Current State Champion Brett Barndon conquered the challenging tack conditions on Saturday night to claim victory from Ant Dye and Glenn Dickinson at round 4 of the 2017/18 Club Championship at Moora Speedway.

 

The night started with Brendan Condren putting his car into the turn 4 wall during hotlaps causing considerable damage to the rear end of the car.

 

When heat 1 lined up Condren was missing, giving up his front row starting position. Grant Atkinson made the most of that and led from go to woe. Damien Joyce who was playing his joker at this round followed Grant at the start and stayed in 2nd. Tim King in his first run in the series for the year passed Jason Jones in turn 3 and 4 of the opening lap of the heat before getting by Ross Atkinson on lap 4 to finish in 3rd. Jones recovered to pass Ross Atkinson on the final lap for 4th, Atkinson finishing 5th, Matt Davis 6th and Jason Craig 7th.

 

Heat 2 saw Ant Dye also lead from start to finish despite a late race challenge from Benny Migro which allowed Brett Barndon to get by for 2nd, Migro finishing 3rd. Barndon had made his way through from his starting position of 7. Glenn Dickinson finished4th, Mark Doble 5th, David Sudholz 6th and Mike Hanlon 7th.

 

Heat 3 saw Barndon initially open up a handy lead. Dickinson was holding 2nd from Jones and Migro until Migro tried the high line and picked off Jones and then Dickinson and eventually Barndon as well. Barndon had slowed which helped give Migro the opportunity and Dickinson followed. Migro took the win from Dickinson, Barndon, Jones, Grant Atkinson, Joyce, Condren and Sudholz.

 

The final heat saw Mike Hanlon and Matt Davis start on the from row. Davis took the lead in turn 1 but got out of shape in turn 3 to allow King to get by. Both showed good car speed in this heat finishing 1 and 2. Further back Dye and Ross Atkinson picked up a couple of spots to finish 3rd and 4th, Hanlon 5th, Doble 6th and Craig 7th.

Time for the Top 6 Dash and this is where Tim King's night ended. King had the lead on the opening lap until the middle of turns 3 and 4 where he hit a rut launching his car airborne rolling over a couple of times. Tim emerged from the #51 ok but with a battle on his hands to get it repaired for the feature. Ant Dye nailed the restart and led all 6 laps to win from Dickinson, Migro, Barndon and Grant Atkinson.

 

The Last Chance Qualifier saw the remaining 9 cars battle for starting grid positions 7-15 for the feature race. Davis struggled off the start as Jones and Ross Atkinson got the better run. Jones and Atkinson trading places over the first few laps. Eventually Jones got the upper hand and won from Atkinson, Davis, Joyce, Doble, Sudholz, Hanlon and Craig.

 

The front row for the feature had Ant Dye on the inside and Glenn Dickinson on his outside. Dickinson made the start and led the opening laps, Barndon followed suit and moved from 4th to 2nd on the opening lap with Dye slipping into 3rd. Ross Atkinson didn't have such a good first lap finding himself last after inheriting Tim King's P6 starting position as he didn't make it out for the feature race.

 

Dickinson, Barndon and Dye put on a brilliant racing display on a tough track, trading passes and dealing with lapped traffic throughout the 20 laps.

 

On lap 4 Barndon passed Dickinson for the lead. A few laps later Dickinson got him back in lapped traffic. Then the traffic helped Barndon as he got back by Dickinson. Dye seized the opportunity and also made a move on Dickinson for 2nd. Eventually Barndon claimed the checkered flag from Dye and Dickinson.

 

The rest of the field battled for 4th with Grant Atkinson leading the way in that regard from Migro, Jones, Hanlon who had an impressive run in the feature making up a heap of positions, Joyce, Sudholz who also had his best run for the night in the feature, Doble, Davis, Ross Atkinson and Jason Craig.

Feature Race Hard Charger Award: Mike Hanlon (started 13th finished 7th).

Last Chance Qualifier Winner: Jason Jones won a new front wing thanks to Peter Harvey from Sprintcar Parts Australia for the prize.

 

Round 5 of the Club Championship heads to the Perth Motorplex on 1 January 2018 as part of the Sprintcar Muster.