Images by 44 Photography.
Grafton’s Chris Corbett has wrote himself into the record books as the first New South Wales based driver to claim victory in the SSA Street Stock Queensland State Title after his win last night at the Kingaroy Speedway.
Corbett narrowly defeated Charlton’s Darren Ciesiolka and Victorian Dale Morrison in the forty lap finale which saw just eight of the original twenty four starters complete the distance.
Forty three SSA Street Stocks signed into the pit area at the venue which has held the Queensland State Title for the class the last three seasons with drivers coming from around the country for the event.
Kingaroy local Nathan Barbeler and Victorian Ricky Cornwall shared the front row for the main event which saw Cornwall take the early lead.
Cornwall was soon into lap traffic as Shane Roycroft worked his way into second place by lap twelve putting Barbeler back to third.
As the race went on the leading contenders began to retire from the race as South Burnett’s Ben Stead headed infield with fifteen laps remaining as Roycroft and Barbeler continued to battle for second ahead of Victorian Brad Warren and Rockhampton’s James Russell.
Defending Queensland Matt Nelson retired from sixth place with smoking Holden Commodore as Brad Warren brought the yellow lights on with ten laps to run after contact between himself and Northern Territory’s Jack Yates.
During the stoppage Nathan Barbeler’s hopes were dashed as he retired with a flat right rear tyre after running inside the top three for most of the race.
The last ten laps of the race were filled with drama as firstly Roycroft retired from the race with a flat tyre before suspension failure sidelined long time leader Ricky Cornwall in what was a heartbreaking end for the young Victorian.
Tennant Creek driver Jack Yates would be the only car on the lead lap and head the field with only a handful of laps remaining as smoking began to come from the exhaust of the his Holden Commodore.
Yates dropped back through the field in the run to the chequered flag as Corbett hit the front for the first time as Dale Morrison and Darren Ciesiolka threw everything at Corbett on the final lap.
Corbett held off Ciesiolka by just 0.098 of a second with Dale Morrison a gallant third in a blanket finish to the Queensland State Title.
Queenslander’s Luke Wilkinson and Ryan Kahler rounded out the top five with Jack Yates a distant sixth place.
The new Queensland champion was delighted in victory lane, “Thrilled to get the win, really can’t believe this right now but it feels so great to get the monkey off the back in Street Stock racing” said Corbett.
Official Result of the 2022/2023 SSA Street Stock Queensland State Title
A Main, 40 Laps- 1. N48 Chris Corbett, 2. CR33 Darren Ciesiolka, 3. V13 Dale Morrison, 4. CR31 Luke Wilkinson, 5. G33 Ryan Kahler, 6. NT15 Jack Yates, 7. CR96 Ben Langton (38), 8. V22 Matthew Brooks (37), DNF V96 Hayden Glare (36), SB17 Dylan Jarman (35), V15 Ricky Cornwall (33), RK95 James Russell (33), V82 Shane Roycroft (33), CR99 Peter Thompson (32), SB88 Nathan Barbeler (30), V84 Bradley Warren (29), V61 Matt Nelson (29), RK33 Toby Maloney (28), V69 Lockhlan Glare (26), SB10 Ben Stead (20), GL5 Richard Cook (13), CR23 Mick Dann (11), BB33 Xak Cooney (10), BB95 Brandon Hough (3).
