Harrison Fast But Not Fortunate Enough For Speedway Title

press release

Anthony Harrison competed in his first Australian Speedway Kart Title recently at Olympic Park Speedway in Mildura, Victoria. Being the Victorian and Queensland State Champion, the Australian Title was the next goal on the youngsters list to win.

With last year’s Australian Title runner-up, Kieran Towin, in his sights, the 15-year-old Queenslander fought his way to the top during his heat races, placing second in his opening heat, DNF in the second, and a win in both the third and fourth heat races.

Leading the field in heat one up until a mistake saw him drop back to second, Harrison then unfortunately dropped a chain in the second heat which saw him not finish, but he achieved a new lap record for the Junior class in his third heat, which he won, and that certainly pushed his confidence up.

After taking out the fourth and final heat, Harrison was put into position five for the final and went into the race knowing that he had a good chance and was quick enough to compete for the win. Although Harrison knew he was fast enough to take the title, not finishing heat two, certainly disadvantaged him, meaning to win he would have to push the limits and fight it out.

The final was held off twice with two complete restarts, both of which pushed Harrison back as he had quickly moved into second. On the third restart, Harrison moved up into third but dropped back to fifth after running wide on the opening lap. Harrison then fought back into second place quickly after a few laps of the 15-lap race and chased down on-track 'arch rival', Towin, during the middle stages of the race. After making contact with a fellow Queenslander Jarrod Lewis's rear end earlier in the race, this resulted in Harrison's kart being damaged in the nose and also saw the throttle only pushing part capacity.

With an overheating engine because of fuel starvation due to the throttle damage, Harrison dropped back to finish in fifth position, but due to a disqualification further up in the field, he was elevated up to fourth.

"If I hadn't made contact with Jarrod [Lewis] or I had finished the second heat, then I'm sure that I could have had a better shot at the title, as I was certainly running fast enough to contend for the win or at least second place," commented Harrison.

The next race for Harrison will be the Australian Grand Prix at his home track, Gatton Speedway on Saturday, April 19.

Harrison is proudly supported in 2008 by TND Transport, BP - Wacol, PM Lubricants, DKS Race Engines and Manwaring Transport, while special thanks must go to his parents, Tony and Dianne, and John Aurisch for the setup assistance.  

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