On his last visit to Sungold Stadium Premier Speedway Brock Hallett scored the biggest win of his career and his first at Premier Speedway.
On Saturday night, Hallett chalked up another win to make it consecutive wins at the Wheelie Waste sponsored event, which was the penultimate round of the Total Tools Warrnambool Track Championship and Eureka Garages & Sheds Series.
Warrnambool received an early cool change during the morning, with temperatures not achieving the expected high temps, resulting in a juiced-up track that produced some tantalising lap times.
Hallett opened his account with a blistering 10.24 second lap during qualifying, which was the quickest in his group and overall.
Runner up in the Sprintcar feature, Supercar superstar Cameron Waters started his night in strong, clocking a 10.45 second lap to be fastest in group 1. Hallett was fastest in Group 2, with locals Jamie Veal (10.47) and Will Carroll (10.54) fastest in groups 3 and 4.
The four qualifying heats were an invert of six, but it didn’t stop Waters from charging to position 2 by the chequers, with Pestka taking the win.
Andrew Hughes powered away to win Heat 2, with Hallett also able to move his way forward from position 6, with Matthew Reed moving his way forward and continuing his challenge for another the Eureka Garages & Sheds Series title.
Heat 3 saw the locals dominate, which saw Peter Doukas after a disappointing qualifying effort hold out Jamie Veal and youngster Ash Cook.
Jett Bell saluted in Heat 4, taking the win by over two seconds from rookie Dane Court with Jordyn Charge finishing third, with McHugh and Carroll not being able to move as far forward as they would have hoped.
At the completion of qualifying and heat races, it was Hallett who was the top point scorer. The top eight cars on points then moved into the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Shootouts.
Josh Buckingham outshone more seasoned campaigners to set the fastest time in both the Bronze and Silver shootout, eclipsing Jamie Veal in the Silver Shootout, with Buckingham and Veal setting times in the high ten-second bracket.
Onto the Gold Shootout, and it was Hallett and Waters who retained their positions, with Hallett recording a 10.55 second circulation.
Seventeen cars battled it out in the B-Main for the six A-Main transfer spots where Jordyn Charge led home, Tate Frost, Ash Cook, Jordan Rae, Chris Solomon and Adam King.
The eighteen-car field then assembled for the A-Main with Hallett and Waters off the front row, with Veal and Buckingham row two. However, Veal’s quest for a win ended on the first lap, clipping the turn 2 tyre on exit.
Waters charged to the lead, but will Jett Bell spinning in turn 3 brought on the cautions. On the ensuing restart lap Hallett made the pass on Waters and was never headed, finishing 1.5 seconds ahead of Waters and Tate Frost after transferring from the B-main and starting fourteenth in the A-Main. Pestka was unlucky, holding third place until the second last lap when contact with the lapped car of Andrew Hughes sent them both over and out of the event.
“The track was interesting tonight, I didn’t think the top would go away as much as it did in turns 3 and 4 which caught us out a little, but we had a super fast car and focussed on running a clean consistent race” Hallett commented in victory lane.
Hallett also moves ahead of Veal into second position in the Total Tools Warrnambool Track Championship heading into the final round on Easter Sunday. McHugh still maintains the lead by a mere six points.
McHugh finished in position four, Charge in five with Carroll, Doukas, Jones, Bell and Reed rounding out the top ten.
McHugh performed double duty to win the C&H Trucking Pro Sprint feature ahead of Daniel Storer and Sam Wren. It was teammates Jordan Rae and Andy Hibbert starting on the front row with Rae taking command off the start. However, behind Rae, McHugh who started from position six moved through the field to make the pass on Rae on lap 15 and take the lead in the Evans family 360 powered machine. McHugh took the chequers over five seconds ahead of Storer.
Premier Speedway wishes to thank the Vintage Sprintcars for showcasing the Sprintcars of years gone by in their demonstration runs.
The next event at Sungold Stadium Premier Speedway is April 1st with the Pro Sprints Triple Crown, Super Rod Cup and Wingless Sprints.
Ends release.