Press Release by Luke Nichols.
Callum Harper has put the Super Sedan division on notice after taking out a dominant win in the Harbour City Showdown at the McCosker Gladstone Speedway in Queensland.
National Champion Trent Wilson kicked off his season with a heat race win in the opening heat of the night. Wilson would lead home Darren Kane in second, and JJ Hamilton in second.
Harper signalled his intentions early in the evening, with a commanding win in the second heat of the evening. Queensland Champion Brad Pascoe would cross the line second, ahead of Justin Randall in third.
Sam Hughes claimed a narrow win in heat three, with the top four cars separated by just seven tenths of a second. Steve Jordan crossed the line second, ahead of Michael Hally in third.
Zac Brims claimed the fourth heat of the night from Harry Doyle in second, who just held off Pascoe who would claim third.
Matt Williams took the win in the penultimate heat of the night, from Zac Pascoe in second, and Harper in third.
Jordan narrowly held off Kane in the final heat to lock in pole position for the thirty five lap main event. Kane finished second to also secure a spot on the front row, ahead of Wilson in third.
Kane would jump to the lead at the outset of the main event. Jordan settled into second, ahead of Pascoe in third, Wilson in fourth, and Harper in fifth.
Harper working the top side of the track moved by Wilson for fourth on the second lap, before taking third from Pascoe at the stripe at the end of lap three.
Kane was setting a frenetic pace out front and was into lap traffic after just five laps.
The yellow was out for the first and only time of the race with seven laps on the board, when Kane was sent spinning to the infield after contact with a lap car.
Kane would resume the race at the front of the pack with twenty eight laps to run.
Kane set off with Jordan, Harper, Pascoe and Wilson hot on his hammer.
Harper moved to second immediately from the restart, after a big bounce from Jordan in turns one and two opened the door for Harper to sail through to second.
Harper reeled in Kane who was fighting a tight race car, and after a push in turns one and two on lap twelve Harper capitalised and took the lead.
Harper gapped the field, building a huge lead after being flawless in lap traffic.
The battle for the minor placings raged on with Jordan reeling in Kane who was fighting heavy lap traffic.
Pascoe, Wilson and Williams also bought into the battle to try and claim a step on the podium.
Pascoe briefly took third from Jordan, but after Pascoe was baulked by a lap car, Jordan would reclaim third position with fourteen laps to run.
Pascoe continued to pressure Jordan and would draw level heading into turn one, Jordan slammed the door shut to hold on to the position with ten laps to run.
Pascoe moved to the outside, but found a rut coming out of turn two losing fourth to Wilson.
Pascoe fought back railing the top of track to take the spot back, but ran wide in turns one and two again, allowing Wilson back through to fourth.
Harper would run away in the closing stages crossing the line more than five seconds clear of Kane in second.
Jordan narrowly held on to the final podium spot, with Jordan, Wilson and Pascoe finishing under a blanket in third, fourth and fifth respectively.
Harper was buoyant after his victory, thanking his team for spending a week in Melbourne getting the car ready before making the trek to Gladstone.
Super Sedans in Queensland will be back in action in four weeks time at Hi-Tec Oils Toowoomba Speedway for the opening round of the McCosker Super Sedan Series and Ultimate Super Sedan Championship.
Harbour City Showdown Official Result
A Main – 35 laps
1. T22 Callum Harper, 2. Q36 Darren Kane, 3. Q10 Steve Jordan, 4. A1 Trent Wilson, 5. Q1 Brad Pascoe, 6. RK3 Matt Williams, 7. N29 Zac Brims, 8. Q33 Justin Randall, 9. Q6 Zac Pascoe, 10. Q48 JJ Hamilton, 11. Q98 Michael Hally (34), 12. N3 Tania Smith (34), 13. Harry Doyle (34), 14. Q39 Bob McCosker (34), 15. Q78 Glenn Knox (32), 16. GL3 Graeme Elliot (30), DNF Q4 Sam Hughes (20), Q95 Jason Busk (7)
