A1 Engines Win 2 Plates at SA Open State Championships
press release
Plenty of A1 racers made a an effort to make the meeting for the South Australian Open State Championships held at the all new race track at Monarto. With challenging weather right throughout the weekend, it was certainly a challenge for each and every single competitor.
There were plenty of A1 Engine racers out on the track coming from all corners of the country with people from Victoria, Queensland and the locals from South Australia.
Junior National Light was the first class to the hit the track with Jimmy Golding, Dylan Howell and Jake Downs who made the trip from Northern Queensland! Jimmy looked fantastic throughout practice and qualified an impressive 6th. Dylan was competing in his first meeting in juniors after having plenty of success in Rookies. He qualified a decent 13 and Downsy in 14th. The racing was hard and tough for the heats in Junior Light with plenty of weather changes and congestion throughout the field. Jimmy impressed in the heats and come home in the final with a respectable 8th, Dylan coming home in 11 and young Jake become unfortunate having a DNF.
One of the 3 drivers racing in seniors was Hayden Dodman competing in the ultra competitive Clubman Heavy class. This was Hayden’s first Open State Titles in seniors and this didn’t faze him as he qualified a fantastic 9th position. Hayden stayed consisted and strong throughout the heats to come home with a hard earnt 9th position in the final.
Junior National Heavy had plenty of A1 Drivers in the field and Todd Hazelwood from South Australia was looking in strong contention. Todd qualified 2nd missing pole by the smallest margins. Tom Allen showed strong performance by qualifying 5th fastest along with Daniel Valentine in 9th, Zachary Phillips in 10th, Mason Thomas in 11th and new recruit Joshua Angus in 17th. Todd increased his stats for 2010 by taking his 3rd Open State Title in fine form leaving the rest behind him. This left the rest of the field to battle for the remainder of the podium with Mason coming home strong in a well earned 2nd and Daniel showing good form all race until being pushed wide on the last lap finishing 6th. Zachary also drove hard throughout the final to come home in a hard earnt 10th position. Unfortunately for Tom Allen, he encountered a DNF in the early part of the final after good form in the heats. Josh Angus come to grief also having a DNF.
Rookies were right after Junior Heavy and it was going to be one of the races to watch all weekend. South Australian local Rhys Wooly qualified a very strong 2nd in front of recent Tasmanian State Champion, Reece Sidebottom in 3rd. Mt Gambier’s Josh Munn showed speed qualifying strongly in 9th position along with Ryan Pike in 12 position.
With Rhys Wooley taking out each and every heat and pre-final, he drove hard but couldn’t pull off the win coming home in a very respectable 3rd position right behind Reece Sidebottom in 2nd. Ryan showed good speed coming 9th in front of young Josh who received contact damage at the start of the final after an impressive pre-final.
Junior Clubman was one of the wildest races of the whole weekend. Hazelwood again made a great impression on the field with great speed qualifying in 3rd along with Daniel Valentine in 14th position. After Todd come to grief in the pre-final, he bounced back and looked to be in the best position to take the win but after an out of control last lap Todd was lucky to hold on to a well earned 4th position along with Daniel also coming home strong after a DNF in the pre-final finishing 8th.
Young up and coming superstar Chase Wooley (below) made his dreams come true taking his first Open State Title in the competitive Midgets class. After being out qualified coming 5th, the young lad had some impressive wins in the heats and took a memorable victory. Jordan Pike also drive fantastic all weekend after qualifying 8th and finished 9th in the highly contested final.
Echuca Karts and Parts dealer Martin Golledge drove over to just enjoy the meeting and drive hard at the same time in the Clubman Super Heavy class. After great efforts in his qualifying sessions coming home in 10th, the young man drove hard all final to come home with a hard earnt 9th position.
Clubman Light saw A1 Engines only female competitor for the weekend, Shayla Golding. After a tough weekend qualifying 28th, luck didn’t go her way after having a DNF in the final.
A1 Engines would like to thanks all the guys who flew the flag high for A1 Engines by trying their hearts out and giving it their all in the races. Look forward to the 2011 season.
