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World Series Trifecta For Tatnell
Sunday, 30 November 2008 by Darren ODea |
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“WE are back on our game and are going for seven in a row this year.”
That was the comment Brooke Tatnell made on the podium after he claimed round five of Wanless World Series Sprintcars at Truckworks Speedway City in Adelaide on Saturday night.
It was his third win from four completed rounds of the series so far and it is now a case of “catch me if you can.”
He won the 30-lap showdown from Robbie Farr and David Murcott.
Tatnell’s early-season dominance has sent a clear message to his rivals - they will have to beat him to win the series.
For the second week in a row series commentator Drew Kruck got an excited Tatnell to shout “OH YEAH” on the podium - something his rivals hope they won’t hear too much more.
“It definitely got exciting out there and I hope the race fans enjoyed it - it was pretty exciting from where I was sitting.”
Although he did hint that he probably increased the blood pressure of team owner Shane Krikke in the feature race, particularly with the couple of restarts.
Tatnell not only paid tribute to his team but also to engine builder Peter Maxwill and the fans for supporting the series and promoters such as Wendy Turner.
Farr was happy with his result but being the racer he is you just know he would have preferred the win.
He was beaten at the start “and that was pretty much the race for us,” Farr said.
“Congratulations to Brooke, he didn’t make any mistakes.
“We had a good car but there was not enough race track to do anything with it.”
Third placed Murcott, who in previous seasons was a series contracted driver, was left to lament “what if”.
“The track was a lot better than I thought it would be in the end and we guessed wrong in our set up.
“To run third behind these two guys - we will take that.”
Tatnell got the jump early and led away from Farr and Murcott and had the car hooked up on the bottom line.
Former Australian champion Phil March, driving a very tight race car, was struggling to come to terms with his ride early on - pulling several high-speed wheelstands.
In fact the track had plenty of drive with many cars getting air under the front wheels.
Tatnell was into lapped traffic after only just three laps and then Farr struggled to get by the slower cars of Ricky Maiolo and Ashley Cook which worked to Tatnell’s advantage.
But once he got through Farr zeroed in on the tail tank of the W2 and was ready to launch an attack with 12 laps to go.
The field had to bunch up when Jamie Veal went upside down on the front straight and then Maiolo spun to avoid him.
On the restart it was Tatnell from Farr, Murcott, Luke Dillon, Trevor Green, Matt Egel, Max Dumesny, Dylan Jenkins, Steven Lines and Peter Lack.
Green would have loved to make some changes to a car he was struggling with in what has been a tough start to his summer of racing.
Earlier in the night the team was forced to change a rear-end which was on top of a motor change and a damaged rear-end in Perth last week.
On the restart Farr went low and Tatnell went high and it was game on while Green had a big push and lost a spot.
Farr’s chance was all but gone when he got the Q7 all crossed up in turns 1-2 a couple of laps later, losing valuable ground.
He did however get another chance when Glen Sutherland ploughed into the turn one fence, forcing another restart.
Farr went low but couldn’t make it stick in the last dash for the line, ultimately settling for second.
Local stars Luke Dillon and Matt Egel rounding out the top five.
They were followed by contracted drivers Green, Max Dumesny and Peter Lack, while Jamie Cobby was ninth and Steven Lines was 10th.
There were no surprises when Lines claimed the Comp Cams quick time award, backing up a similar performance at the same track 12 months earlier.
His 13.451 second lap was good enough to win a Performance Wholesale voucher courtesy of Comp Cams.
And just as importantly it set him up for a good start to the night.
Tatnell was second in 14.494 while non-contracted drivers Lee Dillon (13.577), David Murcott 13.593 and Matt Egel (13.607) completed the top five.
As far as the contracted drivers went Farr was seventh (13.634), Green 11th (13.711), Lack 15th (13.797), Maiolo 17th (13.899) and Dumesny well down the order in 22nd (13.949).
Bradley Keller took full advantage of the pole line to win the first heat from Justin Sloan and Glen Sutherland.
Farr improved on his points with a big charge from eighth to fourth.
Jamie Veal won heat two from Allan Woods and Max Dumesny while the big move was from Tatnell who raced from 10th for a strong fifth.
Heat three went to Luke Bowey from Luke Dillon (who slipped through the field from eighth) and Phil March who started sixth.
Veal won his second heat, claiming the contest from Keller and Danny Reidy while again many eyes were on Tatnell who raced from ninth up to fifth.
Justin Sloan won heat five from Farr (who started seventh) and Lines (who started ninth).
Dumesny won the final heat after starting fourth but he was still forced to qualify through the B Main.
Green converted his eighth into a second while Eddie Lumbar was third.
Terry Pitt was a big chance of making the A Main while racing for sixth with Lack when they made contact in turn one, severely damaging the front end of the S8 after starting from 11th.
“We will push on and hopefully come back next week and hope for a bit better luck,” the tall driver said.
Lack was sent to the rear for his part in that incident.
Dumesny led for much of the B Main but was under a bit of pressure from Reidy while the main battle between Maiolo and Allan woods for sixth.
Keller put his car into the fence in turn two when in the transfer spot, forcing another caution.
Reidy ran the lower line in the latter stages in an entertaining duel with Dumesny out the front.
Steven Caruso, while also fighting for a transfer spot, pulled a wheelstand and slammed into the fence in turn four while running the high line.
“The high groove was sort of coming in, but when you run that high and close to wall that is the risk you take,” Caruso said.
Danny Reidy slowed down and in turn three Wayne Rowett rode Reidy’s right rear and crashing out, ending what would have been a transfer into the A Main.
It was revealed moments later that Reidy’s driveline was flopping around between his legs but the B Main was all Dumesny's.
He won from Glen Sutherland, Allan Woods, Ashley Cook, Ricky Maiolo and Peter Lack.
Round six of the series will be contested in Hobart next Saturday night, December 6.
Wanless World Series Sprintcars, round five, Adelaide:
Time trials: Steven Lines 13.451, Brooke Tatnell 13.494, Lee Dillon 13.577, David Murcott 13.593, Matt Egel 13.607, Dylan Jenkin 13.613, Dylan Jenkin 13.613, Robbie Farr 13.634, Ashley Cook 13.648, Luke Dillon 13.678, Andrew Cox 13.701, Trevor Green 13.711, Jamie Cobby 13.721, Wayne Rowett 13.760, Philip March 13.786, Peter Lack 13.797, Terry Pitt 13.861, Ricky Maiolo 13.899, Daniel Pestka 13.905, Danny Reidy 13.919, Jason Tranter 13.922, Steven Caruso 13.948, Steven Caruso 13.948, Max Dumesny 13.949, Luke Bowey 13.991, Justin Sloan 14.008, Jamie Veal 14.011, Eddie Lumbar 14.143, Bradley Keller 14.224, Allan Woods 14.364, Josh Ruhs 14.909, Jason Loveday 18.665, Jamie Stark and Glen Sutherland NTT.
Heat 1: 1st Ashley Cook, 2nd Justin Sloan, 3rd Glen Sutherland, 4th Robbie Farr, 5th Peter Lack, 6th Daniel Pestka, 7th David Murcott, 8th Steven Lines, 9th Steven Caruso, 10th Andrew Cox.
Heat 2: 1st Jamie Veal, 2nd Allan Woods, 3rd Max Dumesny, 4th Danny Reidy, 5th Brooke Tatnell, 6th Trevor Green, 7th Matt Egal, 8th Wayne Rowell, 9th Terry Pitt, 10th Ashley Cook, Jamie Stark.
Heat 3: 1st Luke Bowey, 2nd Luke Dillon, 3rd Philip March, 4th Ricky Maiolo, 5th Jamie Cobby, 6th Dylan Jenkin, 7th Lee Dillon, 8th Jason Tranter, 9th Eddie Lumbar, 10th Josh Ruhs.
Heat 4: 1st Jamie Veal, 2nd Bradley Keller, 3rd Danny Reidy, 4th Steven Caruso, 5th Brooke Tatnell, 6th David Murcott, 7th Peter Lack, 8th Wayne Rowett, 9th Ashley Cook, 10th Andrew Cox.
Heat 5: 1st Justin Sloan, 2nd Robbie Farr, 3rd Steven Lines, 4th Jamie Cobby, 5th Ricky Maiolo, 6th Luke Bowey, 7th Dylan Jenkin, 8th Daniel Pestka, 9th Josh Ruhs.
Heat 6: 1st Max Dumesny, 2nd Trevor Green, 3rd Eddie Lumbar, 4th Terry Pitt, 5th Philip March, 6th Luke Dillon, 7th Matt Egel, 8th Jason Tranter, 9th Jamie Stark, 10th Lee Dillon.
A Dash: 1st Brooke Tatnell, 2nd David Murcott, 3rd Steven Lines, 4th Max Dumesny, 5th Lee Dillon, 6th Dylan Jenkin.
B Dash: 1st Robbie Farr, 2nd Luke Dillon, 3rd Trevor Green, 4th Matt Egel, 5th Philip March, 6th Jamie Cobby.
B Main: 1st Max Dumesny, 2nd Glen Sutherland, 3rd Allan Woods, 4th Ashley Cook, 5th Ricky Maiolo, 6th Peter Lack.
A Main: 1st Brooke Tatnell, 2nd Robbie Farr, 3rd David Murcott, 4th Luke Dillon, 5th Matt Egel, 6th Trevor Green, 7th Max Dumesny, 8th Peter Lack, 9th Jamie Cobby, 10th Steven Lines, 11th Allan Woods, 12th Dylan Jenkins, 13th Ricky Maiolo, 14th Lee Dillon.
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