From Ian Vale
Jamie Veal driving the Moyle powered SWI #35 J&J sprintcar drove to victory in the Victorian 360 sprintcar Title last night with a very impressive drive that left no doubt that he was a deserving winner. Veal paid tribute to the venue operators at Blue Ribbon Raceway Horsham for preparing a very racy race track all night.
Following home Veal was South Australian Colin Brooks who battled the whole race long to head of a very impressive Brett Milburn who finish with a third place, although Milburn had Brooks in his sights most of the race and at times closed the gap down he was never able to mount a serious challenge for the second position.
The heat action had four different winners going to Hickman, Enderl, Brooks and Milburn. Michael Phillips and Chris Best were two of the movers during their first heat races picking up valuable points towards a start in the A Main. Other drivers putting in good performances in the heats came from Domain Ramsay, defending 360 champ Phil Lock and Brett Milburn. Hickman was one driver that made a rare mistake having a spin dropping three spots in heat three while in a comfortable position which was to cost him a spot in the top six time trial and a chance for a possible front row start in the main.
After the heat action was over the line up for the Essendon Ford pole shootout had S11 Karl Enderl on top points from V68 Milburn, S75 Brooks, V35 Veal, V57 Phillips and V20 driver Ramsay who was first out to run against the clock. At the completion of the Top six the order now stood with Veal putting in the best time to take pole position for the 360 title from Brooks, Phillips, Milburn, Enderl and Ramsay.
Feature time, with the drop of the Green flag Veal took the lead into turn one and set about leaving the field behind to battle for the other placing’s other than the number one spot he was holding, with Brooks and Milburn racing together for the entire race the interest centered on a raging battle between Phillips, Hickman, Enderl and Ramsay till lap thirteen when Hickman made a move on Brookes for p4 leaving Ramsay and Enderl to continue there battle trading positions for the rest of the race. While all this action was going on Veal was extending his lead moving through the traffic with precision moves around the outside and a few inside moves showing the recent experience in America not only kept him race fit but also improved his race craft.
The race was looking to go flag to flag with only a few laps to go when two late cautions for spinning cars was to set up a green, white and chequered flag dash to the finish, Veal once again jumped into a commanding lead to go on and take the win over Brooks, (Brett) Milburn, Hickman, Ramsay who took fifth place from his race long dueling partner Enderl who rounded out the top six. Other finishes were Phillips followed by Lock, Fraser, Best, Lee, Taylor and Kate Searle.
At the presentation Veal was clearly excited to take the victory, “I am very thrilled to take this win and to get a race meeting in as we have had a few rainouts lately but this makes up for the disappoint of those rainouts, the race track was a credit to the curators, you could driver anywhere on the track which allowed for passing inside and outside comfortably. I must thank my team and crew for there efforts to help make this win possible and to my mother and father thanks for everything you do for me”
The SRA of Victoria congratulates Jamie Veal on his victory of the Victorian 360 Sprintcar Title and also congratulates the other place getters along with all the competitors that made this another memorable night of sprintcar racing.
The Sprintcar Racing Association of Victoria thank the following supporters of the 360 Victorian Sprintcar Title