McFadden Steals President’s Cup.

McFadden Steals President’s Cup.

By Mark Humphrey

Avalon, Vic/Aus. 21^st January 2015. Former national champ James McFadden literally stole the President’s Cup out of Brooke Tatnell’s back pocket with a spectacular high line charge over the last 5 laps of the 25 lap President’s Cup that reeled in American Kyle Hirst then Ian Loudoun and with just over 2 laps remaining leader Brooke Tatnell.

2016 Essendon Ford President's Cup

McFadden who has thrilled the Avalon spectators with classic slide passes in the past put on a show of high line running which saw the charger round up the podium placegetters in no time. There is no doubt that his team had the perfect 25 lap setting on the car but that aside J Mac’s driving was nothing short of spectacular. Once he got on a roll it just seemed easy and the effortless pass he made on race leader Brooke Tatnell demonstrated just how good the car was after 20 laps of the 25 lap race.

Tatnell who started on the front row led the pack away for the 25 lap journey but had to do it all over again when Eureka Sheds Series leader Brett Milburn tipped it over in turn 4 bringing on the reds. Milburn who has had a faultless year to date walked away from the roll over but the car was finished for the night.

On the re-start Tatnell once again led them out with Loudoun, Hirst and J Mac in hot pursuit. Loudoun looked strong throughout the night and was never more than a dozen car lengths away from Tatnell and looked to be on his way to a well earnt podium position. McFadden on the other hand was having a go at Hirst but couldn’t make a pass stick on the current Classic champ early in the race. In fact positions were unchanged up front for the next 19 laps as the race settled into a steady pace.

New South Welshmen Andrew Wright who started the feature in 7^th showed plenty of speed during the night and was capable of getting in amongst the leaders but unfortunately missed the set-up as the car went backwards losing 4 positions to finish in 11^th. Wright would have been disappointed with the feature as the car looked seriously quick early in the night and having raced at Avalon on several occasions over the past couple of years would have been looking to advance up the order as the race went on.

On the other side of the coin there was one guy in particular who was making big inroads into the field as the race went on. Automatically one would assume that this guy was Jamie Veal as he was starting out of position 15 after having to qualify through the B-Main but in fact it was the ACT 21 Essendon backed car of Shaun Dobson. Dobson who had earlier picked up a heat win started out of position 11 for the feature with plenty to do if he was to advance up the leader board. To put Dobson’s drive into perspective, outside of McFadden who picked up 4 spots (in the last 5 laps) and Dion Bellman (2 spots to finish 7^th), Dobson was the only other top 10 finisher to gain places picking off Milburn (accident), Bellman, Mollenoyux, Wright, Delemont and Anderson to finish in the top 5 after the 25 lap journey. Domain Ramsay who started at the rear managed to pick up a couple of spots but one of them was Milburn who had earlier crashed out. So for Dobson the lap board backs ups his exception drive in the feature and brings back memories of 2 seasons back where he dominated sprintcar racing at Avalon Raceway.

The race had 4 visiting Americans lining up in the feature with Hirst undoubtedly the most successful on the night. Of the Americans Hirst started in and finished in 3^rd, Paul McMahon also finished where he started which was position 12 with Carson Macedo improving one spot to finish in 13^th with Kraig Kinser also jumping a spot to 16^th albeit a lap down.

The Essendon Ford backed team of Ian Loudoun’s V3 will go away scratching their heads as to what went wrong. Loudoun was looking so strong during the race holding down 2^nd spot and apart from an early look by Hirst was virtually on his own for the entire race distance until the pass by McFadden. No one could stop the rampaging McFadden but all of a sudden Loudoun found himself in 4^th position and off the podium after Hirst got by on the 2^nd last lap. Car owner David Dixon spoke of how the team was disappointed at the result and felt for Loudoun who had been faultless throughout the race. In the end it was another classic McFadden race that thrilled the large gathering of spectators who had made the mid-week trek.

Top 5 were McFadden, Tatnell, Hirst, Loudoun and Dobson.

Heat winners were Dobson, Domain Ramsay, American Paul McMahon, Ryan Davis and Ian Loudon. Super stars Line, Murcott and American Terry McCarl didn’t figure in the night at all.

The sprintcars have a spell from Avalon and return on the 5^th of March for the Great Southern Showdown. Go to : http://www.avalonraceway.com/ for more info on what's happening at Avalon Raceway

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