Daniel Pestka in the Starke/Pestka Racing SA27 hit the sweet spot last night (Dec 14) in Max’s race at Premier Speedway Warrnambool leading all the laps in the main event as well as setting the fastest lap, proving yet again, that when things go right this team can run with the best and beat them!
He beat national Champion Lochie McHugh, up from 9th place, by two and a half seconds with 5th starting Tate Frost completing the podium.
Front row starter and late race favourite Jamie Veal was pushed back to fourth with Mt Gambier’s Glen Sutherland continuing his consistent season starting third and rounding out the top five.
Surprisingly Jock Goodyer was a little off the pace only going from 8th to 6th as was James McFadden in his new ride moving from 11th to 8th.
With the track being as quick as it was it made it hard for cars to move forward from the back half of the grid and with no cautions to assist there wasn’t a lot of movement forward generally.M
The B-Main was a who’s who of Sprintcars as a result primarily of the single heat, inverted four car grids that shakes things up for the fans and makes the drivers work harder.
After blowing his right rear tyre on some debris or something in his heat, fastest qualifier Brock Hallett was back in the B-Main which he led until the last lap when Rusty Hickman snuck past.
American debutant Garet Willaimson (Anderson/Van Ginneken USA44) was third ahead of Jack lee, Dane Court and fellow yank Carson Macedo who was unusually a little off the pace.
Only the top 4 went through to the feature leaving Macedo and team on the sidelines.
The C-Main took a while to run thanks to American Chase Randall having a self-inflicted moment and rollover that took out half the field.
This left Will Carroll to take the win from Luke Dillon, Chad Gardner, Mick Sauer, Cameron Waters and Brooke Buckingham the only other finishers.
Andy Hughes was not one of the six cars that went out in the Randall event but he flipped out later after just 6 of the ten laps.
Two time and defending Max’s race champion Grant Anderson really failed to fire a shot all evening with persistent engine dramas ending his chances.
Jack Lee was quickest in flight 1 of time trials while Hallett was quickest in flight two and fastest overall.
Heart wins went to Sutherland, Frost, Pestka and Goodyer in a mixed bag of results.
A smallish field of V8 Dirt Modifieds were on hand to take advantage of an early run prior to the national title next year.
Brett “Boots” Clarke started 4th, dropped to 5th, then worked his way forward to grab the lead with two to go for a popular win ahead of a deflated Zac McDonald who’d lead from the green. Fastest lap and the only car in the high 13 second bracket was some consolation.
Chris Corbett completed the podium after a solid and consistent run.
Heat wins fell to Clarke, McDonald x 2 and Corbett.
Junior Formula 500’s had a solid field and Rusty Ponting scored his second win in a week, again avoiding first lap dramas from his biggest rival Koby O’Shannassay.
Hugo Chivell had a solid and fast run into second place with Zac Stevens, Evie Bell and Paddy Lewis completed the top five.
Only 10 of the 19 starters finished the event.
Relatives Koby and Logan O’Shannassay won the first two heats and Ponting and Chivell won the last two.
Next show for Premier will be next year on January for the final round of the Brandt Speedweek.
Photos copyright Geoff Gracie & Kristian Scott – Pirate Media Group/Highline Magazine.