Article Courtesy of Kye Richardson (Series Media)
25 cars rolled in for a big night at Renmark’s Riverland speedway last night (Saturday December 12). With veterans, rookies, newcomers and interstate visitors all ready to see what challenges the 320m dirt track would throw at them.
It all started in heat one with Wade Fell and Jamie Owens off of the front row. Owens got into a rhythm in the early laps and led the majority of the 10 lap journey until the last corner where Nigel Reichstein made a last effort dive that paid off!
The result then seeing Nigel Reichstein win by a minimal gap in front of Jamie Owens with Nathan Thorne coming home in third aboard the newly built TR-TS Mitsubishi Magna. Heat two saw Neville Nitschke and Ellen Vagg off of the front row in front of Anthony and Craig Buchanan.
The early three to four laps saw Neville Nitschke leading but then retiring from the race early with issues. This allowed Craig Buchanan to take the lead and get the heat win in front of Jayden Edwards and Mark Jennings. Heat three, the final heat of the first round saw some big moments.
A returning Keith Moore started off of the front row alongside interstate competitor Steven Hardie. The race got underway until the field ventured into turn two for the second time, it was busy on the bottom line with Steven Hardie, Haydon Jolly, Keith Moore and Daniel Drewett all battling for position, Sam Brumfield however tried the highline and it almost worked until contact occurred on the exit of turn 2 sending the VE Commodore up onto two wheels, coming back down and then walloping the wall.
The damage to the S5 car was heavy, with the right front suspension all torn out as one. The heat race got back underway with Keith Moore taking the lead and eventually winning the heat in front of the battling Daniel Drewett and Haydon Jolly, home second and third. The night went on and saw the second round of three heats on track. Heat four saw Jayden Edwards follow up an earlier second position with a heat win.
Nathan Thorne had another good run in the Mitsubishi to finish second, whilst earlier heat winner Craig Buchanan finished third after starting fifth.
Heat five was alive with Jason Faux off the front row and leading the first two laps until being rounded up by Sam Brumfield who had the pit crew working overtime to get the car repaired and back out on track.
Brumfield would go on to win the heat, in front of Jason Faux with Nigel Reichstein finishing third after a big “all four off the deck” moment after catching a rut on the end of lap three.The final heat of the night saw Tony Prideaux and Heath Thorne start second and third off the grid, this later progressed to a three to four lap battle for the lead.
In the end the final heat was won by Thorne in front of Prideaux with Daniel Drewett finishing third.The B-Main was run with six cars on track and four making it through to the twenty car final.
Ellen Vagg would be the only retirement from the race with a flat tyre. Steven Hardie would go on to win the B-Main and transfer to the A-Main to start out of sixteenth position. Second was Neville Nitschke in front of Andrew Hardacre and Moss Buchanan.
Ryan Buchanan after battling with his grandpa Moss would finish fifth and end his night.
The thirty lap journey thanks to JTR Fabrications and Elite Shock Services (ESS) saw some consistent point scorers starting towards the front. Edwards and Buchanan off the front row, Reichstein, Drewett, Thorne’s and Prideaux all behind.
It was just past 11pm and the lights went green! One lap was completed but the entry into turn one and two the second time around didn’t work, Heath Thorne got a little out of shape which saw many cars check up, contact behind saw Prideaux and Nathan Thorne come together with N.Thorne parked up against the pit gate, the yellow lights came on.
The first restart didn’t go to plan either as Craig Buchanan whilst running second came into turn one, hit a line of moisture and looped the S7, seeing him go to the rear. The third time was a charm until lap seven, when Bryan Brown with damage had a coming together with Anthony Buchanan and caused the caution lights to come back on. Twenty three laps were left to run as Jayden Edwards lead Nathan Thorne, Nigel Reichstein, Heath Thorne and Tony Prideaux off of the next restart.
Nathan Thorne proved his pace by taking the lead from Jayden Edwards on lap eleven but just two laps later as he and Edwards attempted to put Andrew Hardacre a lap down, Thorne had contact on the outside into turn one and two, resulting in a slightly heavier amount of contact to the pit gate than earlier.
A flat right front tyre was the result but it did not phase him for the moment, as the field took the opportunity to complete the mid race direction change. Thorne lead off of the restart in front of Edwards but would retire a lap later.
Jayden Edwards, Nigel Reichstein and Sam Brumfield would continue to battle it out for the top three positions throughout the final fifth-teen laps, slicing and dicing in between lapped traffic.
Many other cars would retire with flat tyres whilst having battles of their own down the field. With two laps to go, the leaders got into contact with the lapped car of Steven Hardie, resulting in Brumfield going back two spots on what was going to be a Green-White-Checker finish.
Jayden Edwards would go on to win round one in front of Nigel Reichstein, Paul Hayes, Tony Prideaux and Sam Brumfield.
Round Two of the MJS Street Stock series will be in a fortnight at the Borderline Speedway, Mount Gambier.
Official Result
Feature Race, 30 Laps- 1. S87 Jayden Edwards, 2. S14 Nigel Reichstein, 3. S8 Paul Hayes, 4. S22 Tony Prideaux, 5. S5 Sam Brumfield, 6. MDA17 Jason Faux, 7. S7 Craig Buchanan, 8. N94 Steven Hardie (29), 9. S3 Keith Moore (29), 10. S0 Moss Buchanan (27), 11. S59 Haydon Jolly (27), DNF S98 Bradley Sheridan (23), S9 Andrew Hardacre (19), S82 Nathan Thorne (14), S58 Neville Nitschke (12), S44 Heath Thorne (10), S2 Anthony Buchanan (7), S33 Bryan Brown (5), S42 Jamie Owens (3), V9 Daniel Drewett (1)
