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Dec 28, 2011

Garry Brazier still has plenty to give the sport of Sprintcar Racing, and tonight the 6 times Australian Champion showed why he’s still a force to be reckoned with in taking out the 35 lap A-Main for Round Two of the WSS Speedweek Series at Murray Machining & Sheds Murray Bridge Speedway.

In the words of arch rival and runner-up finisher Brooke Tatnell Garry Brazier “turned the clock back fifteen years to let fans re-live an important part of WSS history when the names Brazier and Tatnell would regularly clash for feature race supremacy.

“I hate losing, you know that,” conceded Tatnell, “but it’s pretty cool to have Braz’ back here and winning a race tonight. He did a good job and we couldn’t quite peg him back on the last lap. That’s the problem with leading like we did, you’re never sure when or where somebody’s going to make a challenge for your spot.”

Brazier was elated to claim the 35 lap A-Main, and beamed a toothy grin in victory lane as son Jordyn and the crew gathered around the Capalaba Wreckers #21.

There were ominous signs early, if you wanted to look for them.

Brazier was fast, and Dad Steve Brazier was wearing a small, confident smile that told you he knew his son was on the money.

With only a handful of laps the six times national champ stole the lead from Brooke Tatnell after earlier pick-pocketing Jason Johnson for second and setting out after the Krikke Motorsport Cool car.

“It’s so good to be back in victory lane. You sometimes wonder, when you’ve been to the top and been away for a while, if you can really get back to the top again but tonight it’s confirmed that I can still get in one of these cars and win in a World Series event. That’s a great feeling. This is still the best competition in the country and I’m really enjoying the chance to run with these guys again.”

Indeed it was like old times, with Brazier taking the win from Tatnell, and the original boss of WSS John Hughes in attendance as the Grand Marshall for the fifth round in a gesture by Speedway Australia to recognise his contribution to the sport and the series for many years.

Brazier was extremely lucky in some respects to even take the chequered flag after surviving not one but two near misses, including the first major incident when he made contact with an almost spun car on the main straight that saw James McFadden ricochet into the situation and roll along with livewire South Aussie Ryan Jones.

Remarkably Brazier spun backwards but didn’t stall and so at the restart was able to pick up his original second row starting position.

He also had a power meeting with the turn four wall, smacking his right rear against the concrete with the chequered flag in sight and with Tatnell only 0.1s behind him.

Jason Johnson was disappointed to have missed the win, but still relatively pleased with his third place result in the #47 Haynes Labour Hire Maxim.

“We’d just made the pass on Brooke with fifteen laps to go when the red lights came on before we could lock in a complete lap as the leader I knew we’d going back behind him for the restart,” admitted the American, “for some reason though it took me about four or five laps to get going each time and by that time Brooke had got away and Brazier had gotten past me. We were starting to catch them back but the traffic and the laps running out took their toll.”

The stoppage on lap 20 that Johnson referred to was a spectacular crash that saw Grant Anderson hang the Wagga Mobile Cranes D&F Racing Products Foster chassis off the turn four fence after he ran high and tagged the wall going into turn three.

Running the cushion, which was up by the wall, took commitment and a large set of rotors and after many laps of trailblazing up by the concrete Anderson’s courageous run sadly came to an abrupt end.

Grant was able to rapidly escape the wreckage though it’s believed that the Anderson team might be building up a new car for the rest of the series.

Johnson paid tribute to the track staff as well.

“We had quite a heated discussion in the pits about the amount of times the track gets graded and watered at this place but to their credit they took on board what we (the drivers) wanted and we ended up with a track that you could pass on all night. It was a lot of fun to race tonight.”

David Murcott started the A-Main on the front row alongside high points man and Vortex Wings Gold Shootout winner Brooke Tatnell, and some spirited battles with Jason Johnson, Robbie Farr and Brazier the Horrell Motorsport #83 Eagle wound up hot on the heels of the lead trio to run fourth at the fall of the chequers.

Robbie Farr continued his consistent run to claim fifth in the East Coast Pipeline / Hi-Tec Oils #7 Maxim though crew chief Nick Speed admitted at the last stoppage fifteen laps from home that they just hadn’t come up with a race winning combination and they were struggling to come up with something that could turn that around.

There was another major red light stoppage when Ian Madsen’s slide job on Luke Dillon came unstuck with the duo making contact and Madsen’s Australia Wide Towing #11 Cool cannoning straight into the turn four wall and into a wild roll.

Madsen climbed from the wreck unscathed but the damage was significant to the Barry Lewis owned #11.

Danny Reidy found some form in the Desert Palms Resort Eagle and the Queensland based Territorian worked his way around the low line to good effect where he eventually placed sixth in a season’s best result behind Robbie Farr.

Seventh across the line was James McFadden who recovered from his upside down experience to spend much of the race with a crushed main wing before the team could finally replace it with a new one under an open red light situation when Grant Anderson crashed.

Max Dumesny came from deep within the B-Main to make the A-Main transfer and then come home in 8^th in the Valvoline / GKR Transport Maxim, passing a stack of cars in the process between the two races.

Trevor Green brought the Natrad #4 Maxim home safely inside the top ten with a ninth place result ahead of fellow South Aussie Jamie Cobby in tenth, ahead of the damaged Hogs Breath Eagle of Luke Dillon in eleventh, Dylan Jenkin’s #51 Tatiara Truck & Trailer Cool was twelfth, 20 year old birthday boy Daniel Pestka in the Gawler Farm Machinery J&J in thirteenth, Phillip March’s Maxwill Engines J&J in fourteenth and South Aussie hard charger Steven Caruso fifteenth.

DNF’s in the A-Main included Shaun Bradford (turn one spin), Ian Madsen (rollover) Ryan Jones (rollover) and Steven Lines.

Lines smacked the wall on the main straight early in his Monster Energy Monte Motorsport J&J and had to retire the car with a broken off right rear shock absorber.

The result was made even more disappointing for the Monte team who had thrashed to replace a blown rear end in the Vortex Wings Gold Shootout with only minutes to spare before the A-Main.

The top 20 drivers in points after Round Five of the Hi-Tec Oils World Series Sprintcars Championship and Round Two of the Speedweek Series are: