technical articles and driver & team profiles for use here. Check the contact details if you’re interested in being part of the team.

So please, if you like the magazine tell your friends or simply forward the link on, and feel free to send us your comments, be they good or bad, us as we value every-one’s input and suggestions.

Enjoy.

Andy “Clayman” Ticehurst (Publisher) & Brett “Pirate” Swanson (Editor)

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2012 World of Outlaws Late Model Series SchedulePerformance Racing Industry Trade Show Is The Launching Pad.

An unprecedented stretch of February racing will serve as the kickoff for the 2012 World of Out-laws Late Model Series schedule, which was released recently dur-ing the Performance Racing In-dustry trade show in Orlando.

Forty-six race dates compris-ing 42 A-Mains at 32 tracks in 17 states and Canada are cur-rently confirmed as part of the national tour’s 2012 slate, headed by a season-opening burst of six events in Georgia and Florida during the month of February.

The ninth consecutive WoO LMS campaign under the World

Racing Group banner commenc-es with the $20,000-to-win, 60-lap ‘Winter Freeze’ on Feb. 10-11 at Screven Motor Speedway in Syl-vania, Ga. Action then moves to Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla., for the inaugural ‘Winter Na-tionals’ on Feb. 16-18 – three full nights of racing with progressively higher winner’s purses of $8,000, $10,000 and $12,000 – and the traditional two-race meet during the UNOH DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park in Bar-berville, Fla., on Feb. 23 and 25.

Screven’s blockbuster lidlifter is one of a half-dozen big-money shows dotting the 2012 sched-ule. The list of marquee events also features the $50,000-to-win USA Nationals on Aug. 3-4 at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wis.; the sixth annual Firecracker 100 on June 28-30 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa.; the fourth annual Illini 100 on March 30-31 at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway; and a pair of holiday-weekend specials (May 26 and Sept. 1) at Tyler County Speed-way in Middlebourne, W.Va.

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The ‘12 season will conclude for the sixth straight year with the Lowes Foods World Finals dou-bleheader on Nov. 1-3 at The Dirt Track at Charlotte in Concord, N.C. The $100,000 WoO LMS championship battle has gone down to the final lap of The Dirt Track’s huge weekend in each of the past two years.

“The most February racing in the history of the World of Out-laws Late Model Series will be a great way to start off another thrill-ing season of competition,” said WoO LMS director Tim Christman. “We’re really looking forward to kicking off the year in a big way at Screven, Bubba Raceway Park and Volusia. Running at the three tracks is going to send us into the remainder of the schedule with plenty of momentum.”

Christman is bullish on the 2012 WoO LMS, which will bring the tour’s stars to a mix of stalwart facilities and new venues across the dirt-track landscape.

“It’s shaping up to be our most interesting season ever,” Christ-man said of the ‘12 schedule. “With the help of some of dirt Late Model racing’s best racetrack op-erators and race teams, the World of Outlaws will provide exciting ac-tion and another dramatic points race to thousands of fans across the United States and Canada.”

Christman said he is working to solidify nearly a dozen – and per-haps more – additional dates on the 2012 schedule, which could potentially better the tour’s alltime single-season highs of 44 A-Mains (2007 and 2010) and 38 different tracks (2010).

The richest event in 2012 re-mains Cedar Lake Speedway’s 100-lap USA Nationals on Aug. 3-4. The crown-jewel program, which will be showcased on the World of Outlaws trail for the third consecutive year and sixth time overall in its 25-year history, offers a purse of nearly a quarter-million

dollars.

Lernerville’s Firecracker 100, meanwhile, will boast three full nights of competition for the third year in a row. An early-summer spectacular known for its fan-pleasing excitement both on and off the track, the Firecracker week-

end begins with 30-lap, $6,000-to-win preliminary features on Thurs., June 28, and Fri., June 29, before ending with the traditional 100-lap headliner offering $30,000 for first place on Sat., June 30.

The WoO LMS’s third century-grind event is the Illini 100, which


returns to its original home, Farm-er City Raceway, on March 30-31 after last year’s edition was sched-uled for LaSalle (Ill.) Speedway but never contested due to weath-er. A $20,000 top prize will be on the line at the quarter-mile bullring that is known for providing fans

memorable competition.

Two more high-dollar programs will be presented at Tyler County Speedway, a competitive quarter-mile oval that drew the largest field of the 2011 WoO LMS (87 cars) for its ‘Black Diamond 125.’ The third annual ‘Black Diamond 125’ – a unique event that includes two $10,000-to-win Qualifying Features and a 45-lap ‘Sweet Six-teen’ finale offering a gargantuan $20,000 first-place booty – returns to the WoO LMS sked in ‘12 on Sat., Sept. 1 (Labor Day week-end). Making the Mountaineer State track an even bigger hotbed for World of Outlaws action in 2012 will be a second special event – a Memorial Day weekend show on Sat., May 26, that promoter Frank Wilson promises will turn heads when its details are announced in the near future.

The season’s longest swing will be July’s ‘Wild West Tour,’ which currently shows five events over a 12-day period but is likely to ex-pand with two TBA dates still to be filled. Amsoil Speedway in Su-perior, Wis., which returns to the series after a one-year absence, is scheduled to start the western trek on July 6, with subsequent races set for July 7 at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn. (the eighth straight year that the ‘Gopher 50’ will be part of the WoO LMS but first time it will be run on a Saturday night); July 12 at Red River Co-op Speedway in Winni-peg, Manitoba (the tour’s first-ev-er trip to the Canadian province); July 13 at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D.; and July 17 at Red River Valley Speedway in Fargo, N.D., a three-eighths-mile oval that last hosted the WoO LMS in 2005 when it was a sprawling half-mile track.

Five facilities are scheduled to host multiple WoO LMS A-Mains in 2012. Tracks set to run three races are Bubba Raceway Park, Lernerville and The Dirt Track at Charlotte, which also presents the

mid-week World of Outlaws Late Model Showdown on Oct. 10 as part of Charlotte Motor Speed-way’s NASCAR weekend. Two events will be contested at Tyler County and Farmer City, which hosts a 50-lap event on Sept. 14 in addition to the Illini 100.

2012 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Schedule

Date – Day – Track/Location – Event - To Win - Laps

Feb. 10-11 - Fri./Sat. - Screven Motor Speedway/Sylvania, Ga. (Winter Freeze) - $20,000 – 60L

Feb. 16 – Thurs. - Bubba Race-way Park/Ocala, Fla. (LM Winter Nationals) - $8,000 – 40L

Feb. 17 – Fri. - Bubba Race-way Park/Ocala, Fla. (LM Winter Nationals) - $10,000 – 50L

Feb. 18 – Sat. - Bubba Race-way Park/Ocala, Fla. (LM Winter Nationals) - $12,000 – 60L

Feb. 23 – Thurs. - Volusia Speedway Park/Barberville, Fla. (DIRTcar Nationals) - $10,000 – 50L

Feb. 25 – Sat. - Volusia Speed-way Park/Barberville, Fla. (DIRT-car Nationals) - $10,000 -50L

March 30-31 - Fri./Sat. - Farm-er City (Ill.) Raceway (Illini 100) - $20,000 – 100L

April 27 – Friday – TBA

April 28 – Sat. - Tazewell (Tenn.) Speedway - $10,000 – 50L

May 4 – Fri. - 311 Motor Speed-way/Pine Hall, N.C. - $10,000 –

50L

May 5 – Sat. - Swainsboro (Ga.) Raceway - $10,000 – 50L

May 25 – Fri. - Wayne County Speedway/Orrville, Ohio - $10,000

– 50L

May 26 – Sat. - Tyler County Speedway/Middlebourne, W.Va. – TBA

May 27 – Sun. - West Virginia Motor Speedway/Mineral Wells, W.Va. - $10,000 – 50L

May 31 – Thurs. - Delaware International Speedway/Delmar, Del. - $10,000 – 50L

June 16 – Sat. – Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway - $10,000 – 50L

June 17 – Sun. - Eriez Speed-way/Hammett, Pa. - $10,000 – 50L

June 20 – Wed. - TBA (New York)

June 22 – Fri. - TBA (Canada)

June 23 – Sat. - TBA (Canada)

June 26 – Tues. - TBA (New York)

June 28 – Thurs. - Lernerville Speedway/Sarver, Pa. (Firecrack-er 100) - $6,000 – 30L

June 29 – Fri. - Lernerville Speedway/Sarver, Pa. (Firecrack-

er 100) - $6,000 – 30L

June 30 – Sat. - Lernerville Speedway/Sarver, Pa. (Firecrack-er 100) - $30,000 – 100L

July 6 – Fri. - Amsoil Speed-way/Superior, Wis. (Wild West Tour) - $10,000 – 50L

July 7 – Sat. - Deer Creek Speedway/Spring Valley, Minn. (Wild West Tour) - $10,000 – 50L

July 10 – Tues. – TBA (Wild West Tour)

July 12 – Thurs. - Red River Co-op Speedway/Winnipeg, MAN (Wild West Tour) - $10,000 – 50L

July 13 – Fri. - River Cities Speedway/Grand Forks, N.D. (Wild West Tour) - $10,000 – 50L

July 14 – Sat. – TBA (Wild West Tour)

July 17 – Tues. - Red River Val-ley Speedway/Fargo, N.D. (Wild

West Tour) – TBA

July 20 – Fri. – Hartford (Mich.) Motor Speedway - $10,000 – 50L

July 21 – Sat. – TBA

Aug. 1 – Wed. - Shawano (Wis.) Speedway - $10,000 – 50L

Aug. 3-4 - Fri./Sat. - Cedar Lake Speedway/New Richmond, Wis. (USA Nationals) -$50,000 – 100L

Aug. 6 - Mon. – TBA

Aug. 17 – Fri. - Winston Speed-way/Rothbury, Mich. - $10,000 – 50L

Aug. 18 – Sat. - Merritt Race-way/Lake City, Mich. - $10,000 – 50L

Aug. 24 – Fri. – TBA

Aug. 25 – Sat. - Winchester (Va.) Speedway - $10,000 – 50L

Aug. 26 – Sun. – TBA

Aug. 29 – Wed. - McKean County Raceway/E. Smethport, Pa. - $10,000 – 50L

Sept. 1 - Sat. - Tyler County Speedway/Middlebourne, W.Va.


(Black Diamond 125) - $30,000* -

Sept. 14 – Fri. - Farmer City

(Ill.) Raceway - $10,000 – 50L

Sept. 15 – Sat. - I-55 Raceway/

Pevely, Mo. - $10,000 – 55L

Oct. 4 – Thurs. - Rolling Wheels Race-way Park/Elbridge, N.Y. - $10,000 – 50L

Oct. 10 – Wed. - The Dirt Track at Charlotte/Concord, N.C. (WoO LM Show-down) – TBA – 50L

Nov. 1 – Thurs. - The Dirt Track at Charlotte/Concord, N.C. (World Finals) – Qualify

Nov. 2 – Fri. - The Dirt Track at Charlotte/Concord, N.C. (World Finals) - $10,000 – 50L

Nov. 3 - Sat. - The Dirt Track at Charlotte/Concord, N.C. (World Fi-

The New Year ush-ered in another significant step in the advancement of Late Model Racing in Aus-tralia, and more specifically the West Coast of Australia, when a four man contingent of American Late Model Stars opened a big can of whoop ass on the Aussie’s and con-tinued to sip from that can until the four night sojourn was over.

The yanks were headed by the highly rated Steve Francis

and Steve Shaver with ample support from the popular Doug Drown and relatively unknown Jeremy Payne.

Joe Garrison, the proprie-tor of GRT chassis, was also part of the travelling squad of-fering a unique opportunity for Australian customers to get on track advice directly from the designer and constructer him-self.

Adding further flavour was American teenager Devin Mo-ran, son of legendary Million Dollar Man Donnie Moran, who contested the opening two rounds of the series for Syd-neys’ Ross Nicastri in a Brad Blake owned machine.

Clearly the Oldfield family

had a huge influence in the tour with Ultra-tune Morley taking on the naming rights sponsorship of the Ultra Tune USA Invasion Tour and Lee Oldfield handling the media and marketing side of the event while the three broth-ers Jamie, Jason and Warren were also competing.

Of course none of this would have been possible without the assistance of the Aussie car owners, including Michael Hol-mes (Francis), Halliday Rac-ing (Payne), Craig Vosbergen (Shaver) and Mark Webster (Drown). But the Aussie support went far beyond that when me-chanical issues saw Chris Bid-dle offer his car as a replace-ment for Drown and Holmes offered his own car to Francis


Story by LMRA WA Images by Jody Shanhun

when engine problems waylaid the American early on.

Despite this Franics still scored two feature wins while Payne also scored a sur-prising pair of victories.

The tour kicked off on January 1st at Manjimup S p e e d w a y for a double header event with 25 cars on hand and a staggering 23 of them starting the opening fea-ture.

As Lee Oldfield stated in the series’ media release “The first night shook the small south-west town into the New Year and the ground rumbled when the powerful V8 late models hit the extremely fast track.”

The American drivers, com-ing off the back of a long sea-son really put the locals to the test with hard and fast rac-ing and when Jamie Oldfield snatched the first heat win away from Payne on the last lap the local crowd were suitably impressed.

When Si-mon McNab took his re-cently import-ed machine to the win in heat two the fans started

considering the possibility of am Aussie upset. The yanks re-stored some balance with Fran-cis and Shaver scoring a win

each before Brad Ludlow tipped the balance back our way.

5 drivers from each country made the Dash for Cash knock-out and with the vocal locals cheering him on Jamie Oldfield took home the bonus $1,000 bucks.

When someone the calibre of Francis starts from the front row of the feature the only thing that will keep him from victory circle is a mechanical defect and thankfully for Francis, that

was not an issue as he led from green to chequer in a race with only a couple of cautions. Lud-low continued his good form

to take second ahead of Shav-er, Payne and the Oldfield trio of Jamie, Jason and Warren. Moran finished back in 12th with Drown the only American non-finisher af-ter problems with his Web-ster owned set of wheels.

Night two at the same ven-

ue saw the Americans quickly back in their stride now with a slight degree of familiarity with the track.

Francis carried over his speed from the previous night defeating Payne in the first heat and Shaver scoring a pair of wins. Drown also chipped in for a win having taken over Bid-dle’s #24.

Jamie Oldfield and Jay Cardy were the only Aussies to score heat wins.

The 30 lap feature got off to a bad start when a melee ensued and a number of cars were caught up and damaged. McNab was the least fortunate as he slewed head first into the wall and broke his wrist.

Once Mc-

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Nab was taken care of the race was restarted and Francis soon liked being a repeat winner as he dealt with lapped traffic with aplomb despite the pressure from Shaver. Shaver soon re-

tired with a blown tyre and after only 18 laps Francis also, pulled off with a damaged engine. This elevated compatriot Payne into the lead and the young GRT recomendee scored his first Aussie victory with quasi lo-cal Brad Blake next ahead of Drown in his borrowed car.

Craig Vosbergen put on his own display in taking fifth after starting the dusty feature back in 18th place.

Four days later the field re-grouped at Smoke Free Col-

lie Speedway with the Aussies re-fettled and ready to seek re-venge.

The Collie crowd were amped up and showing plenty of colour as they waved small Aussie and American flags which were handed out for free by the progressive club who’d

worked very hard on the build-up with some true American razzamatazz.

The Aussie redemption would have to wait however, as they were locked out of the heat

wins with each American taking a win.

With the track becoming a two lane showcase the Ameri-cans used their experience to pull off some audacious out-side passes and understanda-bly took the win with Francis in the Holmes #91 leading home


Payne, Blake, Jamie Oldfield and Drown.

For the second straight race Shaver failed to finish.

One last chance remained

for the Aussies to take back some pride on the final night at Coates Hire Bunbury speedway and with last nights results still fresh in their minds there was no lack of determination.

Despite some hard and fast racing the visitors again blocked the locals from taking

any heat wins. Francis scored two with Shaver and Drown tak-ing the others.

The final 30 lap race was full of fast paced surprises with Payne leading from start to fin-

ish after starting on the front row. Francis too had qualified on pole but an incident on the first lap forced him to end this tour on the infield. Drown start-ed out of third but smacked the back straight wall ending his chances of another podium fin-ish.

Payne was an easy winner followed by Warren Oldfield, with veteran driver Ben Ludlow in third.

The series was hailed a suc-cess and everyone associated

should be congratulated for putting together an ambitious but well run tour. Now wouldn’t it be great if the tour could be expanded next year to maybe also include some events on the other coast as well.

Article Heading HereShort blurb about article to be put in here that is no more the 500 text.

American veteran Steve Francis added another won-derful title to his resume by claiming the 2012 Franks Auto Parts Australian Late Model Championship at Syd-

ney Speedway (January 28). Francis was unstoppable all

w e e k -e n d , b u t said af-ter the race that he only won it by just m e t e r s as the en-gine gave way com-ing out of turn four on the fi-

nal lap. We go

t h r o u g h what was a spectacular two nights of top line Late Model

racing.

Night 1After a weeks worth of rain

and the track staff having to work a thirteen hour day to get the surface into a suitable racing condition, the weather finally cleared and the field

of thirty nine thundering Late Models were ready to do bat-tle for the most prestigious ti-

tle of the year. Time trials started to set

the scene for who was going to be strong over the course

of the two night event, and straight away the two Ameri-cans, Fran-cis and y o u n g Devin Mo-ran, topped the time s h e e t s , with Mo-ran set-ting quick time with a 15.632 lap and Franc i s s e c o n d just 0.1 off the p a c e . Speed-car su-perstar

Nathan Smee, who was driving a Late Model for the first time ever, was one of the surprise packets in third, before the Oldfield trio of Jamie, Warren and Ja-son locked out positions four

through to six. The hard luck story that

came out of time trials had to

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FABULOUS FRANCIS.... Australia 1The American didnt have it all his own way with serious competition all the way to the flag.

Cover Story by Brian Van Der Wakker Images by Gary Reid & Andy Ticehurst

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Gary Reid

be Matt Crimmins. His gear-box decided to give up on him, and from that moment

he was a spectator for the first round of heats. Col Robin-son however provided them with a spare gearbox and they were back out on the track for

the second round of heats.After the anthems were

played and the drivers were

introduced to the fans, it was time to get underway with heat racing. American young-

ster Moran, left the field for dead in heat one with a stag-gering ten second win and his fellow countryman Francis did the same in heat two win-ning by almost eight seconds.

Heat three saw a fantastic win by Smee. The car looked

strong, as he went high and low his #15 seemed to be re-sponding really well. He won

in convincing fashion by nine seconds over Ben Ludlow and Koran Atkinson. West Aus-tralian Jamie Oldfield backed up a great result in Time Tri-als to come home first in heat

four.Heat five began the sec-

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ond round of heats and Dean Hawkins continued his im-pressive run by coming to the line first after a great scrap with Dave Robinson. Moran had a heart pounding mo-ment when his Ross Nicastri owned #99 struck dramas on the warm up laps, but to his delight the car came good and he managed to salvage a fifth

spot.Heat six saw Francis give

our Aussies a driving lesson as he came from the back to claim the heat win. The car was extremely quick on top and perfectly set up to run the cushion. But then the carnage started to happen. In heat seven Rod Edwards looped his car in turn four in front of on coming cars. Kevin Stow was the next car on the scene and had nowhere to go except straight into Edwards. Then Smee and Adam Brook were side by side through three and four when the carnage happened in front of them. Smee went careering into Stowe which flipped Stow’s #17 gently, while Brook went

sideways into Edwards. The pile up left Stow’s car a mess and was sidelined for the rest of the night. Edwards had

huge front end damage and re-quired a whole new front end, he was also reduced to being a spectator for the rest of the


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night, while Smee was also down as needing a new front end and was spectating along with Stow and Edwards. It

was a great disappointment for Smee who looked like be-ing a real contender to take out night one honours. Brook

was lucky to get away with just some bent panels and was later back on the track for the

first mini feature.The final heat of night one

saw more carnage when Na-than Disney and Blair Grang-er came together on the back straight. It Left both cars with serious damage and Granger with a broken thumb. Amidst all the drama, Crimmins came back from his destroyed gear-box in Time Trials to claim

heat eight.So then it was time for the

first of two mini A-Main fea-tures contested over fifteen laps. Feature one saw Fran-cis in his Time Target Rocket USA #7, take out the fifteen lap mini feature in convinc-ing style. He ran the cushion for most of the race but didn’t look strong on the bottom side of the race track when coming up against lap traffic. Hawkins impressed everyone once again by coming home second with Darryl Grimson home in third. Atkinson did a great job in fifth after an earli-

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er heat win. Atkinson proved to be one of the clear surprise packets after night one along

with Queenslander Hawkins.Mini A-Main #2 then rolled

out onto the clayway and Mo-ran came home the victor ahead of defending champion

Brad Blake who finally found some speed in that West Aus-

talian #0 after starting out of the forth row. Michael Holmes did a great job in third ahead

of Jamie and Warren Oldfield in forth and fifth. Ben Ludlow


rounded out what was a West Australian dominance as they filled positions two through to

six.Night one saw the Ameri-

cans well on top with Francis coming home first in all of his heats and feature race while

Moran was number one all night except for heat five. The

points at the end of the night saw the American’s one and two with Francis on 144 and

Moran 121. Third was Jamie Oldfield on 117 after not be-

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ing outside the top four all night. Next were the surprise packets of Hawkins (110) and Atkninson (108) who round-ed out the top five. Defend-ing champ Blake sat sixth on points after night one and was still well within a shot at the

title. Overall night one put on

some brilliant racing with a fantastic multi lane slick race-track to play on. There were plenty of surprises and many disappointments amongst the field of thirty-nine. There was plenty of action with a lot of carnage and many teams had a long night ahead of them trying to get their cars back on track for the all important

final night.Night 2

Seven o’clock in the even-ing finally struck, the fans were in their seats, the clouds looked threatening but the track was ready to go and before we knew it the most important night of the year for all thirty nine drivers was

finally here. Heat nine rolled out onto the track with top points scorer Francis starting from the pole. He got a great start with Michael Holmes on his outside but it wasn’t long until the first yellow came out for the night when Tony Ed-ser spun coming off turn four on lap two. Steve Jordan did a brillant job to miss him in his

SJR Performance #75.On the restart Francis did

a brilliant job on the bot-tom side of the racetrack and led the field down the back straight once more. Steve Van Zeeland didn’t get a great restart as he got passed by Brook and Edser on the out-side before caution number two came out for David Men-tiplay who spun in turn four.

With seven laps to go the third caution came out and on the restart Holmes gave Fran-cis a run for his money on the bottom, but Francis got the drive off two and went on to take heat nine honours. Hol-mes was great in second and Grimson did well for third af-

ter running wide through turn one in the early stages of the

heat.Heat ten saw Moran start-

ing off the pole with Ludlow on his outside. Moran got the jump but on lap two Smee went for a dive underneath Dave Gridlestone for forth spot. He didn’t pull it off and spun the car in front of the field. All cars missed him but it was bitter disappointment

for Smee. With five laps remaining

drama struck for second place Ludlow. To his disappoint-ment he received a flat left rear tyre and with two laps to go it disintegrated. Ludlow ended up being classified a finisher, but two laps down in ninth was a hit to his overall points. Moran led the whole way and had a convincing twelve sec-ond win. Dave Robinson was second after starting third and Dave Forrest did a great job

to come home third.Heat eleven saw Jamie

Oldfield start from pole with

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Blake on his outside. Jamie Oldfield got a great start and began pulling away from the rest of the field. Paul Stubber who started further back in the nine car field, got a bril-liant run around the top side of the racetrack and found himself third by the end of lap one. Disney also looked strong in the early stages and made a great move under-neath Queenslander Matt In-grey through turns three and four until his car had a huge push through the middle of turn two and Disney gave the spot back to Ingrey. The first caution came out when Ed Borg lit up the rear tyres too much and looped the car in turn four. The leaders, (Jamie Oldfield and Blake) did a brilliant job to miss him as they were coming at Borg with speed. As the cars went back racing Stubber pulled off and went back to the pits with a suspected mechanical problem. It was frustrating for Stubber because he was running strong in third at the time. Jamie Oldfield held on for the heat win with Blake in second and Warren Oldfield

in third. The final heat proved

to be a very action packed race. The two surprise pack-ets, Hawkins and Atkinson started off the front row with Hawkins on the pole. Hawk-ins got the jump but Atkinson was all over him early. At-kinson went high on Hawk-ins on lap two through turns one and two. They were side by side but his move was cut short when the yellows came out for Aaron Van Zeeland who spun in four. Hawkins decided to restart on the bot-tom and when the field went

green Atkinson smoked the rear tyres, ran wide and lost six spots. Ben Nicastri in his Franks Auto Parts #99, took advantage of Atkinson’s mis-take and made his way right to the rear of Hawkins’ car. The two went side by side with eight laps to go, but Hawkins got the drive off the cushion and held on. Nicastri was then under fire from a fast charg-ing Jason Oldfield, and with seven to go, Oldfield made his move underneath Nica-stri and was now after race leader Hawkins. Nicastri was going backwards and Atkin-son was coming back through the field. The two went side by side through one and two with five laps remaining until Atknison changed lanes go-ing down the back straight, he went high and Nicastri was there and Atkinson was sent spinning into the outside barriers. The yellows came on and there was only slight damage the #63 car of Atkin-son, but a huge dent in his confidence. The restart saw Hawkins off the front with the ever improving Jason Oldfield on his outside, and when the green flag dropped, Jason finally got the top spot after Hawkins got loose on the bottom side of the track. Another yellow came out for Atkinson who spun in turn one with just two laps to go and on the restart it was on again. This time Oldfield had the top spot and decided to re-start on the outside of Hawk-ins. At the green Hawkins got loose, went high and when he came back down on the main straight he made contact with Bruce White. It sent White spinning backwards into the inside wall and had bad right

fender damage. Unfortunately for White his race was done. After that restart Jamie Old-field led the field to the cheq-uered flag ahead of Hawkins,

Barry Kelleher and Nicastri.So with the heats now done,

the really important stuff was about to begin. It was time for the first dash over eight laps. The winner of dash one will have the honour of starting on pole for the 2012 Australian Title. The track had just been graded and it looked supreme. The starting order saw the two American heavyweights off the front row with Jamie Oldfield and Michael Hol-mes lining up behind them and Hawkins and Blake mak-ing up row three. Francis got the start but quickly the yel-lows came on when Hawkins looped right in front of the pack in the middle of turn one. So another try at the start was about to happen with Hawk-ins being sent to the rear. This time however Moran showed his young seventeen year old talent on his older fellow country man. Moran stuck his right rear American Racer tyre on the cushion and got a huge run around the top side of Francis through one and two and led the field down the back straight for the first time. It was a move that left every-one speechless, but the young American had his work cut out, Francis wasn’t done yet. It was an epic duel, the two best in the world going toe to toe. With four to go Francis was all over the back of Mo-ran and looked the quicker of the two but if Francis was going to make the move he would have to go low. With three to go Francis was un-derneath Moran in one and


two, they went door to door for two amazing laps before Moran held his nerve on the top side, continued to get the drive off the cushion and held on for a fantastic win. The race had the fans out of their seats and their mouths open wide. It was a brilliant race. But if everyone thought that one was good, they hadn’t

seen anything yet.Dash two would decide po-

sitions eight through to eight-een. Jason and Warren Old-field started off the front row with Atkinson and Ludlow coming off row two. But the man people had to watch was Smee coming out of position eight. Warren got the jump off the start and Ludlow went up to third over Atkinson. Turn four lap two, Ludlow put a beautiful move underneath Jason Oldfeild and Ludlow moved to second. But the Smee onslaught then started. With five to go he passed At-kinson for fourth, four to go Smee goes underneath Jason Oldfield in three and four and

started closing in fast on the two leaders that were about three car lengths out in front. With one to go it was a three car battle for the win, War-ren Oldfield leading Ludlow, Ludlow leading Smee, each one nose to tail behind each other. Coming into the final turn, Ludlow took a dive on the inside of Oldfield, Ludlow sent the both of them high, Smee took advantage of this, put his car down the inside and it was three wide com-ing to the line. Smee got it by 8/1000 of a second ahead of Ludlow and Oldfield. It was the most amazing Late Mod-el race ever seen at Sydney Speedway. Three cars, one line, one winner. Everyone was left shaking their heads in disbelief. Unbelievable was the world that sprung to everyone’s mind. The stage

was set for a classic final. The B-main was another

great race. People were giv-ing it their all for their last chance to get in to the A-main. There was carnage and heart-

ache but one last glimmer of hope for many. One brilliant pass that was made in the fif-teen lap B-main was from Col Robinson. On a restart on lap three he was on the outside of the second row. He decided to stay high and went right around the outside of Stubber and Matt Ingrey and he went straight into the top spot. However with seven laps to go Col Robinson ran wide in turns three and four and went straight back to third. The top three spots kept on swapping and changing with lapped traffic having a huge influence on the end results. But in the end Col Robinson took the win and would start off position nineteen for the feature. The last five transfer spots went to Stubber, Matt Ingrey, Jay Cardy, Kelleher

and Aaron Van Zeeland.Thirty five laps were put on

the board, the drivers all lined up on the main straight and were introduced to the fans and you could feel the nerv-ousness in the air. However,

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what was becoming ever more noticeable was that this race was very much going to be about tyre strategy. Eight out of the twenty four drivers had gone for the American Racer tyre including Francis and Moran, while most of the hot

field of drivers behind them had gone for the Hoosier tyre. It would be fascinating to see how the tyres would pan out during the thirty five lap final. Who had gone with a harder tyre? Who had gone with a softer tyre? All was about to

be answered. The cars rolled off and grided up in their four wide formation. It was a sight to behold. Twenty four of the best drivers in the land, about to do battle for the biggest ti-tle of the year. It was the calm before the incredible storm. It

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would be an American lock-out on the front row, Francis with the pole, Moran on his out side. Row two was a West Australian affair with Hol-mes and Jamie Oldfield be-fore Grimson and defending champion Blake would come

out of row three. The 2012 Australian title

was underway and Veteran Francis got the jump and the drive off turn two to lead the field down the back straight for the first time. Moran held second while the bat-tle for third was on early and straight away Jamie Oldfield made his way up to third un-derneath Holmes. New South Wales hopeful Grimson had broken the 5th arm on the opening lap and was finding it difficult to say on the pace. A fast charging Smee who had a brilliant start from posi-tion nine and found himself in sixth by the end of lap three and was all over the back of the “O Show” Blake before making his move through one and two. Smee was up to fifth

in just four laps. By lap seven, race leader

Francis had already caught up to lap traffic and nearly had his night ended when Queenslander Matt Ingrey, had a half loose coming out of turn two right in front of him. Francis got around Ingrey but not without loosing valuable time to Moran who capital-ised from Ingrey’s mistake. Francis was attacking, he put on a heart pounding three wide move on the outside of lap traffic on just lap nine and it nearly saw him in the fence. The first caution came out on lap eleven when Stubber got hit going down the main

straight. He looped the car in front of the hungry pack, thankfully everyone missed him but Stubber’s hopes of the title were over as he sus-

tained a broken left top arm. The restart would see Fran-

cis on top of Moran with Jamie Oldfield out of three and Holmes out of four. Smee was strong in fifth while Blake had gone nowhere in sixth. Francis got a great restart, and as he had done all night he got a beautiful drive off the top-side of the racetrack. Holmes had moved up to third un-derneath Oldfield and was in hot pursuit after Moran. The two fought side by side for al-most a lap before Moran just

held on and started catching Francis. With nineteen laps to go, Moran changed his line, instead of running the top through one and two he de-cided to go to the bottom and he found a little extra. He had a run on Francis, they went door to door through two but the move was cut short due to Hawkins spinning enter-ing turn number one. The track was changing, the top started to take on a bit of rub-ber and for the first time in the night, the top wasn’t the place where you wanted to be. There was moisture on the bottom and the tyre strat-egy had only just begun. Dur-ing the caution drivers were frantically trying to get low to


cool their tyres before Francis lead them to the green once again, but then dramas stuck for the veteran American su-perstar. The engine in Francis’ #7 sounded terribly different, it had dropped to seven cylin-ders. Jamie Oldfield was back on the pace at the restart. He quickly got passed Holmes and made a terrific move on the outside of Moran in three and four with seventeen laps to go. He was now after Fran-

cis.The yellows came out once

again with eleven laps to go for Steve Jordan who got tagged on the main straight and went gently into the out-side barriers at turn two. There

was no damage sustained and he kept motoring on. There were multiple cautions that came out on lap eleven, as not one clean lap could be com-plete as the tempo started to rise another level. All these yellows helped Francis as he switched the car into neutral to try and save the engine. Finally after three attempts the fight was on again. Jamie Oldfield was trying his hard-est to keep up with Francis, but Francis was still too good on seven cylinders pulling out a small gap. The main battle was for third. With six laps to go Moran’s tyres were starting to overheat, Holmes took ad-vantage of this and the two of them went blow for blow. For

three laps they went side by side in one of the fights of the night. Neither driver wanted to give before the two came together coming out of four, it pushed Moran high and gave Holmes the spot. Two to go and the race wasn’t done. Oldfield gave it one last go at Francis, and it was on. Old-field was all over the back of the USA #7 and on the last lap last turn, he gave it a big dive on the inside of Francis, but it wasn’t enough. Francis held him off, but then dramatically with less than a hundred me-ters to the line Francis’ engine decided to let go on him and he rolled across the line for an incredible win. It had the fans off their seats in awe and it

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left everyone wanting more.Francis, driving the Scott

McPherson owned #7 had clinched the 2012 Franks

Auto Parts Australian Late Model Title. He led the whole


“ That was absolute fantastic race…. “Ross Nicastri NSW Late Model President

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race distance and was not out-side the top two all weekend. Francis led home the WA duo of Jamie Oldfield and Hol-mes. Moran, after scorching his rear tyres, came home forth and an incredible drive by Smee saw him as the first

New South Welshmen home in fifth. Dave Robinson did well to come home sixth with Warren Oldfield home sev-enth. Defending title holder Blake could only manage eighth with Ludlow and Nica-stri rounding out the top ten.

Francis was thrilled with his amazing win. “It’s fantas-tic to come back to Australia and have the opportunity to try and win this champion-ship. The guys from TimeTar-get gave me a great car to work with. We came here to

win this championship and that’s exactly what we were able to do.” He simply stated

later that he would love to come back and try and defend

his title in 2013.

The 2012 Franks Auto Parts Australian Late Model Title was a fantastic event. The weather thankfully held off and the track staff put on a fan-tastic slick race-track all week-end. There was a fantastic strong field of thirty nine drivers and all the way up the pits there were stories of success and stories of heart-ache. But who will come back and be the Aus-tralian champion in 2013? Time

will tell.

“See you in Bunbury WA for the 2012 Austral-ian Late Model Championship.....”

Matt Crimmins Late Model Australia President

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Night 1 :

Time Trials 1. USA99 Devin Moran 15.632 2. USA 7 Steve Francis 15.764 3. N15 Nathan Smee 15.873 4. W51 Jamie Oldfield 15.938 5. W15 Warren Oldfield 16.097 6. W11 Jason Oldfield 16.276 7. W9 Ben Ludlow 16.294 8. W91 Michael Holmes 16.317 9. Q43 Dean Hawkins 16.461 10. N99 Ben Nicastri 16.538 11. N31 Adam Brook 16.546 12. N9 Paul Stubber 16.626 13. N67 Ed Borg 16.804 14. N65 Barry Kelleher 16.828 15. W63 Koran Atkinson 16.963 16. Q5 Blair Granger 17.08 17. W0 Brad Blake 17.152 18. N12 Darryl Grimson 17.155 19. V21 Rod Edwards 17.223 20. N11 Nathan Disney 17.297 21. N88 Col Robinson 17.313 22. V55 Darren Forrest 17.337 23. N96 Bruce White 17.407 24. N4 Jamie Dicker 17.433 25. W52 Jay Cardy 17.522 26. W30 Mark Matthews 17.660 27. Q17 Kev Stow 17.714 28. N75 Stewart Jordan 17.758 29. 4X David Robertson 17.765 30. S5 Luke Raymond 17.817 31. Q77 Steve Van Zeeland 17.805 32. Q9 Aaron Van Zeeland 18.016 33. V14 David Mentiplay 18.055 34. N6 Nick Girdlestone 18.367 35. Q54 Matt Ingrey 19.348 36. S10 Mat Crimmins 19.745

Heat 1 – 12 laps 1. USA99 Devin Moran 2. W15 Warren Oldfield 3. Q43 Dean Hawkins 4. 4X David Robertson 5. W0 Brad Blake 6. N88 Col Robinson 7. W52 Jay Cardy 8. N67 Ed Borg 9. V14 David Mentiplay Average Speed 107km Moran Fastest Lap 15.503

Heat 2 – 12 laps 1. USA7 Steve Francis 2. N99 Ben Nicastri 3. N12 Darryl Grimson 4. N65 Barry Kelleher 5. V55 Darren Forrest 6. N6 Nick Girdlestone 7, S5 Luke Raymond 8. W30 Mark Matthews 9. W11 Jason Oldfield Average Speed 107km Fastest Lap Francis 15.411

Heat 3 – 12 laps 1. N15 Nathan Smee 2. W9 Ben Ludlow 3. W63 Koran Atkinson 4. N31 Adam Brook 5. V21 Rod Edwards 6. Q54 Matt Ingrey 7. Q17 Kev Stow 8. Q77 Steve Van Zeeland 9. N96 Bruce White Average Speed 108km Fastest lap Smee 15.281

Heat 4 – 12 laps 1. W51 Jamie Oldfield 2. N9 Paul Stubber 3. W91 Michael Holmes 4. Q5 Blair Granger 5. W75 Stewart Jordan 6. N5 Tony Edser 7. Q9 Aaron Van Zeeland 8. N4 Jamie Dicker 9. N11 Nathan Disney Average Speed 106km Fastest Lap J Oldfield 15.570

Heat 5 – 12 laps 1. 4X David Robertson 2. W0 Brad Blake 3. Q43 Dean Hawkins 4. W52 Jay Cardy 5. USA99 Devin Moran 6. N88 Col Robinson 7. W15 Warren Oldfield 8. N67 Ed Borg 9. V14 David Mentiplay Average Speed 104km Fastest Time Moran 15.963

Heat 6 – 12 laps 1. USA7 Steve Francis 2. W11 Jason Oldfield 3. N6 Nick Girdlestone 4. N12 Darryl Grimson 5. N99 Ben Nicasrti 6. V55 Darren Forrest 7. N65 Barry Kelleher 8. W30 Mark Matthews DNF S5 Luke Raymond Average Speed 107km Fastest Time Francis 15.407

Heat 7 – 12 laps 1. W63 Koran Atkinson 2. W9 Ben Ludlow 3. Q54 Matt Ingrey 4. Q77 Steve Van Zeeland DNF N15 Nathan Smee DNF Q17 Kev Stow DNF V21 Rod Edwards DNF N31 Adam Brook Average Speed 104km Fastest Lap Smee 15.982

Heat 8 – 12 laps 1. S10 Mat Crimmins 2. W51 Jamie Oldfield 3. W75 Stewart Jordan 4. W91 Michael Holmes 5. N4 Jamie Dicker 6. N9 Paul Stubber 7. Q9 Aaron Van Zeeland DNF Q5 Blair Granger DNF N5 Tony Edser DNF N11 Nathan Disney Average Speed 103kn Fastest Time J Oldfield 16.05

ALL THE RESULTS

Mini Feature 1 – 15 laps 1. USA7 Steve Francis 2. Q43 Dean Hawkins 3. N12 Darryl Grimson 4. W11 Jason Oldfield 5. W63 Kpran Atkinson 6. S10 Mat Crimmins 7. N6 Nick Girdlestone 8. N65 Barry Kelleher 9. N31 Adam Brook 10. 4X David Robertson 11. N99 Ben Nicastri 12. Q77 Steve Van Zeeland 13. N67 Ed Borg 14. N4 Jamie Dicker DNF V14 David Mentiplay Average Speed 106kn Fastest Time Francis 15.576

Mini Feature 2 – 15 laps 1. USA99 Devin Moran 2. W0 Brad Blake 3. W91 Michael Holmes 4. W51 Jamie Oldfield 5. W15 Warren Oldfield 6. N88 Col Robinson 7. N9 Paul Stubber 8. W30 Mark Matthews 9. W75 Stewart Jordan 10. S5 Luke Raymond 11. V55 Darren Forrest 12. Q54 Matt Ingrey 13. Q9 Aaron Van Zeeland DNF W52 Jay Cardy DNF N5 Tony Edser Average Speed 105km Fastest Time Moran 15.802.

Points after Night 1 1. USA7 Steve Francis 144 2. USA99 Devin Moran 121 3. W51 Jamie Oldfield 117 4. Q43 Dean Hawkins 5. W63 Koran Atkinson 108 6. W0 Brad Blake 105 7. W9 Ben Ludlow 102 8. W91 Michael Holmes 99 9. N12 Darryl Grimson 99 10. 4X David Robertson 92 11. W15 Warren Oldifeld 85 12. N99 Ben Nicastri 81 13. W11 Jason Oldfield 81 14. N9 Paul Stubber 80 15. N6 Nick Girdlestone 79 16. S10 Mat Crimmins 78 17. N75 Stewart Jordan 76 18. N15 Nathan Smee 72 19. Q54 Matt Ingrey 70 20. N65 Barry Kelleher 69 21. N88 Col Robinson 64 22. W52 Jay Cardy 61 23. V55 Darren Forrest 61 24. Q77 Steve Van Zeeland 61 25. N31 Adam Brook 58 26. N4 Jamie Dicker 55 27. Q5 Blair Granger 53 28. W30 Mark Matthews 53 29. Q9 Aaron Van Zealand 52 30. V21 Rod Edwards 49 31. N67 Ed Borg 49 32. S5 Luke Raymond 47 33. N5 Tony Edser 46 34. V14 David Mentiplay 46 35. Q17 Kev Stow 44 36. N11 Nathan Disney 41 37. N96 Bruce White 41

Night 2:

Heat 9 – 12 laps 1. USA7 Steve Francis 2. W91 Michael Holmes 3. N12 Darryl Grimson 4. N5 Tony Edser 5. S10 Mat Crimmins 6. N31 Adam Brook 7. N75 Stewart Jordan 8. Q77 Steve Van Zeeland DNF V14 David Mentiplay Average Speed 106km Fastest Time 15.645 Francis

Heat 10 – 12 laps 1. USA99 Devin Moran 2. 4X David Robertson 3. V55 Darren Forrest 4. N6 Nick Girdlestone 5. N15 Nathan Smee 6. S5 Luke Raymond 7. N4 Jamie Dicker 8. Q17 Kev Stow 9. W9 Ben Ludlow Average Speed 102km Fastest Time 16.298 Moran

Heat 11 – 12 laps 1. W51 Jamie Oldfield 2. W0 Brad Blake 3. W15 Warren Oldfield 4. N11 Nathan Disney 5. W52 Jay Cardy 6. Q54 Matt Ingrey 7. Q5 Blair Granger 8. Q67 Ed Borg DNF N9 Paul Stubber Average Speed 100km Fastest Time 16.624 Stubber

Heat 12 – 12 laps 1. W11 Jason Oldfield 2. Q43 Dean Hawkins 3. Q9 Aaron Van Zealand 4. N99 Ben Nicastri 5. N88 Col Robinson 6. N65 Barry Kelleher 7. W30 Mark Matthews DNF W63 Koran Atkinson DNF N96 Bruce White Average Speed 93km Fastest Time 17.76 Atkinson

http://www.racintyres.com

Dash 1 – 8 laps 1. USA99 Devin Moran 2. USA7 Steve Francis 3. W91 Michael Holmes 4. W51 Jamie Oldfield 5. N12 Darryl Grimson 6. W0 Brad Blake 7. Q43 Dean Hawkins 8. 4X David Robertson

Dash 2 – 8 laps 1. N15 Nathan Smee 2. W9 Ben Ludlow 3. W15 Warren Oldfield 4. W11 Jason Oldfield 5. V55 Darren Forrest 6. W63 Koran Atkinson 7. S10 Mat Crimmins 8. N99 Ben Nicastri 9. N75 Stewart Jordan 10. N6 Nick Girdlestone

B Main – 12 laps 1. N88 Col Robinson 2. N9 Paul Stubber 3. Q54 Matt Ingrey 4. W52 Jay Cardy 5. N65 Barry Kelleher 6. Q9 Aaron van Zeeland 7. N5 Tony Edser 8. N31 Adam Brook 9. N67 Ed Borg 10. W30 Mark Matthews 11. Q17 Kev Stow 12. S5 Luke Raymond 13. V14 David Mentiplay DNF N4 Jamie Dicker DNF N11 Nathan Disney DNF Q77 Steve van Zeeland

A Main – 35 laps 1. USA7 Steve Francis 2. W51 Jamie Oldfield 3. W91 Michael Holmes 4. USA99 Devin Moran 5. N15 Nathan Smee 6. 4X David Robertson 7. W15 Warren Oldfield 8. W0 Brad Blake 9. W9 Ben Ludlow 10. N99 Ben Nicastri11. V55 Darren Forrest 12. N12 Darryl Grimson 13. N75 Stewart Jordan 14. S10 Mat Crimmins 15. W11 Jason Oldfield 16. N65 Barry Kelleher 17. N6 Nick Girdlestone 18. Q9 Aaron Van Zeeland DNF Q43 Dean Hawkins DNF W52 Jay Cardy DNF W63 Koran Atkinson DNF N88 Col Robinson DNF Q54 Matt Ingrey DNF N9 Paul Stubber


http://racintyres.com

Queensland Turns it on!Rounds 4 & 5 Of the Dryden Signs Thinder Series.

Round 5 of the Dryden Signs Thunder Series was contested at Super Cheap Auto Archer-field Speedway (QLD) Saturday January 7 with Matt Ingrey (#54) winning the A Main from Kev Stow (#17) and Jake Hawkins (#12).

The name ‘Nicastri’ was prominent at Charlton Raceway (QLD) Saturday December 17 in Round 4 of the Dryden Signs Thunder Series. The NSW based Nicastri Motorsport team headed over the border with its two cars and came away with the spoils, with Ross Nicastri winning Heat 1 and son Ben winning Heat 2. Ross got the job done in the 20 lap A Main as well, beating pointscore leader Blair Granger to the chequered flag. Kev Stow made amends for a difficult night at Sydney Speedway (NSW) December 10, by claiming third place on the podium at Charlton.

Heat 1 : 10 laps

1. N3 Ross Nicastri

2. 9 Aaron van Zeeland

3. 17 Kev Stow

4. 5 Blair Granger

5. 12 Jake Hawkins

6. 37 Stephen Carlish

DNF N99 Ben Nicastri

DNF 77 Steve van Zeeland

DNF 54 Matt Ingrey

DNF 35 Frank Armstrong

Heat 2 : 10 laps

1. N99 Ben Nicastri

2. 5 Blair Granger

3. N3 Ross Nicastri

4. 54 Matt Ingrey

5. 35 Frank Armstrong

6. 12 Jake Hawkins


8. 17 Kev Stow

DNF 37 Stephen Carlish

Feature : 20 laps

1. N3 Ross Nicastri

2. 5 Blair Granger

3. 17 Kev Stow


5. 37 Stephen Carlish

6. N99 Ben Nicastri

7. 12 Jake Hawkins

DNF 35 Frank Armstrong

DNF 54 Matt Ingrey




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AD

It is with much sadness that we advise that Matt Stocker passed away Saturdayevening January 21, 2012.Now is the time to dig deep and support his family financially. I encourage race fans to do-nate to the “Cranky Red Head Appeal” just like so many have already done.Get down to your local ANZ Bank with the following account information:BSB: 014 524Acc: 595 437 999Or do it electronically….From all here at Speed Illustrated, Our condolences go out to Kirsty, Harley, Michelle, Jay, family and friends.

South Australian TitleThe Mount Gambier venues played host and a Canberian took the money and SA 1

Long time Late Model racer Scott McPherson is the South Australian Champion for the second time after claiming the ti-tle at Borderline Speed-way Mount Gambier (SA) Saturday December 3. McPherson (N7 Rocket) won the inaugural South Australian Late Model title held in the 2008/09 sea-son. The Canberra based Better Trailers proprie-tor started out of position three in the 11/12 title, and lead the Crimmins Racing machines of Mat Crimmins (S10) and Robbie Faux (S64) past the flag after 20 hard laps. It was a great result for Crimmins Rac-ing as well, with Mat Crim-mins having experienced plenty of early season car problems, while Milduras Robbie Faux has adjust-ed to Late Model racing in fine style, finishing on the podium in the state title in only his third meeting at the wheel of the lease car.

The performance of Faux is even more noteworthy, given that he started from position six. Victoria’s Rod Edwards (V21) started from eight, and climbed through the field to place fourth. The remaining fin-ishers were David Hartman (S15), Michael Ffrench (S24), and Darren Forrest

(V055), who was compet-ing in his first Late Model

race meeting. SALMA Series 3rd De-

cember 2011 Borderline Speedway Mount Gam-

bier SAHeat 1 – 10 laps

Grid : S5 S64 S10 N7 V055

1. N7 Scott McPherson 2. S64 Robbie Faux

3. S5 Luke Raymond 4. V055 Darren Forrest

5. S10 Mat Crimmins

Heat 2 – 10 laps Grid : X4 V21 S15 S24 V33

1. X4 David Robertson 2. S15 David Hartman

3. V21 Rod Edwards DNF V33 Gary Bryans

DNF S24 Michael Ffrench

Heat 3 – 10 laps Grid : N7 S10 S64 S5 V055

1. N7 Scott McPherson 2. S10 Mat Crimmins


http://www.americanracingtires.com/

3. S64 Robbie Faux 4. S5 Luke Raymond

5. V055 Darren Forrest

Heat 4 – 10 laps Grid : S24 S15 V21 X4 1. S24 Michael Ffrench 2. X4 David Robertson

3. V21 Rod Edwards 4. S15 David Hartman

Heat 5 – 10 laps Grid : S5 S15 N7 S24 S64

1. S24 Michael Ffrench 2. S15 David Hartman 3. S5 Luke Raymond

4. N7 Scott McPherson 5. S64 Robbie Faux

Heat 6 – 10 laps Grid : V21 S10 X4 V055 1. X4 David Robertson

2. S10 Mat Crimmins 3. V055 Darren Forrest

4. V21 Rod Edwards

Feature – 20 laps Grid : X4 S10 N7 S15

S24 S64 S5 V21 V055 1. N7 Scott McPherson 2. S10 Mat Crimmins

3. S64 Robbie Faux

4. V21 Rod Edwards 5. S15 David Hartman

6. S24 Michael Ffrench 7. V055 Darren Forrest

DNF X4 David Robertson DNF S5 Luke Raymond

Fine Line Building Pro-jects presents the inaugu-ral Victorian Late Model Championship this Satur-day night (Feb 4th) at Roll-ing Thunder Raceway Bac-

chus Marsh.A field of 16 big banger

American sedans have nominated for the first ever running of this event and headlining the list is mul-tiple Australian and state Champion Brad “the O show” Blake from Bunbury

in Western Australia.Former Australian Grand

National Sedan Champion Ross Nicastri will bring two cars south from their Syd-ney base with his emerging talent son Ben at the wheel of the second Franks Auto

Parts machine.Nicastri’s good mate

Darryl Grimson will also be a contender as will Canber-ra’s Scott McPherson who will be driving the car used last weekend by American Ace Steve Francis to win the Australian Champion-

ship.Speaking of Aussie

Championships, Camp-bell Hughes won his first AMCA Nationals Australian Championship last week-end and this weekend will make his Late Model debut in the second Matt Crim-

mins owned car.Crimmins and fel-

low South Aussies David Hartman and Luke Ray-mond will also be in action against a growing band of locals including Daniel Timberlake, Gary Bryans, Fine Line Building Projects supported driver Rod Ed-wards, Bill and David Men-

tiplay and Shaun Nelson.Lyle Dicker will complete

the line-up as he continues to travel south to support the burgeoning Victorian

scene.Supporting the Late

Models will be 18 of the AMCA Nationals with new-ly crowned Aussie Champ Campbell Hughes looking for another AMCA feature win while doing double duty in the Late Model. At least one interstate com-petitor has stayed back af-ter last weekends National title to have a blast around the big track and a host of top class locals led by Mick Jackson, Grant Cullinger, Paul Sullivan and co will be

pushing for victory also.V8 Dirt Modifieds are

set to make their Rolling Thunder debut after a busy month which included both the National and State Championships being de-

cided locally.Outlaw Thunder Sedans

are growing in numbers with every meeting and are presenting some bril-

liant racing and there is no reason that will change this weekend as last start win-ner Damian Dannatt tries to score his second win in

just over a week.Additionally the Vintage

Super Modifieds will take us back to years gone past with some spirited demon-

strations.Racing starts at 5:30pm

Admission is $25 for adults and $15 for juniors. Accompanied kids under 12 are free, and all admis-sion comes with compli-

mentary pit access.Keep up to date on fa-

cebook at Rolling Thunder Raceway, or visit us online at www.rollingthunderrace-

way.com.auMelways map reference

340 G12 Track info line 0400 00

55 88 The next round of the

Sprintcar Thunder Series is scheduled for March 17th at Rolling Thunder Raceway (Bacchus Marsh)


http://www.rollingthunderraceway.com.au


http://rollingthunderraceway.com.au

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Daniel Timberlake hard on the gas... Rolling Thunder Raceway, Bacchus Marsh Victoria

Image by Shane Sharrock

NSW Late Model Title LISMOREPint size throttle stomper Moran claims title

Son of a gun, Devin Mo-ran drove a master class race to clinch the 2012 NSW Late Model title at Lismore Speed-way on Saturday night (Janu-

ary 14).At just Seventeen

years of age, grow-ing up in the Mid-west state of Ohio in the United States, Moran became the youngest ever state title winner in Aus-tralian Speedway history. His per-formance clearly showed just how much of a talent this kid is for now and the future ahead. In his drive to victory he beat home current Australian champi-on Brad Blake (WA) and Darryl Grimson who rounded out the

podium.Moran, driving

for Ross Nicastri in the latest Pontiac model to come out of his Sydney work-shop, had complete control over the 30 lap A-Main event. After starting from pole, he went on to win by a comfort-able margin. West Australian, Brad Blake, was the only driver who looked like challenging Moran for the race win. Blake was un-lucky, when he was right underneath Moran during the middle stage of the race, a caution came out for a slowed car

who had spun, and from that moment on, Moran was not to be seen in the distance as he

went onto victory.Darryl Grimson, was one

of the stars of the race. After starting further back for the thirty lap feature, he fought his way through the tough field and managed to drive to

a magnificent third.


Images by Chris Dvorak

Moran’s fellow coun-tryman, Steve Francis ran strongly in the early stages of the night after taking two heat wins. But a power steering failure early in the feature,

shattered any of his hopes of taking a title win. Defending title holder Nathan Disney had a night to forget, disap-pointing results in the heats put him on the wrong foot

straight away, then a mechan-ical problem twenty laps into

the feature ended his night.2012 NSW State Title

Results

Heat 1: 10 laps1. W0 Brad Blake 2. Q7 Kev Stow3. USA99 Devin Moran4. N12 Darryl Grimson5. Q54 Matt Ingrey6. Q9 Aaron Van Zeeland7. Q77 Steve Van Zeeland

Heat 2: 10 laps1. USA7 Steve Francis2. Q12 Jake Hawkins3. Q5 Blair Granger4. N99 Ben Nicastri5. X4 David Robertson

6. N11 Nathan Disney7. N67 Ed BorgDNF Q24 Russell Bonsey

Heat 3: 10 laps1. N99 Ben Nicastri2. W0 Brad Blake3. Q17 Kev Stow4. Nathan Disney5. N67 Ed Borg6. X4 David Robertson7. Q9 Aaron Van Zeeland

Heat 4: 10 laps1. USA99 Devin Moran2. USA7 Steve Francis3. Q5 Blair Granger

4. N12 Darryl Grimson5. Q12 Jake Hawkins6. Q24 Russell Bonsey7. Q54 Matt Ingrey

Heat 5: 10 laps1. USA7 Steve Francis2. W0 Brad Blake3. Q5 Blair Granger4. Q24 Russell Bonsey5. Q17 Kev Stow6. Q9 Aaron Van ZeelandDNF Q12 Jake Hawkins

Heat 6: 10 laps1. X4 David Robertson2. N11 Nathan Disney


http://www.bid4jase.com

http://bid4jase.com

3. USA99 Devin Moran4. N12 Darryl Grimson5. N99 Ben Nicastri6. Q77 Steve Van Zeeland7. N67 Ed Borg8. Q54 Matt Ingrey

A-Main: 30 laps1. USA99 Devin Moran2. W0 Brad Blake3. N12 Darryl Grimson4. Q5 Blair Granger5. Q17 Kev Stow

6. Q54 Matt Ingrey7. Q24 Russell Bonsey8. N67 Ed Borg9. Q77 Steve Van ZeelandDNF Q9 A Van ZeelandDNF Q12 Jake HawkinsDNF N11 Nathan DisneyDNF USA7 Steve FrancisDNF X4 David RobertsonDNF N99 Ben Nicastri

Happy birthday to NSW stalwart Des Disney

http://www.1800biteme.com.au

http://1800biteme.com.au

R2C Competition Filters Pro Dirt Series HEATS UP

AMERICAN Steve Fran-cis showed his class when he claimed the 20-lap Late Model bout from Ryan Hal-liday and Brad Blake (21st January).

The professional racer started on the pole and bolt-ed away to set up the popular win in the non-stop race.

This was Francis’ first ap-pearance and the Motorplex and he liked what he saw.

“The track was good…it was a little greasy on turn four but other than it was pretty good.”

Francis said he went hard early and then eased it up a bit, admitting he wanted to look after the car for Michael Holmes who was getting the car ready to race on the east coast.

Halliday was back in the car after it was campaigned recently by an American driv-

er.“That was hard work…I

didn’t lift very much,” Halliday said.

“The car was awesome.”Race 1: 1st Steve Francis,

2nd Brad Ludlow, 3rd Ryan Halliday, 4th Warren Oldfield, 5th Brad Blake, 6th Ben Lud-low, 7th Jay Cardy, 8th Jere-my Hale, 9th David Nylander, 10th Clint Noakes, 11th Bryn Haythornthwaite, 12th Nat Muir.

Race 2: 1st Brad Blake, 2nd Steve Francis, 3rd Brad Ludlow, 4th Ryan Halliday, 5th Jay Cardy, 6th Warren Oldfield, 7th Ben Ludlow, 8th Clint Noakes, 9th Bryn Hay-thornthwaite, 10th Jeremy Hale. DNF: David Nylander and Nat Muir.

Race 3: 1st Steve Francis, 2nd Ryan Halliday, 3rd Brad Blake, 4th Ben Ludlow, 5th Jay Cardy, 6th Jeremy Hale,

7th Bryn Haythornthwaite. DNF: Warren Oldfield, Brad Ludlow, Clint Noakes, Nat Muir and David Nylander.

Next event on the calender

We are looking forward to having everyone back home on the west coast and seeing all our drivers back on track for Round 10 of the R2C Competition Filters Pro Dirt Series @ Perth Motorplex this Saturday 4th Feb.




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