By Daniel PowellGary Reid photo
The month of November is certainly proving to be a memorable time of the year for Jon McCorkindale. In November last year at Sydney Speedway, McCorkindale romped to his maiden sprintcar feature race victory, and close to 12 months later, he nearly did it again.
If it hadn’t been for a late caution with 11 laps remaining, McCorkindale might have added Sydney Speedway feature race victory # 2 to his career tally. However, it wasn’t to be and despite his best efforts to hold off, firstly, former multiple Sydney Speedway track champion, Mitchell Dumesny, for the lead and then Adrian Maher, for second place, the NSW # 69 Dial Before You Dig / Mr. Mac Vacuum Excavation supported Eagle driver greeted the chequered flag in third place on the podium.
“I felt good out in front during the feature race, as my car was perfect and so was the track, as it had multiple racing lines and my car was able to go where I put it,” explained the Young (Riverina District of NSW) based racer, who started the feature race from pole position and led the field for 23 of the 30 laps. “Of course, the late caution didn’t work in my favour, as I had built up a handy lead and was getting through lapped traffic strongly, but there are some things in sprintcar racing that are just out of your control.”
Although he was disappointed to not be able to go on and take the feature race winning honours, McCorkindale felt that a lot has changed, for the better, since he sensationally took out his maiden feature race, and that included more confidence in lapped traffic and the off season acquisition of a brand-new 410 cubic inch powerplant from the team Maxwill Racing Engines.
“I knew that I had to be a lot more aggressive in lapped traffic, as you can’t afford to second guess, as that costs you time and on the weekend I knew that if I was going to be a chance of winning I had to take no prisoners in traffic,” the 20-year-old said. “During the off season our team decided to bite the bullet and buy a brand-new engine, and although it’s taken a few race meetings to get our head around it [the engine], we are now starting to come to grips with it.”
It was an all-round consistent night for McCorkindale and his team, after they finished fourth in his opening heat race of the night and then took victory in the second round of heats.
McCorkindale will next hit track on Saturday night, November 19 for the fourth round of the Sydney Speedway Track Championship.
McCorkindale would like to thank his 2011/12 season sponsors: Dial before You Dig, Signs R Us, Young Car Mart and Mr. Mac Vacuum Excavation, along with all his family and friends, especially his parents Garry and Chris, for all of their support.