Author : Jason Crowe – SSA Media
Ardie Jonic has successfully defended his Northern Territory Junior Sedan Title at the Arunga Park Speedway, Alice Springs, on Saturday night, just the second driver in the history of the event to do so.
The Junior Sedan racing was the best seen at the venue since the 2012 National Title, with all nine qualifying heats going conducted without a stoppage.
Victorian Jye Irving would start from pole position for the A Main, after winning all three of his qualifying heats. Defending Champion, Jonic, would start on his outside, courtesy of two heat victories, while South Australian Tyson Greig and West Australian Zac Minshull would start on row two.
It would be a disastrous start for Irving who half spun on turn two on the opening lap, and by the time he had recovered more than half the field had passed him on the back straight.
This left Jonic with a massive lead after the opening lap, with Zac Minshull moving to second and Tyson Greig elevated to third.
The lead three positions remained unchanged through the first seven laps, before Dylan Parkes from Western Australia, who finished second in last years Territory Title, moved to third.
In a brilliant spectacle, the main body of the field were chasing hard, two and three wide, lap after lap, with the race having just two stoppages on lap ten and nineteen.
On the first stoppage, Jonic was able to instantly regain a huge advantage, leaving Minshull six car lengths behind at the restart.
The second stoppage for a minor spin, six laps from the end bunched the field again, with the lead three cars again clearing away from the field, with some frantic positional moves in the main body of the field, resulting in many positional changes in the concluding stages.
Jonic drove away from the two West Australians in the final few laps to win his fifth Junior Sedan State Title, while Zac Minshull recorded his best ever result. Dylan Parkes stormed home on the final lap, missing second place by 0.266 to finish third.
Behind the trio, Victorian Ricky Cornwall would finish fourth, just ahead of Jye Irving who drove a brilliant race, recovering to finish fifth.
Jonics dominance shows no signs of abating, recording the quickest lap of the race, while earlier in heat nine he broke the long standing ten lap track record by more than four seconds.
:: Junior Sedans, NT Title
Heat 1, 10 Laps: 1. W7 Zac Minshull, 2. NT17 Jack Yates, 3. NT15 Zac Grimshaw, 4. V51 Ricky Cornwall, 5. S96 Tamika Pitcher, 6. S55 Sharni Pitcher, 7. NT1 Ardie Jonic, 8. V5 Darcy Wilson
Result
1. W7 Zac Minshull, 2. NT1 Ardie Jonic, 3. V51 Ricky Cornwall, 4. NT17 Jack Yates, 5. NT15 Zac Grimshaw, 6. S55 Sharni Pitcher (9 laps), 7. V5 Darcy Wilson (9). DNF: 8. S96 Tamika Pitcher (5). Time: 3.39.482, Winning Margin: 7.272, Fastest Lap: 20.465 NT1 Ardie Jonic
Heat 2, 10 Laps: 1. V81 Bella Rizzoli, 2. V46 Jye Irving, 3. NT14 Michael Jones, 4. W23 Dylan Parkes, 5. NT88 Lance Carew, 6. NT67 Allysha Tregea, 7. NT8 Shane Greening, 8. NT28 Lachlan Spilsbury, 9. S112 Drew Flatman
Result
1. V46 Jye Irving, 2. NT88 Lance Carew, 3. W23 Dylan Parkes, 4. NT14 Michael Jones, 5. S112 Drew Flatman, 6. V81 Bella Rizzoli (9 laps), 7. NT8 Shane Greening (9), 8. NT28 Lachlan Spilsbury (9), 9. NT67 Allysha Tregea (8). Time: 3.29.311, Winning Margin: 0.670, Fastest Lap: 19.682 W23 Dylan Parkes
Heat 3, 10 Laps: 1. S18 Mac Caldecott, 2. NT27 Aleisha Grimshaw, 3. S10 Tyson Greig, 4. S57 Mitchel, 5. NT66 Brodee Everett, 6. V11 Todd Atkins, 7. NT42 Karl White, 8. NT22 Jet Thompson
Result
1. S10 Tyson Greig, 2. V11 Todd Atkins, 3. S57 Mitchel Greig, 4. NT42 Karl White, 5. NT27 Aleisha Grimshaw, 6. S18 Mac Caldecott, 7. NT66 Brodee Everett, 8. NT22 Jet Thompson. Time: 3.26.682, Winning Margin: 0.277, Fastest Lap: 19.273 V11 Todd Atkins
Heat 4, 10 Laps: 1. S96 Tamika Pitcher, 2. V5 Darcy Wilson, 3. S55 Sharni Pitcher, 4. NT8 Shane Greening, 5. NT22 Jet Thompson, 6. V81 Bella Rizzoli, 7. NT17 Jack Yates, 8. V46 Jye Irving
Result
1. V46 Jye Irving, 2. S96 Tamika Pitcher, 3. S55 Sharni Pitcher, 4. NT17 Jack Yates, 5. V5 Darcy Wilson, 6. V81 Bella Rizzoli, 7. NT22 Jet Thompson (9 laps), 8. NT8 Shane Greening (9). Time: 3.20.315, Winning Margin: 2.418, Fastest Lap: 19.071 V46 Jye Irving
Heat 5, 10 Laps: 1. NT88 Lance Carew, 2. V11 Todd Atkins, 3. NT27 Aleisha Grimshaw, 4. W23 Dylan Parkes, 5. NT1 Ardie Jonic, 6. W7 Zac Minshull, 7. NT14 Michael Jones, 8. S57 Mitchel Greig
Result
1. NT1 Ardie Jonic, 2. W23 Dylan Parkes, 3. W7 Zac Minshull, 4. V11 Todd Atkins, 5. NT88 Lance Carew, 6. NT14 Michael Jones, 7. NT27 Aleisha Grimshaw, 8. S57 Mitchel Greig. Time: 3.14.644, Winning Margin: 3.967, Fastest Lap: 18.829 NT1 Ardie Jonic
Heat 6, 10 Laps: 1. NT66 Brodee Everett, 2. NT67 Allysha Tregea, 3. S112 Drew Flatman, 4. NT42 Karl White, 5. NT28 Lachlan Spilsbury, 6. S18 Mac Caldecott, 7. S10 Tyson Greig, 8. NT15 Zac Grimshaw, 9. V51 Ricky Cornwall
Result
1. S10 Tyson Greig, 2. S112 Drew Flatman, 3. NT66 Brodee Everett, 4. V51 Ricky Cornwall, 5. NT15 Zac Grimshaw, 6. NT42 Karl White, 7. S18 Mac Caldecott, 8. NT28 Lachlan Spilsbury, 9. NT67 Allysha Tregea (8 laps). Time: 3.23.457, Winning Margin: 1.023, Fastest Lap: 18.949 S10 Tyson Greig
Heat 7, 10 Laps: 1. NT28 Lachlan Spilsbury, 2. S57 Mitchel Greig, 3. NT8 Shane Greening, 4. NT14 Michael Jones, 5. NT17 Jack Yates, 6. V11 Todd Atkins, W7 Zac Minshull, 8. NT66 Brodee Everett, 9. NT27 Aleisha Grimshaw
Result
1. V11 Todd Atkins, 2. W7 Zac Minshull, 3. S57 Mitchel Greig, 4. NT14 Michael Jones, 5. NT28 Lachlan Spilsbury, 6. NT66 Brodee Everett, 7. NT17 Jack Yates, 8. NT27 Aleisha Grimshaw, 9. NT8 Shane Greening. Time: 3.25.405, Winning Margin: 0.333, Fastest Lap: 19.450 NT14 Michael Jones
Heat 8, 10 Laps: 1. NT22 Jet Thompson, 2. S112 Drew Flatman, 3. NT15 Zac Grimshaw, 4. V5 Darcy Wilson, 5. V46 Jye Irving, 6. NT67 Allysha Tregea, 7. V81 Bella Rizzoli, 8. S96 Tamika Pitcher
Result
1. V46 Jye Irving, 2. NT15 Zac Grimshaw, 3. S112 Drew Flatman, 4. V5 Darcy Wilson, 5. S96 Tamika Pitcher, 6. NT22 Jet Thompson, 7. V81 Bella Rizzoli, 8. NT67 Allysha Tregea (9 laps). Time: 3.16.466, Winning Margin: 0.947, Fastest Lap: 18.931 V46 Jye Irving
Heat 9, 10 Laps: 1. V51 Ricky Cornwall, 2. NT1 Ardie Jonic, 3. NT42 Karl White, 4. S10 Tyson Greig, 5. S55 Sharni Pitcher, 6. W23 Dylan Parkes, 7. S18 Mac Caldecott, 8. NT88 Lance Carew
Result
1. NT1 Ardie Jonic, 2. W23 Dylan Parkes, 3. V51 Ricky Cornwall, 4. S10 Tyson Greig, 5. NT88 Lance Carew, 6. S55 Sharni Pitcher, 7. S18 Mac Caldecott, 8. NT42 Karl White (9 laps). Time: 3.07.951 (RECORD), Winning Margin: 6.251, Fastest Lap: 18.327 NT1 Ardie Jonic
A Main, 25 Laps: 1. V46 Jye Irving, 2. NT1 Ardie Jonic, 3. S10 Tyson Greig, 4. W7 Zac Minshull, 5. V11 Todd Atkins, 6. W23 Dylan Parkes, 7. S112 Drew Flatman, 8. V51 Ricky Cornwall, 9. NT15 Zac Grimshaw, 10. NT88 Lance Carew, 11. S57 Mitchel Greig, 12. S96 Tamika Pitcher, 13. NT14 Michael Jones, 14. S55 Sharni Pitcher, 15. NT17 Jack Yates, 16. NT66 Brodee Everett, 17. V5 Darcy Wilson, 18. NT42 Karl White, 19. V81 Bella Rizzoli, 20. NT27 Aleisha Grimshaw
Result
1. NT1 Ardie Jonic, 2. W7 Zac Minshull, 3. W23 Dylan Parkes, 4. V51 Ricky Cornwall, 5. V46 Jye Irving, 6. S10 Tyson Greig, 7. S112 Drew Flatman, 8. NT88 Lance Carew, 9. NT15 Zac Grimshaw, 10. V11 Todd Atkins, 11. NT14 Michael Jones, 12. NT42 Karl White (24 laps), 13. NT17 Jack Yates (24), 14. S55 Sharni Pitcher (24), 15. S57 Mitchel Greig (24), 16. NT66 Brodee Everett, 17. V5 Darcy Wilson (24), 18. S96 Tamika Pitcher (24), 19. NT27 Aleisha Grimshaw (23), 20. V81 Bella Rizzoli (22). Time: No Time, Winning Margin: 3.825, Fastest Lap: 18.324 NT1 Ardie Jonic