Brad Pacoe this weekend continued his incredible season, claiming a $20k victory at McCosker Gladstone Speedway in the SSA Super Sedan Harbour City Hustle, Sue Hawkins Memorial double!
Australian Champion Joel Berkley would start on pole position for the thirty-five lap race with Pascoe on his outside, and it was Berkley who got the initial lead after a side-by-side start.
Unfortunately, the yellows came out for Jackson brims who found himself facing the wrong way at the exit of turn two, setting up a complete restart.
This time Pascoe shot around the outside, but Berkley came undone in the first corner, spinning and seeing cars pile in behind him, leaving four cars stranded on track and plenty of others with damage.
Zac Brims would be elevated to pole position in the absence of Berkley on the restart, and he made the most of it, racing into the lead with Pascoe following closely behind while Mitchell Gee moved into third.
One lap would be completed, but Leigh Williams, running on the highside and trying to get around Sean Black for fifth, spun coming out of turn two, with Will Hockley left with nowhere to go. The two cars would have significant damage and were unable to restart.
Brims led away the restart and quickly put a gap between himself and Pascoe, with Gee holding on for third. As the laps wound down however, Pascoe was able to close the gap back to Brims, and as they approached lapped traffic with twenty-five laps remaining, he was right on Brims’ tail.
The duo would fight in close quarters through heavy lapped traffic, Brims getting through cleanly and Pascoe following by shortly after, the two in clear air with twenty remaining.
With eighteen to go the lapped traffic was getting thick once again, but the yellows came on as Gavin Northfield found himself stranded up against the turn one wall after heavy contact with the front straight concrete.
Brims led away Pascoe and Sean Black, with Todd Atkins and Nash Granger now rounding out the top five.
Again Brims and Pascoe would pull well clear of the rest of the field, and with eight laps to go Pascoe would make the race winning move, racing right around the outside of Brims in turn four to take the lead.
Further back Black and Atkins were engaged in their own battle, Atkins throwing everything at Black as he tried to get by.
Up front Pascoe had pulled well clear, going on to claim the victory in what was an excellent race, crossing the line nearly three seconds ahead of Brims. Atkins, who continued to apply the pressure on Black right up to the line, used lapped traffic to his advantage and scooted around the outside of Black in the final corner to steal third with Black fourth and Granger rounding out the top five, the only cars still on the lead lap.
Feature Result, 35 laps: 1. Q1 Brad Pascoe, 2. N29 Zac Brims, 3. V36 Todd Atkins, 4. Q26 Sean Black, 5. Q5 Nash Granger, 6. V3 Mick Nicola (34), 7. Q12 David Musch (34), 8. Q98 Michael Hally (33), 9. B32 Steve Potts (33). DNF: Q31 Harry Doyle (30), N77 Jackson Brims (25), B4 Sam Hughes (16), SSA15 Gavin Northfield (16), GL40 Mitchell Gee (12), RK3 Leigh Williams (1), Q17 Will Hockley (1), A1 Joel Berkley (0), V49 Shane Belk (0). Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 2.931. Fastest Lap: 13.839 Q1 Brad Pascoe.
Pic Courtesy McCosker Gladstone Speedway.