Official Release Saturday 9th March 2024.
After a gruelling thirty heats held in severely hot weather at the Western Speedway, Tasmanian Brad Mckendrick is the overnight points leader after the first day of competition for the Cush Clothing Co SSA Street Stock National Title!
Across the thirty heats there would be a massive twenty eight heat race winners, only Mckendrick and fellow Tasmanaian Nathan Russell winning two heats, while Victorian drivers would claim eleven heat wins, Tasmanian’s nine, South Aussies and West Aussies with three each and Queensland and Northern Territory with two each.
After a delay in getting underway, the opening heat would finally begin, albeit minus the pole sitter Joel Mcinnes who was disqualified for entering the track not being race ready. Matt Nelson started on the front row and broke away on a slippery track, with Bradin Claridge making the most of the demise of Mcinnes to slot into second while Daniel Ameduri quickly moved from position six to third. Stuey Robinson raced form the rear to fourth despite blowing a radiator with a few to go, while Ameduri snuck up on Claridge and passed him in the final corner for second.
The second heat would only last half a lap before coming under yellow lights with four cars tangling on the back straight to bring out the yellows, four cars unable to rejoin leaving eight cars to restart. Lenny Bates would lead the whole journey from Dale Morrison and David Donegan.
Steve Gartner broke away early in heat three to lead but defending national champion Anthony Beare quickly moved into second and set out after him, the duo leaving the rest of the field in their dust. Despite his best efforts, Beare was unable to make the pass, Gartner claiming the win while James Russell moved from eighth to finish third.
Ben Riley and Shane Roycroft would fight it out for the lead in the fourth heat race of the afternoon, going side by side multiple times throughout the race, Riley getting the nod in the end over Roycroft and Nick Taylor from eighth.
Heat five was an all the way win for David Barrie, Jason Duell chasing hard but unable to make the move while Nathan Barbeler came home third, after passing Peter Kinnear in sight of the white flag. Jason Degoldi was similar in heat six, grabbing the lead initially and racing away to claim the win from Nathan Fawns and Scott Merrett.
Heat Seven would mark two firsts: the first (and second) time of the evening there was a cone restart after a stoppage in the middle of the race, and also the first the heat winner didn’t come from the front row, Tasmanian Nathan Russell holding off the hard charging Nathan Thorne who came from position twelve on the grids and got past Dale Riley Jnr right on the line for third, just 0.010 seconds between them.
Heat Eight would see the yellows on early as Jack Yates and Ben Langton came together, coming to a stop in a precarious position, locked together in turn two and both finishing the race infield. Brad Mckendrick, who originally started in position eight, was the big mover in the restart as pole sitter Ricky Cornwall sustained a flat left front tyre, taking the lead on lap one. lucas Dickenson, who also started on the front row, would fight back and lead laps two and three but Mckendrick was too good, retaking the lead on lap four and racing away to win from Timothy Hutchinson and Bradley Hill.
It took a while to get heat nine underway, and when it did, there was plenty of action, cars bumping and passing all over the track. Matthew Brooks grabbed the lead but would spin on lap three, going to the rear on the restart, handing West Aussie Peter Dowie the lead. Dowie would then come under pressure from fellow sandgroper Hayden Norman, and with two to go lapped traffic would allow Norman to take the lead. Dowie fought back, the duo just 0.028 seconds apart with the white flag flying, Dowie going on to take the win from Norman and Darwyn Lee.
The final heat of the opening round started with a bang, WA Champion Jake Hoath finding himself in the turn three wall and a number of other cars coming in hot and lucky to escape with minimal damage. The entire race would see a number of stoppages, but through it all Steven Watts led the field and would claim the win from Jake Hoath and Paul Domburg.
Round two kicked off with an all the way win to the Northern Territories Jake Koivumaki over Nick Chrystie and Drew Flatman, while a stacked heat twelve saw Nathan Thorne get by early leader Dale Morrison to go on and take the win with Jason Degoldi coming home third.
Heat thirteen proved to be lucky for Nick Taylor, racing into the lead initially and sustained it through a number of restarts to hold off Ricky Throckmorton and Matt Nelson. Heat fourteen was much the same, only able to complete one lap at a time before stoppages occurred in the initial stages. In the end though, Nathan Barbeler held strong to lead the entire distance and claim the first win for Queensland, defeating AJ Lawrence and Shaun Henry.
Heat fifteen would turn into a bit of a marathon affair with a number of restarts but in the end Brodie Ardley would hold strong to claim the win from Matthew Brooks and Mark Miles, while heat sixteen went even longer, with a number of restarts, Jensen Wilson the one who finally grabbed the win from Rhys Meakins and Jaiden Russell.
As the sun finally began to set, heat seventeen was a hard fought affair with plenty of battles right through the field, Brad Mckendrick taking the win and becoming the first to claim two heat race wins in the Title event, crossing the line ahead of Ben Langton who muscled his way past Craig Buchanan for second in the dying stages.
Hayden Glare was the victor in heat eighteen, holding off Australia #2 Ben Norman and Timothy Hutchinson, while Bhoe Paterson came from position three to win a non stop heat nineteen from Nigel Apted, who held off Ben Whitehead and Steven Gartner to finish second.
The final heat of the second round saw Travis Hutchison record an all the way win ahead of Morris Ahearn and Andy Russell.
The third and final round of night two saw the track lights take full effect and it was David Donegan in fine form leading as Rhys Meakins chased hard, the two making contact through the final turns seeing Meakins race away to claim the win and Donegan left to record a DNF.
Mark Miles had a massive moment in the second lap of heat twenty two, seeing a pack of cars pile in and make contact, bringing out the yellows in what was probably the biggest incident of the night to that point. Anthony Beare had already taken the lead at this point and would lead away the restart, but Corey Bauld would make life uncomfortable for the Champion, hounding him for a number of laps before Beare finally broke the seam and raced away to win from Bauld and Benjamin Riley.
Nathan Thorne came into round three second highest on points but contact with the back straight wall early in heat twenty three saw that come to an end, dropping back through the field and circulating slowly in an effort to gain points. Up front it was the veteran Mick Dann leading the field, until with just three to go his car just ran out of power, seeing him come to a stop and bring on the yellows. He would be out of the race while David O’Rourke and Nathan Thorne would also retire at that particular juncture of proceedings, seeing Shane Roycroft bounce back from an earlier disqualification and take the win from Daniel Cunningham and Steven Watts.
Heat twenty four saw chaos early on as a number of cars came together in turn one, but only Matt Martin would retire infield with Phill Russell leading Jason Duell and Jason Degoldi, and despite plenty of pressure, the order would remain unchanged.
Peter Kinnear led heat twenty five from the beginning, surviving a restart and then some immense pressure from Steven Garter and Ben Norman in the dying stages to take the win. Gartner and Norman had their own battle as they moved through the field, Gartner getting past Norman in the final laps for second.
Wade Fell would lead the opening seven laps of heat twenty six before Nathan Russell passed him on lap eight, before Fell spun infield, Nathan Russell going on to defeat Braiden Russell and Matthew Brooks.
Dale Riley Junior would lead flag to flag in heat twenty seven, defeating Peter Dowie and Bradley Hill, while heat twenty eight went the way of Jack Yates who made up for the disappointment of his earlier heat, defeating Ben Langton who got past Lenny Bates on the final corners.
The penultimate heat got off to a hairy start when contact saw Hayden Norman spun in front of the field, everyone lucky to escape without damage, while the second attempt wasn’t much better when a number of cars came together down the back straight. The third time was most certainly not lucky, Peter Thompson making contact with Matt nelson seeing them both into the turn one wall, Leigh Gooding also becoming involved. Finally on the fourth attempt the race got underway, with West Aussies Jake Hoath and Hayden Norman battling it out, clearing away from Karlia Riley in third. In the end though it was Norman who got past Hoath and raced away to take the win while Riley held off some big challenges to hold onto third.
After nearly six hours of racing, the final heat would hit the track with a near on full field and it was John Sylvester who raced into the lead and despite pressure from Braidin Claridge, would hold it until races end. Claridge would finish second while Morris Ahearn claimed third to finish the final heat of the opening night.
With points tallied up it is Mckendrick leading with 85 points, three points clear of Victorian Jason Degoldie, with Hayden Norman, Steve Gartner, Anthony Beare and Rhys Meakins all ties on 81 points for third.
Tomorrow night will kick off with the Grand Parade just before 5pm before the final round of heats that will set the grids for the feature.
The top sixteen will qualify straight into the feature event, while drivers need to be inside the top one hundred drivers to make a main event.
OVERALL POINTS AFTER NIGHT ONE
1. T83 Brad Mckendrick 85
2. V27 Jason Degoldi 82
3. W6 Hayden Norman 81
4. S32 Steve Gartner 81
5. S46 Anthony Beare 81
6. V85 Rhys Meakins 81
7. T23 Nathan Russell 80
8. W88 Peter Dowie 77
9. V61 Matt Nelson 76
10. T16 Nick Taylor 72
11. V5 Steven Watts 72
12. Q88 Nathan Barbeler 72
13. W74 Lenny Bates 72
14. S52 Nathan Thorne 69
15. T24 Benjamin Riley 69
16. VB4 Morris Ahearn 68
17. W66 Ben Norman 68
18. S18 Jason Duell 66
19. W29 Jake Hoath 66
20. V44 Timothy Hutchinson 64
21. V7 Bradin Claridge 64
22. V82 Shane Roycroft 64
23. T18 Dale Riley Jnr 62
24. T38 John Sylvester 62
25. V3 Peter Kinnear 61
26. V13 Dale Morrison 60
27. Q96 Ben Langton 60
28. V31 Bhoe Paterson 59
29. W83 Daniel Ameduri 59
30. V83 David Barrie 58
31. V22 Matthew Brooks 57
32. VA18 Ricky Throckmorton 55
33. Q7 Travis Hutchison 55
34. V48 Brodie Ardley 55
35. VA36 Bradley Hill 54
36. NT15 Jack Yates 52
37. T77 Corey Bauld 51
38. T45 Braiden Russell 51
39. V88 Jensen Wilson 51
40. VA23 Shaun Henry 50
41. S7 Craig Buchanan 48
42. T25 Phill Russell 47
43. Q95 James Russell 46
44. T27 Jaiden Russell 46
45. T26 Andy Russell 45
46. V45 Darwyn Lee 44
47. V69 Hayden Glare 44
48. NT11 Jake Koivumaki 43
49. S87 Jayden Edwards 43
50. S23 Ben Whitehead 43
51. V25 Nick Chrystie 42
52. V55 Ryan Watts 42
53. T15 Daniel Cunningham 42
54. T80 Nigel Apted 41
55. S42 Thomas Garner 40
56. V87 Nathan Fawns 38
57. V15 Paul Domburg 38
58. T146 Brendon Green 38
59. V12 Mark Miles 37
60. V18 Scott Secombe 36
61. VA55 AJ Lawrence 36
62. VA94 Tyler Barton 35
63. S48 Scott Merrett 35
64. V62 Jayden Blomeley 35
65. VA0 David Donegan 33
66. S112 Drew Flatman 33
67. S91 Darren Brumfield 33
68. VA4 Dean Jenkins 31
69. VA15 Ricky Cornwall 30
70. V4 Jack Jordan 30
71. T11 Mathew Crawford 30
72. T28 Karlia Riley 29
73. Q33 Darren Ciesiolka 28
74. V38 Josh Davey 27
75. V0 Mick Dann 27
76. S72 Kye Richardson 27
77. S2 Anthony Buchanan 26
78. NT31 Kane Lloyd 26
79. V49 Shaun Jenkins 26
80. V14 Jared Wilkinson 26
81. V23 Mitch Viney 25
82. VA12 Ellen Vagg 22
83. V16 Robin Rundell 22
84. V29 Ashley Fox 22
85. V17 Jason Faux 21
86. T92 Steve Russell 21
87. V41 Leigh Gooding 20
88. S3 Keith Moore 19
89. VA38 Matthew Atkinson 19
90. V36 Ronald Davey 19
91. VA61 Dale Blomeley 18
92. V79 Wade Fell 17
93. T19 David O’Rourke 17
94. V92 Matt LePoidevin 17
95. VB36 Stuey Robinson 17
96. Q99 Peter Thompson 16
97. QA33 Josh Ciesiolka 16
98. V43 Matt Martin 15
99. S198 Bradley Sheridan 15
100. V11 Tristan Hunt 15
101. V95 Jack Littlehales 14
102. V43 Chris Hay 13
103. V89 Stefan Clark 13
104. V24 Dylan Wilkinson 12
105. V97 Caylem Fell 12
106. VA85 Aaron Meakins 10
107. S12 Darren Flatman 10
108. V32 Zac Barwise 9
109. V99 Stephen Brook 9
110. T121 Lucas Dickenson 8
111. VA14 Joel Mcinnes 8
112. VA25 Nathan Hutchins 8
113. V94 Steven Hardie 7
114. V26 Mick Hume 6
115. S9 Ben Tuttle 4
116. T172 Aaron Burgess 3
117. Q83 John Roycroft 3
