Smee Cements His 50-Lap Status

Smee Cements His 50-Lap Status

Racing last night at Supercheap Auto Archerfield Speedway was a win for the fans on the hill. An intimate crowd wowed through multiple crashes and rollovers but the highlight of the night was the American Tire and Racing Services 50 Lapper Midget race. Sydney’s Nathan Smee cemented his status as a dominant of the distance off the back of a 50 Lapper win in Sydney last weekend.

Smee’s toughest adversary was five-time Kiwi champion and newly crowned Queensland Midget champion Michael Kendall.  Some bold moves and three early restarts aided their flight from an inverted fifth row of the start grid.  Kendall catapulted to the lead by lap 5 and Smee worked his way to second place by lap 10 but Kendall maintained a convincing lead until a fourth stoppage regrouped the field with 30 left to go.  Turn two started to take rubber while 3 and 4 became increasingly rough; busy work in the car and passing becoming a challenge.

The next 28 adrenalin-charged laps ran non-stop.  Smee’s battle with Kendall was elastic through lapped traffic; right on his tail and then back five or so car lengths repeatedly but Smee was patient and with 5 to go, made his move.  They raced wheel-to-wheel through turn 2, all the way down the back straight, continued through 3 then Smee took the lead out of turn 4 around the outside. 

A fifth race stoppage with 2 to go didn’t impact any and Smee cruised to the finish.  “I was just biding my time and then I tried to pick the pace up and I showed him (Kendall) the bottom and he got even quicker.  I tried all lines with 11 to go and I lost a bit on him,” Smee said on the podium.

It was a case of ‘so close’ for Kendall; he led for 40 laps and has never won a 50 Lapper.  “It was frustrating to get that far. The car was flawless. Nathan was on the spot when I got held up in lapped traffic and just ran me down at the end,” conceded Kendall.

Western Pool Supplies racer Anthony Chaffey put in a solid performance.  He locked down third place on lap 5 and maintained that position right to the chequered flag. West Australian Lee Redmond finished fourth but no such result for fellow Sandgroper Dayne Kingshott who became involved in a crash on lap 2; prematurely ending his race (and his season).  Chris Singleton rounded out the top 5 followed by Michael Harders, Brock Dean, Kiwi racer Brock Maskovich, Jason Bell and Brad Young.

Ten finished, ten did not. Brendan Palmer made a stoic recovery from a crash earlier in the night to meet the green for the A-Main but again, a misfire brought the Polar Ice car to a stop – this time with just one lap remaining. Scott Wilson was involved in a major crash which flipped his car to lordly heights in turn 3 on lap 5 of the Feature.  After scans last night he’s been released from hospital around midday today; very bruised and sore.

The top 9 in time trials ran sub-14seconds but the fastest lap went to Michael Kendall (13.413 seconds). Heat wins went to Rob McKay, Nathan Smee (x2), Brendan Palmer, Brock Dean and Rusty Whittaker.  Brock Maskovich didn’t achieve a result for time trials which put him well down the order but he pulled it together to win the B-Main and transfer along with Brett Thomas, Jason Bell and Scott Wilson.

The Stock Cars held their Queensland Title and Dudley Ward seemed assured of the win until half way through their Feature race, his right rear tyre launched into the air.  Martin Wilkinson and Shane French raced on, rounding up the field; Wilkinson took the Title with French in second and John Melbourne finishing third.

Matt Hardy won the AMCA Feature, in the 360 Spec Sprintcars Darren Silcock was triumphant, Tony Norton won the Lightning Sprint Feature and in FordvHoldenvSigma David Tookey trailed Bernie Wright but caught him right on the line to take another win.

Next week the Sprintcars return their penultimate round of the KRE Race Engines Series, supported by the Modlites who will stage round 3 of the chase in the Western Landscape Supplies/David Grose Real Estate Driver to America Series.  The Compact Speedcars are also on the schedule as are the Wingless Sprints, Formula 500’s and the SSA Juniors.

Check www.brisbanespeedway.com.au  for ticket prices and times also facebook/archerfieldspeedway for updates.  See you there.

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