Official Release Sunday 10th March 2024.
South Australia’s Nathan Thorne has tonight claimed the biggest win of his already glittering career, being crowned the new Cush Clothing Co SSA Street Stock National Champion at the Western Speedway, Hamilton.
Thorne was strong all weekend, qualifying himself into position four of the forty lap final and he would move his way forward, grab the lead when it mattered and race away with the win!
It was a drag race into the opening corner as the main event went green, pole sitter Brad Mackendrick just getting the nose in front of fellow front row starter and defending champion Anthony Beare.
Beare would stay high as he looked for a way through on Mckendrick, while third starter Hayden Norman moved himself low and was able to get past Beare, Mckendrick leading Norman, Beare, Thorne and Morris Ahearn at the end of the first lap.
Norman continued to use the bottom and would grab the lead on the second lap with Beare and Ahearn both following him through.
Behind them was a huge wall of cars, every single one battling for position.
Norman would hug the bottom as the laps wound down, Beare and Ahearn sticking with him and the top three splitting from the rest of the field led by Mckendrick.
Beare would poke the nose on the inside of Norman going into turn three on lap six, the duo making some contact as Beare went through and Beare’s rear bumper now hanging off.
Ahearn was also able to get by Norman a lap later, with Nathan Thorne coming from the clouds to grab third on lap eight.
Shortly after the yellows would come on as Nick Taylor, who was running twelfth, spun on the back straight, leaving Jason Duell nowhere to go but straight into him with heavy contact made, the yellows then coming on.
Beare would have his bumper removed under the yellow and lead away Ahearn, Thorne, Norman and Matt Nelson on the restart.
Again the top three broke away while Norman would run by himself in fourth, the Nelson machine emitting some puffs of smoke as he tried to hold off Jason Degoldi further back.
With ten laps complete a multitude of cars came together in turn three, with Braidin Claridge, who was in just his second ever Street Stock meeting, sailing in and hitting hard, bringing out the yellows.
Thorne made the moves on the restart to grab second from Ahearn and then closed on the back of Beare, chasing hard.
Lap fourteen saw Thorne poke the nose under Beare coming out of turn three but Beare quickly closed the door, the same thing happening at the same point on the very next lap,
The front two were well ahead by now, as was the pack of Ahearn, Norman and Nelson fighting for third, fourth and fifth, the rest of the field battling further back.
Ben Norman was in sixth and was working hard to close the gap on the top five when the yellows came out again for pole sitter Mckendrick who spun down the back straight, with Dale Morrison also involved, both unable to rejoin.
Beare and Thorne would again pull away as Hayden Norman applied the blowtorch to Ahearn, Matt Nelson still in on the action, which was hard fought all over the track.
Once again Thorne had a look under Beare coming out of the back straight but again Beare would slam the door shut, Thorne forced to settle back in behind him as Ahearn was also able to clear Norman.
The top two had well and truly pulled away from the rest of the field with fifteen laps remaining, but the battle for third through to eleventh was incredibly close, drivers fighting hard to gain any ground possible.
Thorne would look under Beare on lap twenty eight in exactly the same spot as every other attempt and this time the move stuck, Thorne taking the lead and beginning to pull away from Beare.
With ten to go the gap was out to over one and a half seconds, with Ahearn a further six seconds back in third, Norman still looking for a way through and finally making the move for third with nine to go.
Lenny Bates was now in on the action also, passing Ahearn to take fourth, Nelson then into fifth and still emitting puffs of smoke.
With five to go Thorne now had a 3.6 second lead on Beare, with Norman 6.4 seconds behind in third, followed by Bates and Nelson who were still fighting it out.
Thorne up front was working his way through lapped cars with ease, until the yellows came out with four laps to go as Ben Norman, Nick Taylor and Jayden Blomeley all coming together in turn three.
This would set up an eleven car, four lap remaining restart.
Thorne skipped away as Norman had a look under Beare on the restart, Beare able to hold the position and from here the order would remain unchanged, Thorne going on to claim his first National Street Stock Championship, in what was the first time in the titles history that it was not claimed by a Holden, Ford or Chrysler product.
Beare would settle for second and Hayden Norman third.
Lenny Bates and Matt Nelson rounded out the top five while Nathan Russell, Ben Norman, Jayden Blomeley, Nick Taylor, Jason Duell and Morris Ahearn rounding out the field.
Congratulations to all involved with the title, from the drivers, the crews and the officials, who put on a great show across two trying days of hot weather!
A Main, 40 laps: 1. T83 Brad Mckendrick, 2. S46 Anthony Beare, 3. W6 Hayden Norman, 4. S52 Nathan Thorne, 5. VB4 Morris Ahearn, 6. V61 Matt Nelson, 7. Q88 Nathan Barbeler, 8. V27 Jason Degoldi, 9. V3 Peter Kinnear, 10. W66 Ben Norman, 11. T16 Nick Taylor, 12. W74 Lenny Bates, 13. S18 Jason Duell, 14. T23 Nathan Russell, 15. S32 Steve Gartner, 16. V7 Braidin Claridge, 17. W29 Jake Hoath, 18. V13 Dale Morrison, 19. V5 Steven Watts, 20. V85 Rhys Meakins, 21. V62 Jayden Blomeley, 22. T18 Dale Riley Jnr.
RESULT
1. S52 Nathan Thorne, 2. S46 Anthony Beare, 3. W6 Hayden Norman, 4. W74 Lenny Bates, 5. V61 Matt Nelson, 6. T23 Nathan Russell, 7. W66 Ben Norman, 8. V62 Jayden Blomeley, 9. T16 Nick Taylor, 10. S18 Jason Duell, 11. VB4 Morris Ahearn (39). DNF: V3 Peter Kinnear (28), V5 Steven Watts (25), Q88 Nathan Barbeler (22), T83 Brad Mckendrick (18), V13 Dale Morrison (18), V27 Jason Degoldi (16), S32 Steve Gartner (10), T18 Dale Riley Jnr (10), V7 Braidin Claridge (10), W29 Jake Hoath (8), V85 Rhys Meakins (5). Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 1.774. Fastest Lap: 16.681 S52 Nathan Thorne.
