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Johnson Wins Warrnambool And Speedweek
Author : Darren ODea
 AMERICAN Jason Johnson won round nine of World Series Sprintcars at Sungold Stadium Premier Speedway in Warrnambool on Saturday night and in doing so also won the Speedweek points chase.
Johnson started out of position three in the action-packed 35 lap race, winning from fellow American Craig Dollanksy who started from pole and a hard-charging Max Dumesny who raced well after starting from ninth.
Johnson was quick to thank car owner Alan Haynes and the entire team for putting together a strong race package.
“Everybody has gone a great job all week long,” Johnson said straight after the win.
“I would just like to thank Alan Haynes for giving the invite to come back.”
Haynes held off several challenges from Dollansky as well as Danny Reidy who withdrew with engine dramas while running second.
“I knew Craig was going to be tough on the restart…it was a great race.”
Dollansky moved between second and third much of the battle and finished off strongly after the last restart.
“We started hanging back 10 laps into the race,” Dollansky said.
“Even in the rubber groove I was struggling a little bit.”
He said it was a good result for the team that had only been together for three races.
Dumesny put in a stellar drive, showing plenty of pace and at one stage looked strong enough to challenge for the lead.
He said the car ran well on the bottom.
“It was sitting there great, just picking away at them,” Dumesny said.
“We just stuck at it…yeah it was a fun race.
“Right off the bat it was good – the bottom looked like it was happening so we gave it a whirl and it was good.”
Robbie Farr started seventh and finished fourth and in doing so regained the series points lead which he enjoys by six points over David Murcott who started the A Main in 13th and finished 14th.
“We sort of got rolling around a bit,” Farr said from the infield.
“Fourth is not bad…we were decent but we weren’t great.”
He said the three cars in front of him were better on the night.
“We will take fourth after Avalon the other night.”
Steven Lines finished fifth after starting on the outside of the front row.
The drive of the night went to national champion James McFadden who struggled early on and had to qualify for the main event from the C Main which he won after starting on the front row with Daniel Pestka.
He then started 17th in the B Main and successfully made the transfer to the A Main, starting out of position 20, leaving race fans in no doubt of the national champion’s ability.
Matt Egel started from 14th in the final and also looked strong, finishing seventh.
Grant Anderson was another strong mover, converting a start from 18th to eight while Darren Mollenoyux finished nine and Brooke Tatnell struggled to finish 10th.
One of the heartbreak stories of the round belonged to Reidy who withdrew from the contest after 11 laps and in second.
He started from fourth and looked like he had something in store to get in front when the engine started playing up.
“The motor went off song three laps before that,” Reidy said.
“It may be just a rocker I think it’s a tough deal.”
Dollansky set up his pole position after winning the Gold Dash.
“Definitely a work in progress,” Dollansky said.
He liked the Gold, Silver and Bronzes Dashes unique to the series.
“I think the format works out pretty well…I think it is a pretty cool way to do it.
“Again we will try to make some good tyre choices here.”
Tatnell started off the night well with the best lap in qualifying of 11.876, edging out Lines (11.891) and Dollansky (11.915).
The drivers now have the week to prepare for the two-night round 10 at Titan Garages Brisbane International Speedway next Friday and Saturday night.
Qualifying: Brooke Tatnell 11.876, Steven Lines 11.891, Craig Dollansky 11.915, Danny Reidy 12.002, Jason Johnson 12.024, Darren Mollenoyux 12.068, Robbie Farr 12.076, Max Dumesny 12.109, Ian Madsen 12.109, Matt Egel 12.166, Luke Dillon 12.171, Cameron Gessner 12.182, David Priolo 12.222, Trevor Green 12.222, Grant Anderson 12.225, Darryl Hodges 12.235, John Vogels 12.251, Domain Ramsay 12.264, David Murcott 12.266, Kerry Madsen 12.270, Steven Caruso 12.276, Jamie Veal 12.277, Daniel Pestka 12.291, James McFadden 12.296, Carl Dowling 12.336, Ricky Maiolo 12.368, Glen Saville 12.389, Ashley Burke 12.389, Bryan Mann 12.410, Lucas Wolfe 12.439, Jamie Bricknell 12.478, Wayne Rowett 12.478, Tim Rankin 12.486, Jason Kendrick 12.510, Brett Milburn 12.564, Eddie Lumbar 12.594, Carl Ludeman 12.600, Hayden Pitt 12.604, Kris Coyle 12.622, Josh Fisher 12.262, Phillip Down 12.642, Andrew Wright 12.658, Dylan Jenkin 12.673, Glen Sutherland 12.757, Justin Sloan 12.782, Mitch Foster 12.829, Rod Matthews 12.929, Troy David 12.986, Jamie Stark 13.111, Andrew Cox 13.124, Dennis Jones 13.300, Michael Cunningham 13.362, Jake Smethurst 14.303. DQ Ryan Davis.
Heat 1: 1st Carl Ludemann, 2nd John Vogels, 3rd Bryan Mann, 4th Jason Johnson, 5th Tim Rankin, 6th David Priolo, 7th Ian Madsen, 8th Brooke Tatnell, 9th Carl Dowling, 10th Steven Caruso, 11th Phillip Down, 12th Justin Sloan, 13th Jamie Stark, 14th Jake Smethurst.
Heat 2: 1st Jason Kendrick, 2nd Lucas Wolfe, 3rd Trevor Green, 4th Ricky Maiolo, 5th Jamie Veal, 6th Matt Egel, 7th Steven Lines, 8th Darren Mollenoyux, 9th Domain Ramsay, 10t Mitch Foster, 11th Andrew Cox. DNF: Ryan Davis and Hayden Pitt.
Heat 3: 1st Brett Milburn, 2nd Glen Saville, 3rd David Murcott, 4th Kris Coyle, 5th Luke Dillon, 6th Robbie Farr, 7th Grant Anderson, 8th Craig Dollansky, 9th Daniel Pestka, 10th Jamie Bricknell, 11th Rod Matthews, 12th Dylan Jenkin, 13th Dennis Jones.
Heat 4: 1st Josh Fisher, 2nd Danny Reidy, 3rd Darryl Hodges, 4th Max Dumesny, 5th Glen Sutherland, 6th Troy David. DNF: Eddie Lumbar, Ashley Burke, Kerry Madsen, James McFadden, Cameron Gessner, Wayne Rowett and Michael Cunningham.
Heat 5: 1st Jamie Veal, 2nd Ian Madsen, 3rd Carl Dowling, 4th Lucas Wolfe, 5th John Vogel, 6th Brooke Tatnell, 7th Darren Mollenoyux, 8th Trevor Green, 9th Justin Sloan,10th Jake Smethurst, 11th Andrew Cox.
Heat 6: 1st Carl Ludemann, 2nd Jason Kendric, 3rd Ricky Maiolo, 4th Steven Lines, 5th Jason Johnson, 6th David Priolo, 7th Bryan Mann, 8th Matt Egel, 9th Steven Caruso, 10th Domain Ramsay, 11th Phillip Dow, 12th Jamie Stark, 13th Mitch Foster.
Heat 7: 1st Brett Milburn, 2nd Josh Fisher, 3rd Luke Dillon, 4th David Murcott, 5th James McFadden, 6th Wayne Rowett, 7th Craig Dollansky, 8th Glen Saville, 9th Max Dumesny, 10th Rod Matthews, 11th Darryl Hodges. DNF: Glen Sutherland.
Heat 8: 1st Kerry Madsen, 2nd Kris Coyle, 3rd Jamie Bricknell, 4th Grant Anderson, 5th Cameron Gessner, 6th Daniel Pestka, 7th Robbie Farr, 8th Danny Reidy, 9th Dylan Jenkin, 10th Ashley Burke, 11th Dennis Jones, 12th Troy David.
Bronze Shootout: Ian Madsen 12.130, Craig Dollansky 12.216, Robbie Farr 12.250, Luke Dillon 12.454.
Silver Shootout: Jason Johnson 12.066, Craig Dollansky 12.210, Ian Madsen 12.258 and Brooke Tatnell 12.434.
Gold Shootout: Craig Dollansky 12.075, Steven Lines 12.301, Jason Johnson 12.474 and Danny Reidy 12.617.
C Main: 1st James McFadden, 2nd Daniel Pestka, 3rd Jamie Bricknell, 4th Wayne Rowett, 5th Steven Caruso, 6th Ashley Burke, 7th Andrew Cox, 8th Dylan Jenkin, 9th Rod Matthews, 10th Justin Sloan, 11th Phillip Down, 12th Domain Ramsay, 13th Dennis Jones, 14th Mitch Foster, 15th Jamie Stark, 16th Troy David.
B Main: 1st Kerry Madsen, 2nd Cameron Gessner, 3rd Trevor Green, 4th Grant Anderson, 5th Lucas Wolfe, 6th James McFadden, 7th David Priolo, 8th Glen Saville, 9th Brett Milburn, 10th Josh Fisher, 11th Daniel Pestka, 12th Kris Coyle, 13th Jason Kendrick, 14th Bryan Mann, 15th Carl Ludemann. DNF: Darry Hodges, Ricky Maiolo and Carl Dowling.
A Main: 1st Jason Johnson, 2nd Craig Dollansky, 3rd Max Dumesny, 4th Robbie Farr, 5th Steven Lines, 6th James McFadden, 7th Matt Egel, 8th Grant Anderson, 9th Darren Mollenoyux, 10th Brooke Tatnell, 11th Jamie Veal, 12th Lucas Wolfe, 13th Trevor Green, 14th David Murcott, 15th Luke Dillon. DNF: Cameron Gessner, Ian Madsen, Danny Reidy, John Vogels, Kerry Madsen.
Winners are grinners: Jason Johnson and car owner Alan Haynes (below) celebrate their win in Warrnambool on Saturday night. Pic by Corey Gibson.
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