Russell Claims 20/20 Victory

by | Feb 3, 2019 | Latest News

Author : Jason Crowe – SSA Media

Troy Russell has won round nine of the Banjos Bakery Series, which also doubled as the Go Hard Concreting 20/20 at the Cranes Combined Carrick Speedway on Saturday night.

The forty lap event was highly entertaining, which had four different leaders, with Russell only taking the lead in the concluding stages.

Steven Harvey and Trent Austin would start on the front row for the main event, after the four qualifying heats were won by Austin, Corey Bauld, Jarrod Rogers and Bauld for a second time. Bauld elected to start at the rear of the field for the 40 lap marathon with the incentive of bonus money should he win, and it nearly paid off, as he came through the field to ultimately finish third.

Harvey and Austin would lead the early stages of the race, with Dale Riley Jnr moving to third, while as Jarrod Rogers dropped to sixth as John Riley and Troy Russell made some early moves.

A small mistake from Riley Jnr on lap fourteen allowed both Riley and Russell to move to third and fourth respectively, with Riley moving to second on lap eighteen with the demise of Austin.

The race had multiple positional changes with Jarrod Rogers finding himself back in third moments before the competition yellow at the half way mark, which is also where John Riley would ascend to the lead of the race at the expense of Steven Harvey.

In a race of ever changing fortunes, Riley Jnr moved back to second and as Harvey slipped to third and then ultimately out of contention as he went to the rear of the field as spinning himself out.

Riley Jnr hounded John Riley until he finally succumbed, with Riley Jnr taking his turn in the lead with ten laps to go with Troy Russell third and Bauld now in fourth.

With five laps remaining, Russell would pass Riley for second place and with two laps remaining, the five times State Champion would take the lead and make it back to back wins. Riley Jnr would finish second just ahead of Corey Bauld and John Riley, while Jarrod Rogers and Ben Riley would round out the top six.

Feature Race, 40 Laps: 1. T50 Troy Russell, 2. T28 Dale Riley Jnr, 3. T77 Corey Bauld, 4. T44 John Riley, 5. T2 Jarrod Rogers, 6. T24 Ben Riley, 7. T4 Steven Harvey, 8. T6 Bec Hammond, 9. T15 Daniel Cunningham, 10. T8 Charlie Ivory, 11. T86 Colin Kenny, 12. T55 Nick Anderson (39), 13. T81 Darren Garwood (37). DNF: 14. T32 Terri Farrell (37), 15. T78 Mitch Alliston (22), 16. T72 Steven Pyne (21), 17. T65 Trent Austin (18), 18. T33 Brad Farrell (0). Time: No Time, Winning Margin: 1.760, Fastest Lap: 17.568 T65 Trent Austin

Photo: Troy Russell
Photo courtesy of Angryman Photgraphy

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