Local Karratha driver Matt Herbert has tonight put a strong fifteen laps down in the feature event to come from position three and take the SSA Street Stocks feature win at the Nickol Bay Speedway for the annual FeNaClNG show.
Pole sitter Clint Marks was strong all weekend, recording two heat wins en route to starting on pole for the final event, while Colm O’Riordan also recorded a couple of victories to join him on the front row.
O’Riordan would lead the opening lap with Herbert in second and Marks dropping back to third.
O’Riordan went high coming out of turn two on lap three which allowed Herbert to sneak through for the lead.
All of a sudden Marks made his presence felt and dove past both Herbert and O’Riordan for the lead, O’Riordan also following him through to grab second.
With five laps not yet complete the yellows would come on after Club President Stevie O’Dowd found himself spinning to a stop in turn four, seeing a restart called: Marks leading away Herbert and O’Riordan as the race went green as Herbert had managed to get back by O’Riordan prior to the yellow lights.
The race restarted and it only took one lap for Herbert to get back past Marks to retake the lead, with O’Riordan still right on Marks’ tail in third place.
With five to go Herbert and Marks were side by side for the lead, but each time Herbert was able to pull away, while behind them it was action aplenty with Stevie O’Dowd crunching the front straight wall and heading infield and Andrew Norton passing O’Riordan for third.
With three to go Norton was closing at a rate of knots on the top two cars, but he simply ran out of time, Herbert claiming the win over Marks, with Norton in third. O’Riordan, Steve Griffiths and Thomas Pahl would round out the finishers.
In the SSA Production Sedans Jack McAuley would lead all twelve of the laps in the feature to record a convincing win over Ken Melvin and Bernie Matkovich, while in the Top Star Juniors Donny Davis did the same to claim the feature from Hunter Downs and Matthew Magerl.
Kade Milnes would break the winning streak of Tyde Lovell in the final heat of the weekend for the New Star Junior Sedans, then in the final Milnes would take advantage of Lovell spinning while in front, inheriting the lead and going on to claim the win. Bayley White would come home in second place while Lovell would fight back to finish in third.
Overall it was a great weekend of racing at the Nickol Bay Speedway, and a big congratulations to all drivers and officials for all their efforts in making the FeNaClNg event such a success.
Official Results
SSA Street Stocks Feature Race, 15 Laps- 1. W42 Matt Herbert, 2. W7 Clint Marks, 3. W40 Andrew Norton, 4. W21 Colm O’Riordan, 5. W23 Steve Griffiths, 6. W13 Thomas Pahl. DNF: W19 Stevie O’Dowd (10), W99 James Hunt (4). DNS: W25 Harry Wingfield, W47 Shane Snell, W50 David Townsend. Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 1.093. Fastest Lap: 21.392 W42 Matt Herbert.
SSA Production Sedan Feature Race, 12 Laps- 1. W96 Jack McAuley, 2. W142 Ken Melvin, 3. W74 Bernie Matkovich, 4. W72 Daniel Oreo. Total Time: 4.17.505. Winning Margin: 8.494. Fastest Lap: 21.220 W96 Jack McAuley.
SSA Top Star Junior Sedan Feature Race, 10 Laps- 1. W3 Donny Davis, 2. W89 Hunter Downs, 3. W22 Matthew Magerl, 4. W51 Bailee Pettitt. DNF: W28 Michael Hodnett (3). DNS: W12 Braydon Magerl, W26 Zakiya Costa. Total Time: 3.37.006. Winning Margin: 5.215. Fastest Lap: 21.548 W3 Donny Davis.
SSA New Star Junior Sedan Feature Race, 20 Laps- 1. W23 Kade Milnes, 2. W21 Bayley White, 3. W13 Tyde Lovell, 4. W9 Kaylee Francis, 5. W29 Hunter Downs, 6. W19 Katie Beadle, 7. W25 Lachlan Pickles. DNS: W41 Jake Kennaugh, W81 Beau Devine. Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 2.516. Fastest Lap: 23.450 W23 Kade Milnes.