Monday, February 28, 2011

David McKay will go down in the history books as the 2011 Victorian Wingless Sprint champion following a tarnished event at Redline Raceway on Saturday night. Unfortunately for McKay, much of the gloss associated with title success will have surpassed as he didn’t get the chance to celebrate on the night, as the full extent of the controversy surrounding the first two cars across the line was not confirmed.

McKay finished the race in third, however following post-race scrutineering was found to be the first legal car to greet the chequered flag. Defending Parr Motorsports series champion Phil Micallef has gone one better on last year with second place, while Ballarat youngster Sam Wren is now Victoria three. Andy Hibbert will now be placed fourth and Jeff Judd’s title defence officially ended in fifth.

James Wren completed a stellar run in sixth, after progressing from a starting position of 14 in the B-Main, he was followed home by former national champion Rory Button and Warrnambool’s Damien Meade. Also in the top ten were Scott Drew and Dan Dubois, while Paul Solomon and Mark Balcombe were the final finishers in a race that went 25 laps flag-to-flag.

Following heat race action, Phil Johnson was the highest points scorer, sharing the front row with South Australian Daniel Obst. McKay started from three alongside Jye Saunders who qualified fourth, with Sam Wren and Micallef on row three. Hibbert was seventh, Judd eighth, Meade from nine and Button starting tenth. Dubois was 11th, Scott Drew from 12, while Mark Balcombe and Solomon got the last automatic spots into the A-Main. Transferring from the B-Main were James Wren, Bradley Warren, Sean McKeever and Ross Jarred.

The race began with Saunders riding the right rear of McKay in turn two on the opening lap, consequently stripping the right rear torsion stop off his car and ending his run. Jarred was eliminated on the next lap after contact on the back straight which resulted in a flat left rear tyre. Sean McKeever pulled infield on lap 13, while Bradley Warren fell just metres short of the finish line as his engine ran out of puff on the final circulation.

Heat wins went to Button x2, Johnson, Scott Drew, Andy Caruana, Hibbert, Dan Robson, Glenn Watts, Micallef, Warren, Judd and McKay.

25-lap Victorian Title official results: 1st V83 David McKay, 2nd V95 Phil Micallef, 3rd V19 Sam Wren, 4th V17 Andy Hibbert, 5th V11 Jeff Judd, 6th V45 James Wren, 7th S51 Rory Button, 8th V10 Damien Meade, 9th V41 Scott Drew, 10th V20 Dan Dubois, 11th V74 Paul Solomon, 12th V6 Mark Balcombe. DNF – V84 Bradley Warren, V70 Sean McKeever, V49 Ross Jarred, V21 Jye Saunders. DSQ – V30 Phil Johnson, S22 Daniel Obst.

Full results of all race and lap times can be found at www.mylaps.com.